north east regional extra | March 24 - 30, 2021
nemedia.com.au
1.
March 24 - 30, 2021
By BELINDA HARRISON
A YEAR of flame, isolation, and plague; through hardships and trust we stand. Charred skin trees with hollow, ghostly frames; shade-less silhouettes, like scars on the land. Giant guardians remain still, even after the rains; Buffalo River’s spirit finds a heartbeat on the sand. This poem, penned by Bobinawarrah wildlife artist and ‘Fumage’ specialist Maegan Oberhardt, speaks to the hardships and challenges we have all experienced in the past 16 months. While expectations and plans didn’t go as we thought they would, we learned to manage our isolation and fear and use the time to reconnect with or find new hobbies to keep ourselves busy and bond with family or friends in different ways. For Maegan, 2020 was spent creating new pieces for a solo exhibition and in December when art galleries were once again open to the public, Maegan held an interactive live demonstration of her fumage techniques. First popularised by surrealist greats such as Wolfgang Paalen and Salvadore Dali, ‘fumage’ is the highly specialised technique of dancing a flame underneath paper to leave a layer of soot. Working from her Bobinawarrah studio, Maegan takes this technique several steps further by etching the soot away with various tools to leave an incredibly realistic image of her subject. Using a candle as a base, she developed, experimented, burnt, destroyed, and learned how to use a flame to craft hyper-realistic animal images.
Painting with fire to soothe the flames
Ŷ
Continued page 6
◆ EXHIBITIONIST: Maegan Oberhardt will be demonstrating her unique techniques in Bright this Easter.
GONE ONE FISHING SHING G
ANIMAL CARE
WINE TALK
YOUR R HEALTH TH
TECH & SCIENCE CE
with ROB B
with HENRY
with ANITA
with SOPHIE & BELINDA
with CHRIS
Let’s help our local community build back better. Take out a WAW insurance policy and receive a $50 voucher to spend with a local business. Visit wawcu.com.au for more information. Normal underwriting T&Cs apply.
Image featuring Paula from Yack Creek Distillery