BANKSIA MOUNTAIN Paintings by Kate Elsey

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BANKSIA MOUNTAIN

Paintings by Kate Elsey

Exhibition Opened

By

The Honourable Colin Barnett MLA Premier of Western Australia

22 August – 20 September, 2015

Brookfield Place, Level 1/137 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000

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You are the Stirling Ranges that beckon me and affirm the core of my existence - an unquenchable desire to understand, celebrate and protect you and all those things at the brink of being confined to a museum exhibit.

A small dot on the map I am so much smaller than you. You are enormous beyond belief, over a billion years old, unique with unusual creatures and plants found no-where else on earth.

Thank you for being a life museum, my living muse.

I chose you. I hope in a way that you chose me too. I visited you as a child and assumed you would be here forever. Now — I know you a little better. I understand that you began so long ago. Now that I know just a little of you — I am not so sure you will be here forever. And that matters. A billion years and more of knowledge lies within you. Where do I start?

I heard that you are at risk of extinction. So I went in search of the feather leaf banksia and then for the rare anatona. I felt your seasons and met some of your elusive creatures

A wedge tailed eagle and a striding goanna, carnaby cockatoos and together with rare ground parrots drew lines in the orange earth. I returned and returned again and only then interpreted what I saw and imagined in the past and the future with and without you.

The paintings of Banksia Mountain are my homage to a land saved from greed and standing tall and magnificent through the test of time. Being there was really special for me, like a new language spoken in silence.

In their totality the works represent the cycle of life in the Stirling Ranges. Individually they depict my interpretation of four seasons and what I experienced during my search for the rare and unique species.

The size, although not unusual for me to paint big, is a challenge as the height of the linen often expanded to the point whereby the landscape concept became a ‘portrait’. I think the vertical nature of the sea of banksias climbing the mountain side emerged in the portraits of nature’s seasons.

I went into the Ranges during the different seasons and there is a dramatic change of colour and temperature. Sounds obvious yet I had never experienced such dramatic difference in the seasons growing up in Perth. So on one level, Banksia Mountain is all about that, trying to the capture the extreme conditions and survival.

The heat in summer is just so intense it’s bewildering how things survive really. I tested it out and sat in the middle of the heathland without shade for as long as I could bare. It was only seconds before I could feel the burning on my skin. From a distance it was all

blue and hot and stark yet filled with life! Up close it was red and wandoo woodlands full of bees.

Autumn is so transitional — a hint of what is to come. The endless green of the grasstree filled hills was a prominent feature. The goannas were hiding, the cold and the clouds were slowly building up. The afternoon arrived with a sudden change from a bright morning. The grey-blue of the mountain peaks muted against the forming grey-blue sky and clouds. This is when I saw the incredible blankets of mist form almost instantly!

Winter is a whole new story. This piece has the snowcapped peaks in abstraction, and the brooding deep blackness of the wet limbs… the painting is about nature’s engine room slowing down for hibernation. I used limited tones and a bold structural black.

Spring is an interesting season to interpret. To bring out the myriad of flowering plants as well as the everlasting presence of trunks and branches of the wandoo trees and ancient banksia.

OPPOSITE: CANDELABRA, OIL ON LINEN, 244 X 183 CM

Banksia Mountain

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I’ll hold onto this fragile beauty in return you must nurture it

for generations to come

I’ll bear f ires and freeze over I’ll put food on the plants

to feed your creatures and soil replenished from your toil

I’ll do all this so you can see the beauty that is reflected in your nature

OPPOSITE: SUMMER, 244CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

AUTUMN, 244CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

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WINTER, 244CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

SPRING, 244CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

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I visited the Stirling Ranges in April — the expanse of numerous rugged peaks reveals a place as ancient as the flora is captivating. The heathlands and aromas take my breath away. I take a path at the base of Mt Magog, a mountain formed from what was once a sea over two billion years ago.

It is months since the heathland goanna crossed my path and the last bee was one of thousands that covered a woodland of flowering mallee. I will also never forget the greatest bird that in arching up into the sky split the summer mountain into red dust.

But today, what I feel is like being home. The comfort of a warm breeze through wandoo woodlands and the constant buzz of invisible insects stay with me in time with the rhythm of my heartbeat.

My legs do not kneel or stand without metal devices, and nature’s show is asking me to play. The scene needs a truthful interpretation. Armed with what I have and what I feel right now, I start with branches, leaves, my metal scrapper, ink charcoal and the twigs that fall onto the linen. A refection of pure energy emerges.

And then the mist approaches covering the day as if autumn was here. The mountain, soft and less foreboding, rugged rock faces softened by haze, became — Koikyeunuruff — mist around the mountains.

I would return from the journey to my studio with a bigger picture of how the seasons, the creatures and flora are so interdependent and unimaginable.

It all became the beginning points for paintings that would emerge from sitting with the sense of infinity and being right now.

TOP: CHARCOAL AND INK SKETCH ON LOCATION. BOTTOM LEFT: MALLEE BEES, JANUARY 2015

BOTTOM RIGHT; AUTUMN HUES, OIL ON LINEN168X183CM (DETAIL)

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Coloured from the light Challenged by the dark

Captivating life Spreading its perfectly formed seed

To be mimicked Since the day the stars

Bellowed their dust

OPPOSITE: WHERE THE INFINITE DWELLS, 168CM X300CM OIL ON LINEN

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There is nowhere for the prey To hide in a heathland citadel

Where the eagles watch and stay An innocent creatures spell

Downward a spiralling beast Slicing the wind rush

Swooping a captive feast Then gone, left only red dust

OPPOSITE: THE EAGLES CITADEL, 168CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN

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OPPOSITE: MIST AROUND THE MOUNTAIN (KOIKYENUNURUFF), 168 CM X 300 CM OIL ON LINEN

A whisper coming through the valleys A mist as subtle as silence Sweeps over the blue sky

To sit on the peaks of mountain faces Winding through the cooling canopy

As giant birds fly home before closing time

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THIS PAGE: AUTUMN HUES,168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

OPPOSITE: NATURES RANDOM, 168CMX183CM OIL ON LINEN

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THIS PAGE: ARCHITECTURE OF SOLANDRI HILL,168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

OPPOSITE: THE LAST BEE, 244CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

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The reality of plants when up close and personal is they have all the answers to life. They are silently evolving and rejuvenating, crafting their mechanisms for survival over eons and voila there I am amongst the greatest living museum.

My paintings are formed out of oil paint scraped with a blade on the linen — the picture plain is the palette and is re-applied to create a textured almost sculptural form. The paint becomes the landscape of interpreted flora and fauna. Behind the etched quality of the paint is a hint of antiquity of ancient

time and an urgency of what time the living force has left on this ever burning rotating planet.

Only now do I see the overwhelming shape of a dominant banksia trunk or the repetition of a mechanical styled bee loving mallee flower or cog in the banksia machine

From sketches out in the landscape to little scribbles throughout the day I reflect on my muse, with a bold tonal repressed impression consolidating the bio-mechanical triumph that is the engine of the ranges.

OPPOSITE: CARNABY’S CALL, 107 X 153CM OIL ON LINEN

TOP TO BOTTOM THEN LEFT TO RIGHT:

SKETCH OF MALLEE FLOWER

SKETCH OF BANKSIA MACHINE

CLOSING TIME AT THE MUSEUM (DETAIL)

KATE AND SOLANDRI PHOTO

ARCHITECTURE OF SOLANDRI HILL (DETAIL)

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Mallee flowers Bees haven

Cogs of nature’s engine

OPPOSITE: CLOSING TIME AT THE MUSEUM, 107 X 153CM OIL ON LINEN

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Like a turning wheel and soil replenished from your toil

Earth’s fervent worker

OPPOSITE: THE BANKSIA MACHINE, 168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

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THIS PAGE: TRACKS OF TIME, 122CM X 152CM OIL ON LINEN

OPPOSITE: BANKSIA TAPESTRY, 122CM X 152CM OIL ON LINEN

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Up folding jewels from an ancient sea

Tethered through time to a rugged mountain bed

OPPOSITE: ANCIENT SEA BED MT MAGOG, 122 X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

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THIS PAGE: THE LITTLE ANATONA, A RARE LIGHT, 122 X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

OPPOSITE: CANDELABRA, 244CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

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THIS PAGE: STUDY BANKSIA RANGES STIRLING RANGES, 122 X 92 OIL ON LINEN

LITTLE CANDELABRA, 122 X 92 OIL ON LINEN

OPPOSITE: THE LITTLE PARROTS, 92 X 122 OIL ON LINEN

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THIS PAGE: THE LAST BEE, 244CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN

OPPOSITE: AT THE EDGE OF THE ROAD, 97CM X 298CM OIL ON LINEN

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In particular I thank the Indigenous peoples of the South West, the traditional custodians, who have cared for the Stirling Ranges National Park, Koikyenunuruff for thousands of years. I pay respect to your elders of the past, present and future.

And the heroes speaking out for our voiceless natural lands. This includes the scientists and the passionate people of WA who work to care for what will otherwise disappear into museum exhibits.

Of course Gary, Linton and the team at Linton and Kay Galleries — a special thank you for believing in my vision. And to Mo for always looking around the next corner.

Thank you my resilient beautiful goanna levitating across hot dry land lifting my spirits and reminding me to keep searching.

Acknowledgements

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NO. TITLE MEDIA SIZE

1 Candelabra Oil on linen 244 x 183

2 The Last Bee Oil on linen 244 x 183

3 At the Edge of the Road Oil on linen 97 x 298

4 Tracks Of Time Oil on linen 122 x 152

5 The Little Anatona A Rare Light Oil on linen 122 x 183

6 Ancient Sea Bed Mt Magog Oil on linen 122 x 183

7 Banksia Tapestry Oil on linen 122 x 152

8 Carnaby’s Call Oil on linen 107 x 152

9 Koi Kyeunu-Ruff (Mist Around The Mountain) Oil on linen 168 x 300

10 The Eagles Citadel Oil on linen 168 x 300

11 Natures Random Oil on linen 168 x 183

12 Architecture Of Solandri Hill Oil on linen 168 x 183

13 Study for Banksia Stirling Ranges Oil on linen 122 x 92

14 Where the Infinite Dwells Oil on linen 168 x 300

15 The Banksia Machine Oil on linen 168 x 183

16 Autumn Hues Oil on linen 168 x 183

17 Closing Time at the Museum Oil on linen 107 x 152

18 The Little Green Parrots (The Rarest Of All) Oil on linen 92 x 122

19 The Anatona Oil on linen 122 x 92

20 The Scarlet Oil on linen 122 x 92

21 Little Candelabra Oil on linen 122 x 92

List of Paintings

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Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth City The Old Perth Technical School Level One, 137 St Georges Terrace Perth | 08 6465 4314 www.lintonandkay.com.au

Parking is available in King Street at Atrium parking or on St Georges Terrace opposite the Gallery at Wilson Parking.

Gallery opening hours Mon–Sat 10–5pm, Sun 11–4pm