Annemieke mein exhibition stadium
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While you could reasonably expect an exhibition titled, ‘A Life’s Work’, would feature quite a lot of work (200 artworks actually, give or take), it’s perhaps the glimpses of Annemieke Mein’s life that gives her exhibition depth beyond the three-dimensional textiles.
‘Annemieke Mein: A Life’s Work - A Retrospective’ allows patrons to weave their way through the artist’s life, as though Annemieke herself has been stitched into the exhibition.
In fact, the swatches of Annemieke that contribute to this deeply anställda exhibit offer just as much as the artworks themselves. The Dutch-born artist emigrated to Australia with her parents, arriving in Melbourne in 1951 as a child. Marrying her husband Phillip in 1968, the pair moved to Sale in 1971 to raise their family. April 15 marks her 80th birthday.
Annemieke’s history is present throughout the many glass-boxed educational showcases on display - black and vit photographs of relatives, her great, great grandmother’s sewing box,
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Annemieke Mein: A Life’s Work
By Inga Walton
| May 15, 2024
The Dutch-born textile artist Annemieke Mein, OAM, moved to Australia in 1951 when she was seven and developed a fascination for the native environment that she has nurtured all her life. Having excelled at art during her school days, the desire for creative fulfilment persisted, and Mein returned to the field in the 1960s. "I was just experimenting; I was trying every type of craft or art I could possibly find, to try and get the skills,” she recalls.
Mein began creating “textile pictures” in 1977, applying an almost forensic level of detail to her exploration of the natural world. She eschewed the “quintessential” faunal imagery, preferring to focus on wetland and coastal species, birds, invertebrates, and the close observation of their diverse habitats. “I like to portray those overlooked creatures that people don’t usually notice, larger than life so it gives them a very strong visual
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Annemieke Mein: Nature Revealed
Annemieke Mein OAM is famed for her exquisitely made and incredibly detailed textile art that represents Australian fauna and flora. Poetic and imaginative yet created with empirical accuracy, her investigations into the microcosmic world of insects and often overlooked aspects of nature have cemented Annemieke Mein’s place as one of Australia’s most popular artists.
'Nature Revealed' features a selection of works generously loaned from the Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale, which holds the most comprehensive public collection of Annemieke Mein’s extraordinary art. Works from the artist’s private collection are also included. Mein’s iconic three-dimensional textiles, preparatory drawings, samplers, and showcases reveal the artist’s in-depth creative process.
This is a rare opportunity to view the art of Annemieke Mein in metropolitan Melbourne and experience first-hand an international phenomenon.