EXHIBITION REVIEW:
MSWPS – Group Exhibition at La Trobe’s Cottage, South Yarra
During the Autumn of 2018 the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors
known as MSWPS (pronounced as an acronym – missswips) exhibited as a group; thirty
five small, framed, ready for sale, pictures. The motif was theme based of and exhibited at
La Trobe’s Cottage, Birdwood Drive, South Yarra.
The pictures were displayed in the outbuildings known as the Kitchen Block which is now
a very pleasantly restored and modified reception area for the members of the La Trobe
Society to engage in the tourism business with tours of the cottage including history talks
and the sale of booklets about the history of C.J. La Trobe, the First Governor of Victoria.
You may like to visit their website and become well informed about this wonderful
gentleman, his family and the lasting legacy of his tenure.
This art exhibition was solely due to our MSWPS member Jo Reitze who opened the
show and delivered an interesting talk on the history of MSWPS for all present, on the
glorious autumn Sunday of the eighteenth of March 2018 as part of the celebration of the
217th Birthday of C.J. La Trobe. Jo is
extremely clever at bring like minded people together.
The painters, our active members:- Angela Abbott, Celia Beeton, Jocelyn Bell,
Beryl Black, Helen Carter, Marion Chapman, Louise Foletta, Margaret Gurney,
Patricia Hunt, Annee Kelly, Carmel O’Connor, Carole Milton, Robyn Pridham and
Jo Reitze rallied to produce their pictures in a very short time.
The ability of these ladies to embrace the theme and deliver works of the required size on
time, framed and ready for sale was impressive. These lady painters were well organised
and enthusiastic. All of the thirty five works produced by the women named above
showed a distinct style pertinent to each artist, confidence in their chosen medium and a
strong sense of design in each composition. The works were priced for sale between fifty
and four hundred and fifty dollars with sales recorded of twelve pictures.
Please consider visiting the MSWPS Annual Exhibition later this year in October 2018 to
be held at the Victorian Artists Society Gallery, Albert Street, Melbourne.
Please visit our website mswps.com.au for confirmation of dates and times. Most of all
please click on Meet our Members to discover more about the above mentioned MSWPS
Painters. Thank you.
Carmel O’Connor April 2018
