Simple Wonders: Exhibition of the Paintings from the Collection of Andrew Johns Part One: Introduction
The Singleton Arts + Cultural Centre (SACC) in New South Wales, Australia is built on the traditional land of the Wonnarua, Wanaruah people. Established in response to community request, the Centre’s construction was completed in 2021.
The $4.08 million project was funded by a $2.787million NSW Government grant from Create NSW with the remainder provided by Singleton Council.
SACC is a community-based and non-profit public gallery, which offers more than 300m2 of exhibition space and two studio workshops.
The Centre’s innovative annual program provides engaging exhibitions of contemporary art by local, regional, national, and international artists, also hosting a range of related public events, lectures, activities and workshops for all ages.
SACC is home to the Singleton Civic Art Collection and is committed to the exhibition, extension and preservation of collected works.
SACC is located in Singleton’s Townhead Park precinct along with the Visitor Information Centre and the adjoining ParkView Café, which overlooks the children’s playground and bike track.2
The Simple Wonders exhibition has been constructed under the expert guidance of Christopher Dewar, Arts and Culture Program Officer at SACC. And this has not been an easy task as Andrew has a very large collection of paintings to choose from.
Finally a selection of paintings from his collection was made and a design for the placement of the paintings constructed in June 2024.
The artists to be featured in the Simple Wonders exhibition are: Hugh Schulz, John Pickup OAM, Johanna Hildebrandt, Imp Hung, Roland Wakelin, Patrick Carrol, Gwen Mason, Gwen Clarke.
Several of these artists have been influenced by the Naive School of Art with the most famous of these being Hugh Schulz - one of the Bushmen of the Bush - a group of artists who had their seminal time in Broken Hill, New South Wales.
Here on the AnArt4Life blog we have produced many posts in the pasts showcasing the works of Hugh Schulz and how Andrew fell in love with his paintings many, many years ago and would now have to own the largest collection of Hugh Schulz paintings in the world.
To join Andrew in his passion for paintings created by an artist who captured the beauty and quirkiness of the Australian outback, please enter the bookmark link below to an earlier post and then follow through on the series by using the search tool which appears at the top of each post.
Anne Newman
The Simple Wonders exhibition also features a painting by John Pickup OAM who was, until his death, a member of the AnArt4Life blog team. Along with Hugh Schulz, John was also a member of the Brushmen of the Bush with the other artists being Pro Hart, Eric Minchin and Jack Absalom. You can read the story of this iconic Australian group of artists by following the bookmark link below.
Anne Newman
When you look at the paintings Andrew has collected over decades most have been created in a style which do have close links to the Naive School.
Included in the Simple Wonders exhibition are XXX paintings by Johanna Hildebrandt and followers of the AnArt4Life blog recently saw a series on Johanna's wonderful paintings whose inspiration arose from the works of Henri Rousseau, one of the most famous artists from the European Naive Art style. Johanna's early naive painting of The Boy and the Parrots features as part of the advertising for the Simple Wonders exhibition.
If you would like to read more about Naive Art and how Johanna began her creative journey in this school please follow the bookmark link below.
Anne Newman
Regular visitors to the AnArt4Life blog will be very familiar with the amazing collection of paintings held by Andrew and over the next few days we are going to revisit the works of some of these artists so that even if you can't get up to Singleton (perhaps because you live in Alaska!!) you will feel as if you have made a quick trip to Land DownUnder as captured by some of the painters Andrew has chosen to share his home with.
Over the next few days we are going to showcase on the AnArt4Life blog, paintings from the Simple Wonders exhibition which brings together a selection of delightful works from the private collection of New South Wales art enthusiast Andrew Johns.
The paintings were chosen from Andrew's collection by Christopher Dewar, Arts and Culture Officer, Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre.
Quirky creatures and whimsical stories are embedded within colourful landscapes, where close attention is required to discover their worlds of minute details.1
The artworks on exhibition reflect a range of different techniques, materials and styles, from both emerging and established artists. Each artist brings their own distinctive perspective to life, with an overall focus on the tradition of Naïve landscape painting. 1
Please take time to checkout the website for the Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre (SACC) by following the link below.
‘All artwork images © the artists. All Simple Wonders exhibition images used with permission of Singleton Arts + Cultural Centre.’
Special thanks are extended to:
Sandra Lindeman, daughter of Hugh Schulz, for her ongoing interest in and support of the AnArt4Life blog and for granting permission for images of paintings by Hugh Schulz to be shown on the AnArt4Life blog.
John Pickup's daughters (Janet, Susan and Alison) for their support of the blog and permission to show the images of John Pickup paintings.
Johanna Hildebrandt for granting permission for images of her paintings to be shown on the AnArft4Life blog.
Andrew Gaynor who gave permission for images of the paintings created by Anne Marie Graham to be shown on the AnArt4Life blog.
Rachel Carroll for granting permision for an image of a painting by her father Patrick Carroll to be shown on the AnArt4Life blog.
John Hart for granting permission for the images of the paintings by his father Pro Hart to be shown on the AnArt4Life blog. While you are in Broken Hill also please visit the Pro Hart Gallery.
Thank you also to Imp Hung who gave her permission for the images of her work to be shown on the Art4Life blog.
Credit
1. Advertising material for the Simple Wonders Exhibition as provided by the Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre
2.https://singletonartsandculturalcentre.com.au/about/