Noted for their witty banter with weekly MainFM radio show Girls on Air, Castlemaine’s Jan Palethorpe and Melissa Scott have extended their wings to produce a new art exhibition celebrating the humble chook.
The Chook Show at the Googenheim opens tomorrow at Castlemaine’s Lot 19 gallery and is chockablock with original works, not to mention fowl pun-opportunities, inspired by the backyard goog-layer of which Jan has three.
“They’re known as the Three French Hens,” says Jan who has produced an in-your-face array of sculptural pieces made from an eclectic array of assorted objet d’art sufficient to enliven any nest with an excellent colour boost.
Meanwhile, artistic accomplice for this creative project, Melissa Scott has focused her photographic lens on the goings-on in the chook runs of four of her associates to capture the antics of their feathered friends.
The result is 20 fun-filled portraits of the chook at large for visitors to The Chook Show to pick over.
“We’ve been working on it all year,” Melissa says.
“This all started because Jan became obsessed with chickens.”
The show includes some very original semi-abstract (foot)prints done by the Three French Hens themselves when they attended a recent printmaking workshop with Penny Peckham (“yes it is her real name”).
Jan says producing the pieces for The Chook Show was clucking good fun.
“This is art for the chook house,” she says.
“As anyone who has ever kept chooks knows, they’re very visually attuned, so this is to inspire them culturally.”
Both she and Melissa have also contributed works to another, completely different exhibition also launching tomorrow in the adjoining larger part of the Lot 19 main gallery space.
Running in tandem with their chicken-themed show, the Loss exhibition includes works by both Melissa and Jan along with two other well-known local artists – Miranda Watts and Leslie Thornton.
It deals with loss in various forms ranging from the deeply personal to the internationally political.
Chicken enthusiast Ken Killeen, who not-so coincidentally is rumoured to keep 90 different chickens in his own coop, will officially launch both exhibitions tomorrow from 2pm, with all invited.
You don’t have to be a chook-lover to attend but Melissa and Jan say the free range eggs that will be available for purchase on site afford “extra incentive to roll up”.
The gallery will be open Saturdays and Sundays 11-4pm with both Loss and The Chook Show running through to September 25.