Internationally-renowned local artist giving back to Mildura at MAC
Published on 29 May 2023
Mildura-born international artist Belinda Fox will this weekend provide local art-lovers with an insight into the creative talent that has earned her a string of prestigious awards, both in Australia and across the globe.
Add it Up is Belinda’s latest exhibition, which will be officially opened at the Mildura Arts Centre (MAC) by James Cook University Professor Stephen Naylor at 5.30pm on Saturday 3 June.
Spanning both the survey room and collage room of the MAC gallery, Add it Up features two distinct components.
The survey room will feature selected works from 2011 to the present, loosely focused on the idea of a ‘sense of place’, and how living in multiple countries has influenced Belinda’s arts practice. It includes common themes of environment and human frailty.
The collage room meanwhile will highlight large-scale paper installations in the MAC Collection, titled ‘Finding my way I and II’ from 2009. These pieces were created by cutting up past work – etching plates and collaged elements – based on the idea that Belinda’s past is always informing her future.
The collage room will also feature The Collage Project, a new large-scale experimental, community-based work of art, developed in collaboration with selected students/participants from the Mildura region. Participants worked with Belinda to create artworks, drawings, poems and letters to form two new large-scale collages.
Belinda said her aims for The Collage Project included inspiring young artists, helping them learn new skills, discover new ways of creating artwork and to simply have fun while creating a professional and sophisticated artwork from a community project.
Councillor for Arts, Culture and Heritage Helen Healy said Add it Up was yet another example of a former local artist succeeding on the world stage.
“Belinda has established an incredibly successful career spanning Australia, the United States, Europe, Hong Kong, South Korea and Jakarta, collecting a string of accolades along the way,” Cr Healy said.
“Despite her global success, it’s heart-warming to see that Belinda hasn’t forgotten her roots and wants to give back to her home town.
“I’m hoping our community embraces this unique opportunity to take in works of art from one of our region’s most successful creative talents.
“It will also demonstrate to our region’s young and emerging artists that a local person can be successful on the world stage.”
Add it Up will feature at MAC from Saturday 3 June to Sunday 13 August.
BACKGROUND
Belinda Fox has taken up many residencies, including a sculpture project with Urban Arts Projects in Shanghai, painting in Provence, France and printmaking at C.A.P Studios in Thailand and Skopelos, Greece.
Her work is also held in major collections including the Kunstmuseum (Netherlands), Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia and the Print Council of Australia.
Throughout her hugely-successful international career, Belinda has received a host of notable awards including the Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Award (2022), Paul Guest Drawing Prize (2010) and Burnie Print Prize (2007).
ENDS