John McPhee
Renowned Australian art historian, curator and fine art advisor, John McPhee, will be in Launceston tomorrow to visit the exhibition ‘WICKER WONDERLUST’ currently evolving at Design Tasmania.
John McPhee has had a long association with Launceston as early on in career he was a curator at the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery.
He also has a particular interest in this exhibition as as he was a part of a conversation about ‘colonial and folk basket making’ in Launceston that led to the research that in turn led up to the exhibition.
Ray Norman, a member of a Launceston based network of people currently exploring the histories and cultural significance of basket making in the region, said that “John’s visit is very much welcomed given what is unfolding at Design Tasmania.”
“It turns out that there are so many rich stories to do with Launceston’s Aboriginal, colonial histories and the aftermath that find links in basket making. John has played an important part in telling these stories throughout Australia” Ray Norman said.
Personally, John McPhee collects Australian ‘folk arts’. The discovery that there was an Italian basket maker, Leandro Di Lullo, working in Launceston while he was working at the QVMAG, and while there was survey of ‘Tasmanian makers’ going on, and that he was missed, John says is “an extraordinary story”.
Likewise, and no less important, there is the extraordinary story of Ballard family who maintained basket workshop in Launceston and a willow grove (willow osier) at Distillery Creek for four generations. At one time there were almost 50 people employed in the ‘Ballard enterprise’ in Launceston.
John has a prior commitment between 1:00pm & 2:00pm when he will be returning to Design Tasmania for an informal ‘cuppa’ with people interested in the work that’s coming together as a consequence of WICKER WONERLUST between 2:00pm & 3:30pm.
Launceston Projects
