Soon, all will be revealed!

MEDIA RELEASE - Gallery opening to be celebrated with an exhibition of local talent

April 2016

An initiative that has been in the pipeline for several years has come to fruition for the Shire of Manjimup, with the opening of the 'Art Gallery' located at the Manjimup Community Centre.An official opening will take place from 4:30pm on Sunday, 1 May with an exhibition titled 'Howard Taylor and Guy Grey-Smith: The Family Collections', which will be open for viewing until Sunday, 26 June as a part of the Unearthed Pemberton Festival.

"As a Local Government, we're aware of the lack of funding that has been put towards arts and cultural initiatives in the past, but we're making some real progress in this area now," said Shire President Wade DeCampo. Funds for the transformation of the room adjacent to the Manjimup Public Library into an art gallery, which has most recently been used as a community meeting room, were made available in the 2015/2016 financial year. Cr DeCampo said "this was the original intent for this area when the building was first constructed."

Work commenced in early January, and has included the extension of the 'art stack' room which was formerly utilised as a storage area, removal of the wood fire, filling in of wall vents, installation of controlled heating and cooling to keep the artwork in pristine condition and new doors to enable disability access. "Library patrons will definitely notice the changes, because the library circulation desk is now in the foyer to allow both the library and the gallery to be managed at the same time," explained Cr DeCampo.

The library workroom has been extended to provide additional storage space for historical items which will be catalogued and made available for viewing. In addition, the corridor between the library and the family centre that was not adequately utilised will now house information technology equipment so that free WiFi can be made available to library patrons.

"It really is an exciting change - providing space to showcase the arts as well as modernisation of the services provided at the Manjimup Public Library will appeal to a much wider range of patrons than ever before," said Cr DeCampo.

There are already big plans for what is to be shown in the Art Gallery at the conclusion of its first exhibition. As well as ceramics, patchwork and the Shire's art collection, the gallery will be a member of 'Art on the Move' which is a travelling collection of pieces, plus there will be opportunities for local artists to hire the venue out for a period to display their own works.

"Congratulations to our Manager of Library and Cultural Services, Fran Bullock, who has done a phenomenal job at coordinating this project, as well as our Property Care Team and Building Services Department who have been assisting with the work," concluded Cr DeCampo.

Click here to view the flyer for the opening event.

For details of the exhibition, visit the Unearthed Pemberton website.

-ENDS-

Authorised by Andrew Campbell, Chief Executive Officer

Contact Gina Nieuwendyk, Coordinator Communication and Executive Support

Contact: 9771 7777

Contact for comment: Wade DeCampo, Shire President

Contact: 0427 094 081