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30
Years: The Evolution of the McClelland Gallery
This year marks McClelland
Gallery's 30th anniversary. The gallery has evolved to finally find
its place as Australia's leading public sculpture park and gallery.
From its ambitious beginnings McClelland Gallery experienced a roller
coaster ride and has come out stronger than ever. McClelland Gallery
was a well kept secret for quite some years and now the time has
come to answer the frequently asked questions, who was McClelland?,
what is the McClelland Gallery about? and where is it located?
The McClelland Gallery
was established under the terms of the Will of Annie May (Nan) McClelland
in honour of her brother Harry McClelland, who played an instrumental
role in the development of the arts community in Frankston. The
McClelland's originally resided in Flemington where a lucrative
business in pharmaceuticals and property meant that neither Harry
nor Nan was compelled to undertake paid employment. Following the
death of their father the McClelland's reorganised their assets
and moved to the then seaside village of Frankston in the 1930s.
They purchased several properties on the Long Island isthmus including
the forty acres the gallery is built on where Harry built a studio
and a cottage as a place for inspiration. Harry McClelland was considered
a 'bohemian'. He attended evening classes at the National Gallery
School but became known more for his patronage of the arts and artists
rather than for his paintings. He designed residencies called The
Barn and The Studio on Long Island, which became the centre of cultural
life in Frankston. Among the artists that frequented The Barn were
Percy Leason and W.B. McInnes.
From the acreage bequeathed
to site the gallery, twenty were allocated for the gallery development,
with the remainder given to the Shire of Cranbourne. A Trust was
set up to ensure the gallery's success consisting of Molly and James
Graham, Bill Harrison and Dr Stewart Preston who were well known
to Nan McClelland. Sir Daryl Lindsay, Eric Westbrook and Alan McCulloch
also assisted in the development of the gallery. Sir Daryl Lindsay
laid the foundation stone on October 12 1969 and the Premier of
Victoria, Sir Henry Bolte, officially opened the completed building
on May 3 1971.
McClelland gallery is
recognised for its important group of Meldrum School paintings,
a significant selection of George Bell works on paper, and a sculpture
collection. Since the opening in 1971 the gallery has undergone
several changes. In the mid 1980s, with the generous donation by
Hazel French, a works on paper gallery was added.
The most significant addition
to the gallery was the establishment of the Elisabeth Murdoch Sculpture
Foundation in 1989. The predominant purpose of the Foundation is
to acknowledge Dame Elisabeth Murdoch's lifelong contribution to
the cultural life of Australia. The aim is to develop the McClelland
Gallery as a sculpture facility of ongoing international standard
and importance, to create an environment that enables sculpture
to be displayed in natural surroundings, and to support Australian
sculptors through exhibitions, acquisitions, scholarships and grants.
Members of the Centre 5 group are represented including Lenton Parr,
Inge King, Norma Redpath, Julius Kane, Vincas Jomantas, Clifford
Last and Teisutis Zikaras. The Centre 5 group of sculptors grew
from a 1961 meeting convened by Julius Kane in Melbourne to, 'help
foster greater public awareness in contemporary sculpture in Australia'.
The gallery underwent
significant changes in 1997 when it closed for two years for extensive
refurbishment. The architects, Williams and Boag, were commissioned
to design a stateoftheart storage facility to house
the gallery's collection, a secure loading dock, a multi purpose
room, a café, a shop, and to upgrade existing exhibition
spaces and offices. Maintaining the integrity of the original design
made by Munro and Sargent the extensions mesh seamlessly with the
original modernist building. Alex Selenitsch best describes the
new work on the building in Architectural Review Spring 2000:
In Williams and Boag's
work, the tectonic becomes thinner, closer to sticks and sheets,
and is organised as layers of planes which slide past each other,
like cards spread consecutively on a surface.
Jeff Kennett officially
opened the refurbished Gallery on October 24 1999 to a large crowd.
Two sculpture exhibitions, Organic and Strata were also opened and
paved the way for the future of the gallery. With recent acquisitions
such as Clement Meadmore's Paraphernalia, 1999, Bruce Armstrong's,
City and the monumental sculpture Sea Legend by the late Anthony
Pryor, McClelland has continued the discourse on sculpture with
effervescence. Eyes and ears are on the gallery as it develops its
public profile. After two years of closure the gallery is faced
with the challenging task of reopening the eyes and ears of
the public. With a determined focus on sculpture the gallery is
carving itself a niche in the competitive arts sector.
Georgia
Rouette, Acting Director. The McClelland Gallery is open TueSun
105pm. For more information call (03) 9789 1671.
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