EACH year the Mundaring Arts Centre (MAC Inc), curates the Acquisition exhibition on behalf of the Shire of Mundaring, showcasing artists who have lived, worked, played, and created in the Mundaring Hills.

This exhibition is open free to the public at the Mundaring Arts Centre from February 24 to April 21.

This year’s exhibition entitled DRAWN, showcases the distinct language of drawing by four eminent West Australian artists George Haynes, Merrick Belyea, Nic Compton and Ric Spencer.

Their lines and marks on paper draw from diverse creative wells and conceptual concerns, but for each artist whether they draw to describe, research, meditate or heal, they have very personal connections to the objects of their attention.

George Haynes presents a selection of signature drawings in charcoal alongside lithographs commissioned in 1995 for the inaugural Mark Howlett Foundation.

Mr Haynes studied at the Chelsea School of Art in London, after which he moved for a time to Darlington, WA.
Influenced by where he lives and the Western Australian light, his artworks offers a keen observation of his life and the landscapes.

Completed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Merrick Belyea’s drawings are ruminations on the enormity of natural phenomena and the uncertainty of how to accurately depict them.

For Mr Belyea a drawing is the purest form of trying to understand exactly what is in front of us. Less imperfect than a photograph, drawings inspire him to create larger and more ambitious works.

His mixed media drawings trace the story of a massive thunderstorm building and dumping its drenching rain across the scarp.
They are observational studies of the land and sky and reveal typical seasonal sights that hills people are familiar with.

He studied fine art at Claremont School of Art and since then has been involved in many prominent West Australian collections and projects.

Nic Compton, a sculptor, uses drawing to understand form, communicate ideas and explore his connection to nature.

An integral part of Mr Compton’s art practice, drawing forms part of the pathway to building his sculptural works that explore the organic and vascular systems that make up our world.

After his recent open-heart surgery his drawings are observations of domesticity, a form of meditation, distraction and contemplation.

For Ric Spencer, drawing is a profoundly personal aesthetic experience, an intimate and intuitive relationship between the object of his attention, the body, the pencil and the paper.

For this exhibition he focuses on rock similar to those of the Darling Scarp, to draw forth their essence in layers of pencil that accumulate to build up the structure and record the conversation he has with the rock, with the soft graphite pencil recording acute sensitivity and energetic blackness.

This annual exhibition provides an opportunity to celebrate the continued partnership between the Mundaring Arts Centre and the Shire of Mundaring over the past 43 years.

Alternating between an open, invitational, and retrospective format, the acquisition exhibition promotes the abundance of artistic talent that is the legacy of the Mundaring hills and invites the community to learn more about the selected artists.

Join the artists in conversation from 1pm to 2.30pm Sunday, April 7 at the Mundaring Arts Centre.
RSVP essential www.macmjac.com.au/products/drawn-artist-talk
More information on the exhibition is available from www.mundaringartscentre.com.au