{"id":6193,"date":"2024-05-30T17:18:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T06:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=6193"},"modified":"2024-05-30T17:39:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T07:09:57","slug":"launching-local-icons-sally-heinrich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2024\/05\/launching-local-icons-sally-heinrich\/","title":{"rendered":"Launching LOCAL ICONS by Sally Heinrich"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last week, we gathered at Mrs Harris’ Shop for the launch by multi-hyphenate Tracy Crisp of Sally Heinrich’s Local Icons<\/a><\/em>, a gorgeous new art book that accompanies Sally’s exhibition of the same name. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We are pleased now to be able to share Tracy Crisp’s launching speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As I begin this short talk to open Sally\u2019s fabulous exhibition and to launch her fabulous book, I know that those of you who know me might be expecting a little more insight into the world of visual arts given my enthusiastic embrace of this sector last year when I enrolled in a diploma of visual arts. Please, lower your expectations. Because after just one semester \u2013 during which time (at age 54) I was offered academic counselling not once but twice \u2013 as of just this week I have sent the email formally withdrawing from art school. So it is no clich\u00e9 for me to say that I don\u2019t know much about art, but I know what I like. And I love the art that is made by Sally Heinrich.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of Sally\u2019s work has what I \u2013 an art school dropout \u2013 would describe as \u2018swirliness.\u2019 If you\u2019ve never heard of the \u2018swirliness\u2019 art movement, please remember there was a time when no one had heard of \u2018impressionism\u2019 or even \u2018dadaism\u2019 either. But if you think about the waves of the ocean in Sally\u2019s picture books, or the curves of her signature birds on her Christmas cards I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll understand what I mean. There is a sense of dynamism and of movement in Sally\u2019s work. This sense of dynamism is apparent in this collection and in the book. They are portraits, but the people she shows us are in action, even if that action is as seemingly static as someone reading a book. There is always something going on. We know instantly not only who they are, but what they do, what makes them stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alongside the swirliness, Sally\u2019s work is defined by the wonderful detail in all of her drawings. These details often add a touch of whimsy and of quirk, but much more importantly her details draw us further into the work, inviting us to take our time, to look more carefully, to pay attention. Sally and I have talked often and with despair about our predilection for chasing the next shiny thing \u2013 something I think nearly all people working on creative projects share. Why can\u2019t we just finish what we started? But the detail in her work shows that Sally clearly has creative focus too. This is exemplified by the careful work of transcribing Julia Gillard\u2019s speech or Paul Kelly\u2019s lyrics, tasks made even more remarkable when you remember that in printmaking any text must be carved out backwards.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

History is dynamic and has movement and momentum too. Events from the past shape the future, the present becomes the past, our interpretations of historical cause and future effect can change. Works like Sally\u2019s are important not only for the opportunity they give us to reflect on our history and our past, but also because they leave clues for people in the future. This is how we saw ourselves and our past at this point in time. As I\u2019ve written in the introduction to Local Icons<\/em>, Sally gives us the joy that we are looking for in these strange times \u2013 what is not to love about a celebration of Willsy? Bobo reminds us of the importance of connection to those we love \u2013 who is not moved by her story? She gives us the comfort we find in the familiar and the many complex emotions of nostalgia \u2013 who doesn\u2019t miss the mail delivered by men like Koolbiri? But she also gives us an opportunity to think more deeply too. What are the connections between our icons? How do we take what they have taught us from here into the future? This is what art does. It helps us to see what we already know, but to see things in new ways too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So much of an artist\u2019s work is done in solitary contexts, so evenings like this where you are surrounded by people are extremely precious. Sally, I hope that you have a wonderful night tonight, that you feel the love not only of the many compliments that people pay you, but also of many, many red dots and sales. On behalf of all of us here tonight, on behalf of all the people who love you and love your work, I want to say thank you for the time and the thought and the spirit and the energy that you put into your work. Thank you, Sally, and the most enormous of congratulations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When she was young, all Sally Heinrich wanted to do was get away from South Australia and experience the action of far-off places. After years of travelling, Sally came to realise the importance of home, belonging and cultivating connections to place. She began seeking out the stories of influential South Australians, and creating hand-coloured lino prints celebrating their lives and achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local Icons<\/em> is a joyful and idiosyncratic collection of some these artworks, along with Sally’s sometimes personal stories. From well-known legends like Anne Wills (‘Willsy’ to all) and a pink-shorted Don Dunstan to not-so-well-known faces like Koolbiri and Mahomet Allum, Local Icons<\/em> is a celebration of South Australia and its people.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, we gathered at Mrs Harris’ Shop for the launch by multi-hyphenate Tracy Crisp of Sally Heinrich’s Local Icons, a gorgeous new art book that accompanies Sally’s exhibition of the same name. We are pleased now to be able … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-fun"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-1BT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6193"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6203,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions\/6203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}