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The date of the Margaret River Region Open Studios event is approaching fast. Last week I was floating upon the high seas in sheer luxury, hair blowing in the wind, the warm sunshine lighting my furrowed brow. I was the king of the world in my own version of the Titanic. Luckily I didn’t go down with the ship. MRROS is the highlight of our year. The busiest and best two weeks we have in our gallery. It is also one of the most taxing and stressful. Let me explain.
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For those of you who might not know, MRROS is a two week festival of art held in the south west of WA. Artists open their homes and studios for the public to experience just what it is like to be an acclaimed artist. You know, the anxiety, depression, the uncertainty. You get to chat with them and ask important questions like “what is the difference between a latte and a flat white” and “where’s the toilet”. Of course I am kidding, but don’t ever give me a flat white! In all seriousness, it is an amazing experience seeing how the magic happens and how art is bought to life. A bit like me after a nice frothy latte!
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Sneak peek - Christian Fletcher & Lauren Wilhelm
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So what can you expect from Christian Fletcher this year? Only the best god damned exhibition you have ever seen! I say that with all truthfulness. The collaborative exhibition we put on every year is the one of the highlights of the Open Studios event. This year we have another twenty four artists interpreting twenty four different photographs of mine. The exhibition encompasses a wide variety of genres from glass blowing, sculpture, painting, weaving and more. It is so interesting to see how everyone creates their pieces. I am honoured to have such good artists to work alongside.
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Sneak peek - Christian Fletcher & Laura Griffith
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I always welcome the start of Open Studios with excitement, fear and loathing. The gallery is buzzing and the vibe is incredible. At the same time, I am nervous about how the work is being received so it's always a thrill when it sells. I feel that is the validation we seek. As a participating artist, you put yourself on public display and give all you have to give. Towards the end the battery can get very low so it’s good to plug into a natural energy drink, like a frosty pale ale or a little nip of whiskey. If you see me sip from a water bottle, it might not strictly adhere to the two molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen necessary to keep the scientists happy but it may have ten molecules of Jamesons to keep the alkalinity just about right.
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Sneak peek - Christian Fletcher & Dariya Gratte
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The work I created for this exhibition is collected over a year. It is a diverse mix of landscape and nature images with a few altered landscapes touched by the hand of man. I try to create images that could suit artists that we invite to the show. For that reason, there is something everyone will love, and take home, don’t get cheap on me people! Remember we are all struggling artists with addictions to coffee, alcohol, and sugary sweets, oh, that might just be me, but it costs a fortune. I would give it all up but I am concerned the industries I support - big food, big coffee and big bakers - would suffer and I want them to have record profits. I’m sure you want the same for artists in the show :)
Would love to see you in the gallery soon.
We accept Visa, Mastercard, cash, Bitcoin, kind words, muffins, coffee and whiskey!
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A huge thank you to our wine sponsor. Clairault Streicker are hosting MRROS artist, Daniel Fisher, at their beautiful winery. Daniels work is incredible - he's got a mind blowing sculpture in our Collab.
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A huge thank you for the wine glasses for our MRROS opening night. Bungalow is our favourite Dunsborough restaurant. We go here at least once a week. Good food, great wines and beers and such a awesome vibe.
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