The new exhibition at Ballarat's Backspace gallery showcases an artist collective's reflections on pushing through the challenges of the pandemic, while raising children and developing artistically.
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Presented by the Visual Artists Mothers Posse - VAMP - the works are based around the theme of the nest.
The collective is made up of mothers of school-age children, and all are either students or graduates of Federation University's Arts Academy - Ann Betts, Sarah Canham, Kathy Douglas, Wendy Sheridan and Lizzie Tongway.
One of the artists, Ms Douglas, said it was interesting to see the different reflections.
"We got this exhibition 18 months ago, then everything changed, our lives turned completely upside down," she explained.
"It really changed the tone of the work we produced - suddenly the home was where we all were for the entire year, home became much more."
VAMP's part of a global movement recognising artist mothers, she added, and art produced "at the kitchen table".
"We experienced that, our studios were shut during COVID," Ms Douglas laughed.
"We're part of a global movement and we're really feeling that groundswell with so many women around the world being visual and vocal about being artists and mothers, working and producing art at the same time - we're a force."
A range of mediums are in the exhibition, including ceramics and sculpture, and drawings by Ms Douglas made with charcoal from bushfire grounds.
"It's a reminder of how fragile our home is, not just our physical home, the houses we live in, but the planet," she said.
Being able to work with like-minded women has been helpful she added.
"Something really beautiful that came out of the past 12 months was the support we gave each other, we all had similar experiences but couldn't get together," she said.
"Our friendship has become stronger because of what's happened last year during COVID - it affected the work we made, our relationships, and on top of the year last year, we've all had other stuff to deal with which has made the work a lot richer as well."
A gallery release states the exhibition "highlight(s) the rewards, sacrifices and tensions of parental responsibility while pursuing personal goals and creative objectives as early-career artists. They each respond to the NEST theme while balancing the often competing elements of their lives".
NEST will be exhibited at Backspace, at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, until May 9.
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