Balwyn meeting report: Member’s Choice
24 November 2015
Kate Gorringe-Smith is a Melbourne based print maker who has worked in the past for Birdlife Australia as a scientific editor, on HANZAB and Wingspan. Having developed a fascination with shorebirds Kate created a powerful project, the Flyway Print Exchange. She invited artists living along the East- Asian Australian Flyway to contribute a print, the proceeds of the sale of which would be donated to Birdlife Australia for shorebird conservation. There are 23 countries associated with our flyway. Kate secured 20 artists from nine countries, from New Zealand through to Alaska. Each supplied 30 prints of one artwork, each being unique, and each artist received a full set of 20 prints. The remaining 10 x 20 prints Kate is selling privately and sales are going well, with $15,000 already raised. She is delighted that it has funded a $10,000 indigenous grant for research and conservation.
Each print celebrates the massive journey flown by shorebirds in their annual breeding cycle within our flyway. Each of the 20 artists captured their own interpretation of this event. Bound by their common wonder at the shorebird migration the artists came together in this project from New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, India, China, South Korea, Japan and USA. The Flyway Print Exchange is on display at the Melbourne Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street from 1st December through to 28 February 2016. Well worth a look. And prints can be purchased from Kate (email: katehal@optusnet.com.au).
Contributor: Daphne Hards
birdlifemelbourne 