Three Years of Everything

Overview

Artist Kevina-jo Smith could be described as a little obsessive. Ribbon, twine, bottles, plastic bags: what other people throw, she collects. This collecting is driven by what in someone less creative might be an almost crippling environmental consciousness. Luckily, Smith is an inspiringly creative person so what for others would be trash becomes, in her hands, vivid treasures.

Three Years of Everything is a literal title. Pieces of string and torn shopping bags are painstakingly reworked into abstract textural pieces. It's tempting to read these in a number of ways: as timelines, tracing stories in her past, or perhaps as sheltering forms, tents or blankets. But perhaps the best way to read these works is simply to sink into them. Through the woven loops, a fortunate viewer might even catch a glimpse of a more optimistic future.

Penrith Regional Gallery feels like a particularly appropriate place for this work. Modernist architect Sydney Ancher's influence still resonates throughout. The gentle, low and open architecture of the rooms is at one with the surrounding environment, only a hop from the banks of the Nepean River. And it's telling that the gallery has grown from the home of two artists: intimacy and warmth still emanate from the walls. The garden is something that deserves comment in its own right, and I was disappointed to get only a vague impression of this on the launch evening. Only more reason for a return visit.

Right now, actually, would be a good time to do so. The Pick, a program which features work from non-artists, is currently exhibiting drawings by Shayne Roberts. He is the gallery's Heritage Gardener, and his works are accompanied by brief histories of the Lewers, the aforementioned artists, and the site. In what was once the Lewers house is a joint exhibition from John Nicholson and Justin Trendall, two artists inspired - like the Lewers - by early Modernism. And the mixed exhibition, tellingly titled Hello Dollies, is both playful and surprising.