By Dongyun Kwon
A small sculpture exhibition has opened for local art lovers at the YAVA Gallery and Arts Hub in Healesville.
The exhibition ‘INterior’, curated by local ceramic artist Ted Secombe with YAVA’s curatorial team, marked its launch on Thursday 9 November.
Ted Secombe said this was his first curatorial job in the YAVA gallery.
“It’s a nice team to be involved with. Two experienced curators were hanging around, guiding and advising. We worked very intimately with all these objects to make sure they work collectively as an exhibition,” he said.
“A great deal of thought is put into position so that they can show their appeal at their absolute best so it’s recognising and celebrating the artist.”
The exhibition has an incredible array of different material usages and ideas.
“It’s an open to interpretation exhibition. So it doesn’t have any confines like you’ll see in many beings,” Secombe said.
The small sculpture exhibition is in association with the Yarra Valley Arts, Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition and Awards 2023 to offer a venue for displaying intimate household interior work.
YAVA Gallery and Arts Hub director Karen Meuleman said INterior was to give people the opportunity to understand more about sculptures before they go to see the big sculptures in a public setting.
“Yarra Valley Arts Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition and Awards is a large-scale sculpture exhibition on the grounds at Yering Station,” she said
“Many of the artists, who are exhibiting at Yering Station, also created small sculptures to go in a smaller space. We named this exhibition as INterior because most of these sculptures can go inside.
“So whereas Yering Station is mostly an external exhibition which is in large grounds on a large scale, this [INterior] is a small scale but more relatable to people.”
Curator Ted Secombe is an accomplished ceramic artist.
His interest in pottery was naturally gotten into him as he spent his childhood in Saigon and Hong Kong.
His aspiration for ceramic art was eventually awakened when he came back from a holiday in Europe.
“I studied biochemistry in university and I got a job working biochemistry and I found it was too restricting and confining which did not suit my disposition,” Secombe said.
“I figured I had to work with my nature and my skills. I wanted to find something that fits my personality and that’s why I decided to be an artist.”
Over two decades of hard work, Secombe has been able to be picked up by major collections internationally.
“I’ve had a lot of exhibitions in many countries including Japan, India and Singapore. I learnt about different ways of art in different places,” Secombe said.
Experienced artist Secombe said he was surprised by the artists of the INterior for their high standard of work.
“INterior is something that the greater community should come and look at because it’s an opportunity to walk amongst world-class arts,” he said.
The INterior exhibition is on until 3 December from Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm at YAVA Gallery and Arts Hub.
