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Exhibition Review: RAW: natural born artists: Scope

By Emily Morris

Posted on September 29, 2014

RAW: Scope, showed off the best of Adelaide’s natural born artists in a 4-hour extravaganza of Visual Art, Fashion, Music, Photography, Performing Arts, Hair & Makeup.

Melissa Nicole Hair & Makeup

Presented by: RAW: natural born artists
Reviewed 26 September 2014

Scope, the second RAW presentation to grace our fair square mile showed off the very best of Adelaide’s own natural born artists as exhibits and exhibitionists played very nicely together indeed.

The four-hour extravaganza collided the worlds of Visual Art, Fashion, Music, Photography, Performing Arts, Hair and Makeup.

RAW is an independent, international arts organisation, for artists, by artists, who aim to provide the tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity.

Mission accomplished, with ample to see and hear and a great turnout (aged 2-ish to 70-ish). Spotted in the crowd were burlesque performer Miss Kiki, her red dress sashaying, performance artist Jolie, the lady with the most cake, Marie Antoinette (Anya Anastasia), Jessica Rabbit, a flapper-girl and some nymph-like delights, thanks to Unveil the Beauty and Melissa Nicole Hair and Beauty.

On entry, Sophie Langley was hard at work creating one of her evocative clay sculptures, and neighbours Jelly Beads Australia showed off their innovative and, for those with teething babes, ingenious wares. The 100% food grade silicone beads designed as jewellery are BPA free, non-toxic and come in a range of colours.

Artists Fletch and SG1 were painting live in the courtyard; Fletch’s impressive 6ft x 4ft acrylic on canvas, “When all soldiers lay their weapons down”, loomed powerfully over the whole exhibition. Singer-songwriter Sasha March, bringing her dulcet tones and guitar to the stage for some of her strong and beautiful folk-pop music was also warmly received.

Photographer Michelle Busto revealed the results of a year abroad. Standing out were Krysuvik and Eiffel Tower; the latter selling on the night. Julia Townsend brought some well-constructed skulls-juxtaposing-flora to the evening, and sign writer, artist and designer Bohie Palacek displayed her wonderfully distinctive keepsakes of hand painted signs and hand-crafted designs.

Tracy Chaplin is Gretel Girl, and her delightful unique illustrations were displayed on ceramic plates, cushions, embroidery hoops, woodblocks, travel mugs and limited edition prints. Tracy’s diversity, use of reclaimed materials, and charming works suggest she is a local artist with far broader appeal.

The evening’s highlight came from visual artist Emma Rooke, aka rookart. Her incredible works are created with scraper board (with reprints on canvas), and are not-very-simply extraordinary. Each piece takes 30-40 hours, resulting in her mostly black and white works being impossibly intricate. She captures the beauty of her nature subjects so profoundly; spending time examining Honeyeaters felt like a literal walk in the park.

The only disappointments of the evening were the state of the toilets (BYO paper, soap, hazmat gear etc), and that I wasn’t able to see and hear everyone and everything.

Next chance to get RAW is at Current, 21 November, 7.30pm -11.45pm at The Producers where a whole new bunch of uber-keen artistic types will gather. Support your favourite artist by buying your tickets through them. Some of them cleverly offer a ticket plus something they’ve created for a bargain price. Check their sites or social media pages.

Reviewed by Emily Morris
Twitter: @EmMo87

Venue: The Producers, 235 Grenfell Street, Adelaide
Season: The Next RAW show is “Current”, 21 November 2014 from 7.30-11.45 at The Producers
Duration: 4 hours
Tickets: $16.50 + online booking fee online, or $20 at the door
Bookings: Purchase tickets online through the RAW Artists website.