Last Saturday I attended the opening of ‘Everyday Sketchbooks’ an art exhibition at the Ipswich Art Gallery.
This installation of an artist’s sketchbooks belongs to local Ipswich artist Deb Mostert.
Deb would have to be one of my favourite local artists and this exhibition is why I am inspired by her work.
Deb can always be recognised at any and most functions, openings, events as the artist drawing, writing and painting in her sketchbook.
These sketchbooks for Deb are her learning ground for her art practice and is her disciplined commitment to an everyday drawing routine.
Her sketchbooks are not only where she researches, investigates, and stimulates her artistic practice, but where she records her daily life.
For the first time Deb is presenting her intimate collection of sketchbooks that are usually meant for her eyes only to be viewed by the public.
In this exhibition ‘Everyday Sketchbooks’, Deb is inviting us in to take a look at behind the scenes of her artistic practice and so consider the sketchbook as a way any person regardless of talent and ability can reflect upon and record their life.
However, I do not want to simplify the beauty and amazing talent shown in Deb’s sketchbooks.
Every page is a work of art that I would gladly frame and hang on my wall.
Deb has been creating and running a contemporary art practice for nearly 35 years.
Deb’s artworks include drawing, painting, sculpture and public art. Her work has been built around the search for collected personal objects, a love of natural history and curated public museum collections which can become quirky and crisp conversations around memory, collection, curation, and value.
Her daily habit of drawing in a sketchbook feeds her practice.
Deb holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Queensland College of Art and has had 18 solo shows and been involved in more than 70 group shows in both regional and commercial galleries.
‘Everyday Sketchbooks’ can be viewed at the Ipswich Art Gallery in Darcy Doyle Place, daily 10am to 5pm up until May 1.
