Opening Friday 22nd September, 6-8pm

– From Verandah to Gallery –

Michael Knight, Harvey Mullen, Jo Darbyshire, Chrissie Parrott, Jennifer Hopewell and Kate Campbell-Pope work from the 2017 Donnelly Verandah Residencies goes on show at Earlywork from 16 September 2017. The exhibition features six well-known WA artists responding to the iconic 1950s timber milling village at Donnelly River, in the state’s south west.

The Residencies

For a second year, The Donnelly Verandah Residencies have run as part of the 2017 Bridgetown in the Winter Festival (thedonnellyverandahresidencies.com). Six artists each spent a week living in one of the workers cottages at the Donnelly River Village, creating in the unique karri forest setting. The resulting work was displayed and discussed at weekly artist talks held in the village General Store from July to August and selected works will be seen Perth for the first time this September.

The 2017 Verandah Residency artists are:
Michael Knight (mhknight.com),
Harvey Mullen (harveymullen.com), Jo Darbyshire (jodarbyshire.com), Chrissie Parrott, Jennifer Hopewell (jenniferhopewell.com.au) and Kate Campbell-Pope

The Village

The heritage listed Donnelly Village is a former timber mill and township, around 300km south of Perth. In its 1950s heyday, the village consisted of a steam-driven timber mill, 35 workers cottages, the Mill Club, boarding house, general store, butcher shop, first aid post, school, sports oval and swimming dam. Owned first by Thomas and William Wheatley and later by the Bunning Brothers, the mill closed in 1978.

The village now offers accommodation in the renovated cottages that once housed timber workers and their families. In 2016, the owners won a State Heritage Award recognising their work conserving the township. (donnellyriver.com.au)

The Exhibition

The Donnelly Verandah Residencies
Exhibition runs from 16 September to 8 October, 2017.
Earlywork – open 7 days – 10am – 4pm (for the duration of this exhibition)
Shop 9, 330 South Terrace (cnr Wardie St), South Fremantle, 6162