The George Paton Gallery, formerly the Ewing and George Paton Gallery, was founded in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in the mid 1970s at the

University of Melbourne Student Union The University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) is one of two student organisations at the University of Melbourne, Australia. UMSU, incorporated as University of Melbourne Student Union, Inc. (UMSU) provides representation and services for all ...

History and exhibitions

The George Paton Gallery was the central hub for experimental art in Australia in the 1970s and early 1980s. As well as presenting diverse and challenging exhibitions, it fostered a strong community of creative discourse through film screenings, poetry readings, performance events and hosting meetings by marginalised groups of artists and activists. Early influential exhibitions that cement the radical nature of the gallery's first decade include

Janine Burke Janine Burke is an Australian author, art historian, biographer, photographer and novelist. She also curates exhibitions of historical and contemporary art. She is Honorary Senior Fellow, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne. ...

's "Australian women artists: One hundred years, 1840–1940" presented in 1975, and "The Letter Show", presented in 1974, curated by founding Directors

Kiffy Rubbo Kristin "Kiffy" Dattilo Rubbo (1944–1980) was an Australian gallery director and curator. Early life and education Rubbo was born in Melbourne to artist Ellen Rubbo and professor of microbiology Sydney Dattilo Rubbo. She had three siblings, aca ...

and Meredith Rogers. Later Directors developed their reputations as influential curators in the gallery, including Judy Annear (1980–1982), who went on to be the founding Director of Artspace in Sydney and curator of Australian Perspecta, 1995; Denise Robinson (1982–1986), who became Director of the Australian Centre for Photography; and Juliana Engberg (1986–1989), who has been Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, artistic director of the Biennale of Sydney 2014: ''You Imagine What You Desire,'' and program director for European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 in Denmark. The George Paton Gallery continues as a contemporary art gallery with a focus on students, and supporting their emerging practices and research.

Artists

New and hybrid media has been a feature of the gallery's exhibition program. The archive of artists who have shown work at George Paton Gallery includes many notable Australian artists. These prominent artists include:

Elizabeth Gower Elizabeth Gower (born 1952) is an Australian abstract artist who lives and works in Melbourne. She is best known for her work in paper and mixed-media monochrome and coloured collages, drawn from her sustained practice of collecting urban detritu ...

, Jill Orr, Vivienne Shark Le Witt,

Bonita Ely Bonita Ely (born 1946) is an Australian multidisciplinary artist who lives in Sydney, whose work has been internationally exhibited. She established her reputation as an environmental artist in the early 1970s through her works concerning the ...

Natasha Johns-Messenger Natasha Johns-Messenger (born 1970) is an Australian conceptual artist and filmmaker, who has lived and worked in New York and Melbourne. Johns-Messenger is best known for her large-scale site-determined installations that examine spatial perce ...

Micky Allan Micky Allan (born 1944) is an Australian photographer and artist whose work covers paintings, drawings, engraved glass overlays, installations and photography. Allan has become an influential public speaker and has been invited to be a part of ...

, Maria Kozic,

Pat Brassington Pat Brassington (born 1942) is an Australian contemporary artist working in the field of digital art, and photography. Born in Hobart, Tasmania, she was named Australia's key surrealist working in photomedia. Brassington's work has been exhi ...

Aleks Danko Aleks Danko (born 1950) is an Australian performance artist and sculptor. The son of Ukrainian migrants, he was born in Adelaide, and educated at the South Australian School of Art (University of South Australia) and the Hawthorn Institute of Edu ...

, Peter Burgess, Jenny Watson and many more.

Exhibitions

* 1980 ''Women At Work - A week of women's performance.'' In June 1980 a series of performances, seminars, slide shows, discussions and video screenings was held at Union House,

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, including in outdoor and indoor public spaces, the Union theatre spaces and in the George Paton Gallery. Artists included Jill Orr, Anne Marsh, Cath Cherry,

, Ann Fogarty,

Joan Grounds Joan Grounds (born 1939) is an American-born artist. She has been exhibiting in Australia and internationally from 1967. Her solo and collaborative art work is held in the National Gallery of Australia (ceramics), the National Gallery of Victoria ...

, Jan Hunter, Jane Kent, Vineta Lagzdina, Jackie Lawes, Anna Paci, Liz Paterson and the Wimmins Circus.

Feminist legacy

Founding Directors

and Meredith Rogers played a leading role in developing George Paton Gallery as a feminist art space. The legacy of the

Women's Art Movement The Women's Art Movement (WAM) was an Australian feminist art movement, founded in Sydney in 1974, Melbourne in 1974, and Adelaide in 1976 (as the Women's Art Group, or WAG). Background Such movements had already been created in other countries ...

and its associated activities at the George Paton Gallery is outlined by

as a revolution of art, politics, experimentation and activism. The environment at the gallery fostered the emergence of key feminist organisations and publications including the

Women's Art Register The Women’s Art Register is Australia's living archive of women's art practice (cis and trans inclusive or gender diverse). It is a national artist-run, not-for-profit community and resource in Melbourne, Australia. Foundation The Women's Art ...

, ''Lip'' magazine,

Art Almanac ''Art Almanac'' is a monthly guide to galleries, news and awards in Australia established in 1974. Monthly art guide ''Art Almanac'' is issued 11 times a year, with alphabetical listings of exhibitions at select Australian galleries, organised re ...

and the Women's Art Forum.

References

{{coord missing, Victoria (Australia) Art museums and galleries in Melbourne 1970s establishments in Australia