Acquired in 1888, Emma Minnie Boyd’s (Australia 1858-1936) iconic painting Afternoon tea is on loan to Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery until September 2015. This is a key work in our collection’s story since it was the first purchase of a work by a female artist. Ultimately becoming the matriarch of an artistic dynasty, Boyd exhibited at the Victorian Academy of Arts in 1875. Considered her favourite painting, Afternoon tea is a proud member of the gallery’s permanent collection. It is on display in Mornington in their Storm in a teacup exhibition that reflects upon tea drinking in Australia. The exhibition talks about the introduction of tea drinking by the British colonials, and how the afternoon tea party was an attempt to “civilise” the land. The exhibition goes on to explore the darker side of tea drinking and the social and environmental impacts of the humble cup of tea.

Another of Bendigo Art Gallery’s works soon to go on loan is Katherine Hattam’s The Return of the Repressed, which will hang at Deakin University at the Burwood Campus from September 9 to October 16. This work will complement a survey exhibition of Hattam’s work, Katherine Hattam: Desire first. The exhibition traces the development of Hattam's practice from early, charcoal drawings through an evolving practice that encompasses drawing, collage, printmaking and sculpture. Through the use of recurring motifs, in particular the chair and other domestic objects, Hattam transforms personally symbolic materials and references into an archaeology of family, feminism, education, literature, psychoanalysis and the role of the unconscious in art making.

One of the gallery’s more recent acquisitions, Ben Quilty’s Kuta Rorschach No.2 will be heading out on loan soon to McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park as part of their Australian artists in Bali 1930 to now exhibition. This exhibition will be on from September 20 to November 29. It will include 40 to 50 works that critically examine the romantic idea of a tropical island paradise along with the antithetic notion of Bali as a mysterious gateway to the East. It will include works by artists who celebrate the complexities of Balinese culture as well as those who willingly engage with the negative impact of the West on the Balinese way of life. The exhibition will attempt to account for the shifting character of Australia’s relationship with Bali, and in particular, with Indonesia.

Bendigo Art Gallery is now one of the most profiled regional galleries housing a collection to be proud of. The permanent collection attracts the attention of institutions nationally and we are privileged to have such outstanding works, and resultantly receive many loan requests.