Dean Bowen is renowned for his charming, child-like aesthetic and unique thematic interplay between the urban and rural as well as humans and animals. Bowen has developed a distinctive and humorous symbolic language that filters through each work. His highly charismatic and whimsical renderings of animals, human characters and Australian environments celebrate the vicissitudes of life, evincing the simple pleasures of human habitation within the artificial and the natural world. The work and thoughts of Jean Dubuffet, particularly those which focus on the philosophy of 'Art Brut', give support to Dean's belief that untrained artists are more honest, that artists interested in emulating the art of children are trying to regain the pure expression they lost with childhood. 'The Offering' was a finalist in the Nillumbik Art Awards in 1997. The work refers to the act of giving back, rather than taking which Bowen sees as more prevalent in our Western society. While the image is childlike, the expression of the boy is a mixture of sadness and happiness, knowing and naivety, youth and age. The smile has a Mona Lisa quality and the earthy and sensuous colours suggest landscape. When realising the images he relies on memory rather than observation so that the struggle with drawing and representation sometimes doesn't work. The style of the drawing and the flat space relates to the graphic style of cartoons and caricature. The intuitive and the imaginative are essential elements in his work. lower right 'Dean Bowen '97'

Digitised directly from 'The Native Races of the British Empire: Victoria' The Barwon River in New South Wales is formed through the confluence of the Macintyre River and Weir River (part of the Border Rivers system), north of Mungindi, in the Southern Downs region of Queensland. The Barwon River generally flows south and west, joined by 36 tributaries, including major inflows from the Boomi, Moonie, Gwydir, Mehi, Namoi, Macquarie, Bokhara and Bogan rivers. During major flooding, overflow from the Narran Lakes and the Narran River also flows into the Barwon. The confluence of the Barwon and Culgoa rivers, between Brewarrina and Bourke, marks the start of the Darling River.Black and white Image of an Aboriginal man from Barwon River, New South Wales. Aboriginal people from six language groups originally occupied the area of the Barwon River wetlands. These were the Ngemba, the Baranbinja, the Murrawari, the Ualayai, the Weilwan, and the Kamilaroi peoples. The Aboriginal people generally used the wetlands for hunting, fishing, and gathering uses, and for cultural association.(Wikipedia) The name "barwon" is derived from the Australian Aboriginal words of barwum or bawon, meaning great, wide, awful river of muddy water; and also baawan, a Ngiyambaa name for both the Barwon and Darling rivers. The history, culture and livelihoods of the local Aboriginal people are closely intertwined with the Barwon River and its associated tributaries and downstream flows. (Wikipedia)aborigine, aboriginal, barwon river

Williams' use of the dog and poem was inspired by a print by the late Barbara Hanrahan (an artist friend) in which a women was holding a cat accompanied by a dog and in which words from a William Blake poem were included / After her mother died Williams made a work of her mother with the dog, holding the cat and using the same words in the Hanrahan print / The dog is a family pet; Dolcie, that Williams fell in love with / The dog as a symbol has been used in fifteenth and sixteenth century painting to represent fidelity in marriage / The use of the dog is also a contradiction to the themes in this work by Williams / Williams found that many of her women friends were having emotional and romantic difficulties, suffering from the same malady again and again, feeling rejected, destroyed and having unfulfilled desires / The female figure standing on her hands is not seeing things realistically / The figure is head over heels, vulnerable, with her skirt around her head revealing more than normal / The text enhances the meaning of the work and draws the viewer into experiencing the foolishness of love, demanding the viewer travel around and around to read it / Overall the dog provides structure to the work and a reliable object on which all else balances / Balance has been one of the recurring or repetitive themes within William's work / It references the physicality of clay, the difficulties in creating balance with the clay and balance in the work / Williams' work is about form rather than colour / Sometimes she uses a coloured clay like a pale terracotta / Williams likes the flatness of the surface in relationship to the marks of the text / She describes herself as a Minimalist, paring down the form to the bare essentials. 'In Love' was a finalist in the 1997 Nillumbik Art Award held at the Eltham Community and Reception Centre, Pitt Street, Eltham. A ceramic sculpture made of white stoneware clay (coated with a wash of gesso) of a girl doing a hand stand on the back of a dog (retriever?) / Her face/head is partially covered by her skirt which has come down / Her skirt is inscribed in the round with the poem "The Lady's First Song" (1938) by W.B. Yeats (see inscriptions and markings) / The dog is looking straight ahead and upwards towards the sky and his tail is pointing straight out. The dog is covered with cross-hatch incised lines to give the illusion of fur and texture / Hand written inscription of W.B. Yeats poem "The Lady's First Song" (1938) on girl's skirt / I turn round / Like a dumb beast in a show. / Neither know what I am / Nor where I go, / My language beaten / Into one name; / I am in love / And that is my shame. / What hurts the soul / My soul adores, / No better than a beast / Upon all fours.williams / yeats / love / ceramic / stoneware / dog

Topic ; The Junior Citizens Scheme, Tommy Bent 1900, Nell Harvey died; Mr Moule correction; The Aims of the CMHS are ‘to record the history of the City, and register something of the Australian Atmosphere, which the necessary speed-up in post-world-war two (WW11) immigration has caused to be lost; to produce a magazine at regular intervals, featuring the work of pioneers and the changing Australian scene; to work constantly with a long range view towards building a hall where records and exhibits can be housed’ (1961) The Original Newsletters reflect the history and heritage of the former City of Moorabbin — derived from Mooroobin, ‘a resting place’ in the Bunurrung spoken language. In 1994, the City of Moorabbin was integrated into the Cities of Bayside, Glen Eira, Kingston and Monash. This is Newsletter Vol. 3 No. 6 of the CMHS July 1963 CMHS obtained a Kingston City Council Community Grant 2016 for the digitization and preservation of these Original CMHS Newsletters commenced in 1961 1 x Foolscap paper printed on 2 sides folded for 4 pages CITY OF MOORABBIN HISTORICAL / SOCIETY / (Affiliated with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria ). / NEWSLETTER Vol. 3 No. 6 1963 city of moorabbin historical society 1961, sheehy t.a., newsletters,

Topic ; 'Wangarratta' Dr D M Whittaker; Moorabbin 1901; Keys Family Story; Moorabbin News; The Aims of the CMHS are ‘to record the history of the City, and register something of the Australian Atmosphere, which the necessary speed-up in post-world-war two (WW11) immigration has caused to be lost; to produce a magazine at regular intervals, featuring the work of pioneers and the changing Australian scene; to work constantly with a long range view towards building a hall where records and exhibits can be housed’ (1961) The Original Newsletters reflect the history and heritage of the former City of Moorabbin — derived from Mooroobin, ‘a resting place’ in the Bunurrung spoken language. In 1994, the City of Moorabbin was integrated into the Cities of Bayside, Glen Eira, Kingston and Monash. This is Newsletter No. 8 Vol. 3 of the CMHS September 1963 CMHS obtained a Kingston City Council Community Grant 2016 for the digitization and preservation of these Original CMHS Newsletters commenced in 1961 1 x Foolscap paper printed on 2 sides folded for 4 pages NEWSLETTER / Vol. 3 No 7 September 1963 / HISTORY / FILMS / CAMERA/ ART / LIGHT OPERA / FLORAL ART / CULTURAL / ACTIVITIES. city of moorabbin historical society 1961, sheehy t.a., newsletters,

Topics Librarian Miss Pixie S. Allen; Mrs Tommy Bent; Local Groups meeting dates; The Aims of the CMHS are ‘to record the history of the City, and register something of the Australian Atmosphere, which the necessary speed-up in post-world-war two (WW11) immigration has caused to be lost; to produce a magazine at regular intervals, featuring the work of pioneers and the changing Australian scene; to work constantly with a long range view towards building a hall where records and exhibits can be housed’ (1961) The Original Newsletters reflect the history and heritage of the former City of Moorabbin — derived from Mooroobin, ‘a resting place’ in the Bunurrung spoken language. In 1994, the City of Moorabbin was integrated into the Cities of Bayside, Glen Eira, Kingston and Monash This is Newsletter No. 10 Vol. 3 of the CMHS November 1963 CMHS obtained a Kingston City Council Community Grant 2016 for the digitization and preservation of these Original CMHS Newsletters commenced in 1961 1 x Foolscap paper printed on 2 sides folded for 4 pages NEWSLETTER / Vol. 3 No. 10 November 1963 / City of Moorabbin Historical Society /