Celebrating our volunteers this National Volunteer Week
Our passionate volunteers play a big part in the Gallery experience, and we want to celebrate their contribution. Their support helps us with day-to-day activities and education workshops, guided tours, exhibition installations and providing wonderful customer service.
We recently caught up with three of our superstar volunteers to find out why volunteering is important to them, and what their favourite artwork currently is.
Sharon Pechey
Sharon is one of our valued volunteer guide and art educator who has given her time at the Gallery for many years.
Why is volunteering important to you?
Volunteering at Wollongong Art Gallery was one of the key components of my retirement plan. I love being able to keep contact with school-aged children through the tours, and it makes me feel happy to be part of this community.
It is very satisfying to be able to share my passion for art and to continue to learn and develop my knowledge of art. I love the camaraderie amongst the volunteers and the encouragement and support we receive from the gallery staff.
What is your favourite work currently hanging in the Gallery?
One of my favourite pieces is Mt Keira by Riste Andrievski. It reminds me of the works of Conrad Martens and Eugene von Guerard in the Wollongong Art Gallery collection.
I love the depth in the photograph, the endlessness of the view that leads the eye and draws you into the scene. The transition from dark to light, the varying contrasts create an almost 3D quality that enhances this sense of being drawn in and being part of the forest. It is as if you are taking a journey through the trees and can hear the sounds and inhale the scents. A real sense of place.
Image: Sharon Pechey with artwork by Riste Andrievski, Mt Keira, 2024, pigment print on vinyl, Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra 2024.
Carol Martin
Carol Martin is also a volunteer guide and art educator at the Gallery who loves her time spent volunteering.
Why is volunteering important to you?
Volunteering at Wollongong Art Gallery gives me a lot of pleasure. I am constantly learning, meeting new people, and catching up with other volunteers. I always feel welcome and valued.
What is your favourite work currently hanging in the Gallery?
“Landscape with White Cottage” from the Gallery collection, currently showing in Shifting Ground. Painted in 1904 by Sophie Steffanoni, the work gives us a glimpse into what the Illawarra landscape looked like 120 years ago when sparse settlement highlighted the beauty of the landscape.
The isolated whitewashed cottage in its bucolic setting draws you in. It makes you want to step into it and explore its surroundings: maybe walk into the bush behind, make your way to the fence to see what is down by the water’s edge, or perhaps stroll back along the path where there are sure to be little wildflowers growing.
Steffanoni most often painted en plein air and was interested in the light, colour, and atmosphere of the Australian countryside. I am mesmerised by the detail and perfect composition of this small oil on canvas painting and I’m glad that it underwent conservation treatment in 2022, ensuring that future generations will be able to enjoy its charm and its window into the past.
Image: Carol Martin with artwork by Sophie Steffanoni, Landscape with White Cottage, oil on canvas, 1904, 23.5 x 55.0 cm, Wollongong Art Gallery Collection, The George and Nerissa Johnson Memorial Bequest, purchased 2008.
Sharon Elizabeth Mearing
Sharon is retired Visual Arts teacher who volunteers her time as both a guide and as one of our art educators, and you can even find some greeting cards featuring her artwork in our Gift Shop.
Why is volunteering important to you?
Volunteering at the Gallery continues my engagement with art. I am fascinated by the imagination, conceptualisation, skill, and pure audacity of those that make art making their livelihoods, along with the connection I have to fellow volunteers and the wonderful staff.
What is your favourite work currently hanging in the Gallery?
Curators Alinta Maguire and Aneshka Mora walked the guides through the current exhibition “Ante/Anti/Post: Here + Now” which further enlightened me to the idea of ‘de-colonisation’. The display of various voices expresses the concepts of; race, postcolonialism, feminism and queer culture that made me realise that the impact of white Anglo colonisation of the Australian continent is still very much present in all aspects of our society.
In particular, I love the playful “Water Works” by Monty Hancock – part of a body of work investigating water in and around the Illawarra and the Gallery. Handcock’s artwork reminds one to consider that technologies and practices of Aboriginal people are of value – ignoring this led to the folly of building in a flood zone.
Hancock’s assemblage sculpture of found objects is a tongue-in-cheek ‘disaster kit’ that might be used by gallery staff to respond to water in the Gallery. It also speaks to the disaster of colonial ideology, for example in building on top of a naturally fluctuating freshwater spring.
I find myself reflecting on the public fountain in the Town Hall forecourt and the dreaming story of Gurangaty, one of many freshwater and saltwater Dharawal creation stories. This story relates to the creation of local Illawarra rivers and waterways.
It is a pithy reminder that the gallery sits on unceded Dharawal land and that more broadly, colonial points of view have governed the design of our urban landscape. The title "Water Works" also alludes to the sorry business of loss of culture of our first nations people and the ongoing trauma caused by colonisation”.
Image: Sharon Elizabeth Mearing with artwork by Monty Hancock, Water Works, dimensions variable, 2023, Ante/Anti/Post: Here + Now, 2024.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to all our volunteers for their contribution to the Gallery and to our community.
If you’d like to find out more about volunteering and how to apply, visit our Volunteering page.
Image: Wollongong Art Gallery Volunteer leading a guided tour.