A CHILDHOOD spent at Melbourne’s docks informs the work of printmaker and Federation University arts lecturer Jimmy Pasakos.
Pasakos’s skill is currently on show among that of six local artists in the Ballarat Printmakers exhibition that opened at Ross Creek Gallery last weekend.
The group exhibition brings together emerging and established artists to show the diversity and vitality of contemporary printmaking in the region.
The gallery’s Ruby Pilven said the work on show demonstrates the wealth of ideas and techniques currently shaping Ballarat’s print culture.
Alongside Pasakos, the new exhibition features pieces by Amanda Western, Jessica Schroeter, Peter Laqua, Emma Stoneman and Kathy Douglas.
“It’s great, fantastic,” said Pasakos, whose work is also informed by the experience of being a first generation Aussie child of Greek immigrant parents.
Printmaking is just one of the many artistic practices Pasakos teaches at the university and he has 12 works in this new show.
“It means a lot to me because I think that as a lecturer you’ve also got to be involved in your practice and research,” he said.
Most of the artists represented in the exhibition are former FedUni or University of Ballarat arts students, something of which Pasakos is proud.
“My childhood area was the Melbourne docklands and the migrant stories, the shipping and the industry have all played on my memories,” he said.
“Journeys, transition and memory all come into play. That’s what I draw from and bring into some sort of new context.”
The exhibition runs through to Sunday 31 May at the Ross Creek Gallery, open weekends and by appointment at 183 Post Office Road, Smythes Creek.
