Image:
Robert Jacks
Compelling Vestures    1965
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
151.2 x 120.9 cm [canvas]; 153.2 x 122.2 cm [frame] Gift of the Benalla Apex Club, 1967
1967.01
Benalla Art Gallery Collection

KIRKWOOD FAMILY NAMED FUND

The Kirkwood Family Named Fund honours Mary and Fred Kirkwood who were early advocates for a Benalla Art Gallery.

Mary and Fred came to Benalla in 1956 with their young family and were soon involved in local arts groups. In fact their home beat to the ‘arts drum’: The imperative of 7pm Blue Door drama club rehearsals; planning for visiting MSO, MTC, Australian Ballet, and Vic Arts Council performances; billeting of performers; Gilbert & Sullivan on the stereo to rehearse for the next Light Opera Co.; the home piano trundled along Nunn St for events at the Town Hall; appreciating Film Society ‘foreign films’; and many early evening ‘drop-ins’ by friends for a drink and discussion of the latest arts project – one big topic being an Art Gallery.

Fred and Mary were involved in establishing an Art Gallery Committee and the subsequent planning of the Inaugural Acquisitive Exhibition in approximately 1966. The committee chose to follow Patrick McCaughey’s recommendation and invite emerging artists to exhibit – providing wider, if more risky choice, for the modest purse on offer. The family remembers well the exhibition in the Memorial Hall as impressive with its square metres of painted canvas. Works were large, obscure in topic and loud in colour – hardly what most Benalla residents would have in their homes. Unsurprisingly Mary and Fred chose several for their own home which continue to be enjoyed by the family.

This Inaugural exhibition was a local success and generated excitement towards the possibility of Benalla becoming the ‘regional gallery’ for North-East Victoria.