THE Blow Back Ins exhibition opened at Broken Hill City Art Gallery last week, showcasing the work of notable Australian artists who spent two weeks in the region last April.
Paul Connor, a member of The Blow Back Ins and winner of the 2024 Pro Hart Outback Art Prize, said the concept was inspired by a group of prolific artists, the Blow In Art Collective, who visited and exhibited at the gallery in 2014.
“Some years back there was a group artists that came in to Broken Hill and they were called the Blow Ins and they were some of Australia’s leading artists,” Connor said.
“At the end of their stay they had an exhibition at the Broken Hill Art Gallery.”
Connor said he’s been visiting Broken Hill and Fowler’s Gap for decades, and was visiting town having helped his daughter Coquohalla relocate here, when he bumped in Kathryn Graham, manager at the Broken Hill City Art Gallery.
“We started talking about the idea of the return of the Blow-Ins,” he said.
“A couple of the original Blow In artists, such as Ann Thompson, who is one of the nation’s leading abstract artists, and Sophie Cape, were a part of the exhibition.
“They were the originals and there’s some new ones too.”
Connor said the collective of artists visited the Silver City for two weeks in April to spend time making works inspired by the town and its surrounds.
“The exhibition is the result of the work we made,” Connor said.
“A lot of it was made outside, en plein air.”
Connor said the collective was thrilled by the opening night turn out, which celebrated the exhibition along with the launch of exhibitions by the Willyama Arts Society and the Potters Society.
“There were about two hundred people, which was lovely,” he said. “To see all the work we shipped out, I think 60 works, and all of them, every piece was hung!”
Connor said he enjoyed having conversations with young, emerging local artists on opening night.
“There’s a lot of local artist, a lot of young artists, which really makes it such an exciting place, and it’s wonderful talking to them,” he said.
“It makes for a really conducive environment for working as an artist.”
