We're pleased to announce a two-month extension to our program at 136 Johnston St, Collingwood! After completing an initial three-months, we've been invited to stay on until 7 December (thank you Marcus and Leah).

Granted this extra slice of time, our final two shows go on to develop themes introduced by our previous three artists: a sense of exploration, self-taught methods and techniques – from darkroom experiments, and the intersection of sculpture, ceramics, and painting, to responding to the landscape en plein.

To recap: it all started with the moody greyscale of Lichtenstein’s ‘Paperwork’. Unique-state compositions of light, ink, paint, and acid emulsion, deserving of a  double-take: the velvety-dark finger-paint style pieces concealing layers of images, seen only on second-glance.

Next, Collingwood saw ceramic master, Stephen Benwell’s ‘3 Vases’. A treat to those walking by on their way home from work, seeing the pieces lit up at sunset.

With scarlet reds, shady blues and muted yellows, Sydney’s Catherine Cassidy created paintings to cheer morning commuters securing their coffee fix from Bluebird Espresso next door. Evoking the remote regions of the Gammon Ranges, Central Desert, and Lake Mungo, her colours came in hues often unseen in the blue-gray Collingwood terrain.

Coming up: we present two more open exhibitions.

From 16 October, Melbourne artist Naomi Eller shows ceramic pieces in earthy pigments. Like Benwell, she is a self-taught potter with initial training in painting. See Eller’s website here.

Book-ending our program will be ‘Look/See’ by New Zealand-born artist Matt Arbuckle – a painter currently engrossed in spatial photographic abstractions; a nice counter-point to Lichtenstein’s painterly photo-developing process.

Our roaming project – 136 Johnston Street – has put inactive space to good use by providing rent-free exhibitions to exciting contemporary artists, putting their work directly in the path of the public. This program has been a significant milestone for Chapter House Lane, in line with our ethos: to turn over disused space for the cultural and artistic well-being of the community. We are proud to have achieved this goal and hope you’ve enjoyed the shows.