Historic Burke treasure stars in new circus exhibition

Friday 17 October 2008

A treasure of Beechworth’s Burke Museum collection, an original woodblock, Ashton’s Circus circa 1857, is featuring in a new touring exhibition - Step Right Up - celebrating the circus in Australian art.


The object, by an unknown artist, is the oldest work on display as part of the exhibition at the Albury Art Gallery until 23 November ahead of a national tour including The Arts Centre in Melbourne, Museum of Brisbane and Art Gallery of Northern Territory.


A print taken from the historic woodblock by artist Vincent Drane will also feature in Step Right Up. The print, made at the National Trust-owned Federal Standard Printing Works in Chiltern, was commissioned by the Burke Museum in 2000 to promote a touring exhibition of its own amazing visual art collection, Following the Fortune Hunters: The Art and Culture of the Ovens Goldfield.


A joint project of the Albury Art Gallery and the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Step Right Up - the Circus in Australian Art also features pieces from the Albury City collection, works commissioned by artists specifically for this event and historical and contemporary artworks drawn from State, Regional, commercial and private collections. Works from major artists such as John Brack, Fred Williams, Ken Whisson, Jeffrey Smart and John Olsen are included in the exhibition.


The historic woodblock is one of thousands of objects, artworks and curiosities held in the treasure trove that is Beechworth’s Burke Museum. A nationally significant collection of Aboriginal artefacts from the early to mid-19th century, an amazing natural history collection, one of the four original Ned Kelly death masks and thousands of documents, journals and photographs from Beechworth’s heady gold rush days to the present are among the permanent collections on display at this fine regional museum, a jewel of Beechworth’s Historic and Cultural Precinct.


As part of its own exhibitions program, the Burke Museum is currently featuring Women Vote: They Picked up the Patter with Amazing Fluency commemorating the contribution of Beechworth women to the Monster Petition presented to the Victorian Parliament in 1891 calling for the right to vote. See full details at: www.beechworth.com/burkemus/exhibits