Jindera artist Jacqui Melbourne with Winnie, 5, and Jaeger, 8, from Thurgoona Public School and some of the works from her new exhibition. Photo: Minerva Taylor.
The titles of Jacqui Melbourne’s artworks are as delightfully captivating as the pieces she has created.
There’s a purr-fect, if you’ll pardon the pun, array of names for her cat series – from Downtown Tabby and You Have To Be Kitten Me to The Great Catsby and even Pur-haps I Shouldn’t.
A deliberately quirky assortment of dogs, horses, birds and even a ceramic of a man juggling balls called … well, Don’t Drop Your Balls, are featured in her new exhibition on display at the Art Partners Gallery (located via the Arts/Parts shop in David Street, Albury).
You’ll even catch a glimpse of a Raku fire ceramic Black Caviar, which was quickly snapped up by an astute buyer on opening night.
It’s all part of the Jindera artist’s plan to create a collection of artworks and ceramics intended to be fun, engaging, and immersive. Indeed, she’s hoping parents will bring their children along to enjoy Whimsical, Whacky, Weird & Wonderful during the Christmas/New Year holiday break.
The exhibition leads with the caption: “Blessed are the weird people, the poets and misfits, the artists, the writers and music makers, the dreamers and the outsiders … for they force us to see the world differently.”
During the official opening on 5 December, Jacqui said if the exhibition “evoked a smile, or the desire to laugh out loud – equally with a random nasal snort – then I have achieved my mission!”
Instead of the usual speeches that often accompany such events, the local artist chose a selection of friends and colleagues to share quotes, many from the inimitable Dr Seuss himself, designed to capture the spirit and intent of her collection: “You’ll never be bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do!”
Jacqui’s work is the latest exhibition on display in this little-known gem of a gallery space, located in the heart of Albury.
The brainchild of Art Partners Australia founder Jacinta Mirams, the commercial gallery opened in 2023 with the purpose of exhibiting works by Australian contemporary artists and photographers and offering original artwork for sale.
Art Partners Australia is an Albury-based art consultancy that supplies and curates artwork to domestic and commercial spaces in order to inspire, engage and enhance environments.
It is based on Jacinta’s philosophy that designing contemporary spaces is not about putting pictures up on walls or filling empty spaces. Instead, she said, “it’s about creating environments that connect with people and encourage them to explore an image or an idea”.
Jacinta’s first lucky break with her new business came when she was asked to supply 38 artworks for the new Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre in 2016.
“I was commissioned to provide a wide range of artworks for the facility – works that would enhance the new building and positively engage the staff, patients, their families and visitors,” she said.
Another project followed shortly after, supplying 300 artworks to a major new hospital in Sydney, before she was asked to catalogue more than 1200 existing works in two hospitals.
That particular project involved inspecting and photographing each work, providing a condition report and recommendation on what works to keep and what works to reframe, according to Jacinta.
“This business now has the basis for an extraordinary collection of artworks by Australian artists,” she said.
“It was very rewarding finding some great art on the walls that once restored, reframed and curated will bring many more years of joy.”
Jacinta, who grew up in the Western District of Victoria, discovered her love of the Australian landscape from an early age and spent her childhood playing with her mother’s box brownie.
Driven by her passion and curiosity, she would undertake a three-year visual arts course and subsequent training.
While working with the Albury Library and Museum and the Albury Art Gallery – now Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) – Jacinta studied conservation photography, was museum-trained specialising in textiles, object handling, conservation and exhibition curation and even worked as a picture framer for five years.
She would go on to join philanthropic committee, Arts Albury, which raised $1.3 million for the redevelopment of MAMA.
Whimsical, Whacky, Weird & Wonderful is on display until 10 January 2026, at Art Partners Gallery, 488 David Street, Albury. To find out more, visit the website.
