Two artists living in Gozo, Hermine A. Sammut and Jackie Roberts, are collaborating for the first time in Autumn Encounter – Herbsttreffen 2, an unusual multi-media exhibition with an environmental theme, at the ArtBox Gallery (above Zeppi’s Bar), St Joseph Square, Qala, Gozo. The exhibition will run until Sunday 11 November and is open from Tuesday to Saturday 11am-3pm and 6-9pm, Sunday 9am-noon (closed Monday). With over thirty works for sale, the exhibition includes original paintings, ceramic sculpture, three-dimensional art, and metalwork together with designer jewellery.
The artists hope to raise funds for tree planting projects in Gozo; to encourage school children to visit the exhibition and to promote environmental awareness.
Hermine A. Sammut, an Austrian married to a Maltese, has been exhibiting locally and abroad since 2004. In this exhibition Hermine focuses on recycling waste into her work, using the waste product’s colour, media or previous use to symbolise meaning. It is her intention to set an example through the ‘reincarnation of waste’ in the belief that in today’s world we need to find new uses and value for our creation of household rubbish. Tin cans, plastic and glass bottles, wooden pallets, even ash from the local baker’s oven are reincarnated in her art.
This year Hermine has taken part in collective exhibitions and art competitions throughout Malta and Gozo, including the Giuseppe Garibaldi Competition at the Cultural Institute, Vecchia Cancelleria Valletta, the Eden Foundation Exhibition in Victoria and Treaty Rome at Kenuna Tower, Nadur, Gozo. In 2006 she exhibited her jewellery in Sittingbourne, England and presented a joint exhibition, Just Men on a fishing boat in Mgarr Harbour, Gozo.
Jackie Roberts, originally from England, has been producing art in metal from a workshop in Ghasri, Gozo for the last five years. In this exhibition she combines reclaimed metal and found material – an old lock, rusty bed springs, charred pallet wood, discarded overhead copper cable, the back from a dumped washing machine with mild steel and copper sheet into her work.
Jackie has also produced beautifully hand-crafted leaf forms in metal, reflecting the colours of autumn, a series of works expressing the themes of hidden emotions, inner and outer environments, and some surprise encounters. She also shows her funky leaf-inspired jewellery and hair ornaments.
Earlier this year Jackie held Go Fish, her first solo exhibition, at Art..e Gallery in Gozo. This venture showcased some of her favourite designs created over the last few years in a celebration of the marine environment. In 2006 she presented Mixed Blessings, also at ArtBox, a joint exhibition with her father Derek. Jackie teaches artistic metalwork to adults; undertakes commissions and shows her work in galleries, restaurants and bars. She has taken part in exhibitions in the UK and throughout Malta and Gozo; exhibiting at Gallery G, Artitude, and the Eden Foundation collective exhibitions on numerous occasions.
The exhibition can be previewed at www.sammuts.com/Autumn_Encounter/
reincarnation.htm