I am thrilled to announce the Fascinator series of oil paintings and small works on paper has sold out. It was a great project which lasted 6 years!! Tackling the topic of the visibility of women artists for the last 500 years, I now feel the series is complete, although we are still a long way from equity. It is wonderful to finally see major collecting institutions making efforts to redress the gender bias and imbalance in public programming, collection management and exhibition development after years of advocacy from the sector.
Elvis Richardson has led much of the charge with Countess – making women count in the art world. I believe without the reports Countess has generated since 2008, exhibitions like Know My Name, currently showing at the National Gallery of Australia, would not have evolved.
Take a look at the 2019 Countess report here.
The Covid pandemic has been a trying time for many of us, especially those living through harsh lockdowns in Victoria. I am fortunate enough to live close to the sea in the beautiful Mornington Peninsula so it hasn’t been too terrible. When I knew contract curatorial and conservation work in in collecting organisations would dry up, and interstate travel become unreliable, I decided to back myself and open an art conservation business. While I gained my Master of Cultural Materials Conservation back in 2014, and worked in museums and galleries since, while privately conserving paintings on the side, I longed for a conservation studio where the general public could visit.
In July 2020 The Art Doctor was born!! Its a wonderful small business tucked inside the very fabulous & GALLERY in Sorrento.
My dream of becoming a full time paintings conservator has come true, and I am so grateful for the wonderful clientele who have supported this new venture. I will still make art, but find the work of the conservator very interesting, satisfying and sometimes pretty damn hard!!
This lovely little beach scene was covered with grime and cigarette smoke staining and after three cleans for the three layers of dirt, it came up rather well!! I will post more before and afters soon.
Cash Brown 
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