Art critic Sasha Grishin wrote a great review of Noctilucent at Beaver Galleries for the Canberra media site Riotact.
‘In the decade or so that I have observed Hammond’s work, she appears to be an artist drawn to the liminal space – something transitional where you are leaving the known and are about to embrace the unknown. Twilight is the time when nature is being reborn and that which was once familiar is veiled in a sense of mystery.’
Møstings Hus 2022, line etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint, relief roll and chine collé
In it he makes special mention of my prints: ‘A gem-like etching, Møstings Hus, is possibly the most successful image in the exhibition and captures a descending fog that veils buildings and the landscape but also conveys something of an inner luminosity. It is a cold, mysterious yet welcoming image, where a sanctuary exists behind a stone wall in all of this frozen bleakness.’
Follow this link to read the full review, or it can be downloaded here:
Noctilucent opened at Beaver Galleries in Canberra on Thursday 2 May. This exhibition of new paintings and prints was created in response to living in Scandinavia. I moved from Melbourne to Copenhagen with my family in 2018 and the quality of light, the seasons and the landscapes, are all completely different to my native Australian experience, and an ongoing source of inspiration.
Kirrily Hammond with Saorge trees 2023
It was lovely to see old friends and meet some new ones at the opening, which I shared with the Yarrenyty Arltere Artists from Alice Springs and their exhibition of soft sculptures.
Artist talk with Kirrily Hammond, Maryanne Wick and Alexandra Sasse
On Saturday 20 April Maryanne Wick, Alexandra Sasse and I held a discussion about the works on display in our concurrent exhibitions Northern Landscapes and Iberia Antiqua: Still Life Landscapes.
We talked about the stories behind our works, our sources of inspiration, and the joys and challenges of maintaining an artistic practice in another country.
‘Northern Landscapes’ opened at Alexandra Sasse Gallery, Melbourne on Thursday 18 April with a speech by Dr Sheridan Palmer from the University of Melbourne, and the evening was accompanied by jazz musicians John Scurry and Eugene Ball.
Dr Sheridan Palmer giving opening speechOpening speechesMaryanne Wick and Kirrily Hammond, opening speechesOpening attendeesOpening attendeesOpening attendeesOpening attendeesOpening attendeeMusicians: John Scurry and Eugene BallOpening attendees
Kirrily Hammond gives us a key to her insider world through her ‘quiet’ paintings, where we know that she has been there and that these works, like all works of art, are invitations into the artist’s life and vision.
Dr Sheridan Palmer
My paintings and prints depicting predominantly Northern European landscapes are exhibited alongside Maryanne Wick’s still life paintings from Southern Spain in her exhibition titled ‘Iberia Antiqua: Still Life Painting’.
Travel happens to most of us, by design or circumstance. Two Australian artists put new roots into the old and fertile soils of Northern and Southern Europe enriched with the history and place-makings of others. Their work distils what speaks to all of us, across millennia and miles.
I’m currently working towards two exhibitions in Australia featuring a range of recent paintings and prints.
The first opens 6pm, 18 April 2024 at Alexandra Sasse Gallery in Melbourne. This will be a duo exhibition with Maryanne Wick and runs until 11 May.
The second opens 2 May 2024 at Beaver Galleries in Canberra, and runs until 18 May. I’ve been represented by Beaver Galleries for over 20 years, and this will be my seventh solo exhibition with the gallery.
I can’t wait to travel back to Australia to be there for the openings!
Lisbon Courtyard 2023 Misty Lake 2023Fanø II 2021Flight 2022
I recently wrote an article for Imprint magazine about Geography Biography, an exhibition of new work by Tacita Dean at the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris. The exhibition explored slow time in relation to the seasons and our own shifting landscapes through the mediums of film, photography, drawing, collage and printmaking.
The title work of the exhibition, Geography Biography (2023) was a 35 mm diptych film presented in a circular pavilion in the centre of Bourse de Commerce. Comprised of images from 20th century postcards from various parts of the world, and outtakes from her own films dating from her early days as an art student to the present, the work offered fragments of the life and memory of the artist, and according to Dean, it was an “accidental self portrait”. Also featured in the exhibition was the majestic chalk drawing on blackboard, The Wreck of Hope 2022, and Sakura (Jindai I) 2023, a photograph of a centuries old sacred Japanese cherry tree, with a hand-coloured background.
Tacita Dean, The Wreck of Hope, 2022, Photo: Florent MichelView of Tacita Dean’s exhibition, Geography Biography, Bourse de Commerce, 2023. Photo: Aurélien MoleTacita Dean, Sakura (Jindai I), 2023 Photo: Aurélien Mole
The Summer edition of the Australian magazine Imprint features my article titled Memory Itself, with the image on the cover of the Bourse de Commerce circular pavilion designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The article investigates the process and story behind the works in the exhibition, with a focus on a series of four prints titled Telomere, which were produced at BORCH Editions in Copenhagen.
Titled Curator’s Choice, it features works from the studio and stockroom including the following artists: Jane Chandler, Mark Dober, Rachel Ellis, Dianne Emery, Sara Freeman, David Hamilton, Kirrily Hammond, Sallie Moffatt, Ian Parry, Evan Salmon, Alexandra Sasse, John Scurry and Maryanne Wick.
The exhibition continues until 18 November 2023.
Gallery opening hours: Thursday to Saturday, 12-5pm; otherwise by appointment +613 98152447 or [email protected]
During the whole month of May, Oticon’s Kunstforening presents a large solo exhibition of my latest paintings and prints that feature a wide range of Danish landscapes – from Ballerup and Frederiksberg, to Blokhus, Fanø and Bornholm.
There will be over 35 new works that include oil paintings, etchings and lithographs created in my studio in Frederiksberg, as well as the print workshops of Borch Editions in Amager, and Statens Værksteder for Kunst, Copenhagen.
The exhibition will be presented across four Oticon venues: the headquarters in Smørum, Eriksholm Research centre in Snekkersten, as well as DGS and EPOS in Ballerup.
Kalvehave Kirke 2023, oil on linen 40 x 60 cm
Artist talk and opening drinks:
16:00 – 17:00, Wednesday 3 May
Oticon Headquarters, Kongebakken 9, Smørum
I will present a talk about the works and how they were created, with detailed explanations of the printing processes, as well as a few stories about the places depicted in the artworks.
Please get in contact with me if you’d like to come along.
‘Møstings Hus’ 2022, line etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint, relief roll and chine collé, 14.7 x 16 cm ed. 12
I’m currently in the midst of editioning my latest etching ‘Møstings Hus’ at Borch Editions, where I’ve been so lucky to receive expert advice from master printers Tom Jennions and Mette Ulstrup, as well as Niels Borch Jensen. My challenge was to achieve the same glow in my prints that appears in my paintings via a bright orange underlayer. Through a long process of trial and error, I had to re-learn the art of accurate multi-layer printing (there are 4 in this print), find the right colour combination and discover the chine collé solution that brought it all together. Møstings Hus is a historical house and gallery in Copenhagen that was opposite our first apartment when we moved to Denmark. I was always intrigued and inspired by seeing it in the changing seasons, with the many trees of Frederiksberg Have surrounding it and providing an ever-changing backdrop.
‘Møstings Hus’ 2021, oil on linen, 46 x 46 cm
I’m excited to apply this newly discovered combination of colours and printing techniques to the next series of prints, and see where it takes me. Now I can bounce between painting and printing in a more cohesive way and let the different mediums inspire new ideas. I just need to find some time to get into it!
Some exciting news – Alexandra Sasse Gallery will now be representing my work in Melbourne, Australia.
Alexandra Sasse Gallery is located in a Victorian mansion in Kew and represents a group of contemporary Australian artists who have decades of peer reviewed practice and whose work is collected by state and regional galleries. They include Jane Chandler, Elizabeth Cross, Simon Deere, Mark Dober, Rachel Ellis, Dianne Emery, David Hamilton, Sallie Moffatt, Evan Salmon, Alexandra Sasse, John Scurry and Melody Spangaro.
For further information, please visit the gallery’s website where you’ll find my artist profile and a link to my cv.
I’ve started work for my first exhibition at Alexandra Sasse Gallery in October 2023.
In the meantime, if you are in the Victorian region, enquiries about available works can be made to Alexandra via her website or [email protected].
Enquiries from Canberra and the ACT region can continue via my other Australian representative gallery Beaver Galleries.
We wish you a Merry Christmas with a selection of new paintings and print with motifs from Frederiksberg. The images are created by Kirrily Hammond, who has found her way to Frederiksberg from the other side of the globe. Everyone is welcome to drop by Remanius Vision on Gammel Kongevej.
“Come in for a cup of coffee and a look at the beautiful paintings and delicious spectacle frames ”, is the call from Michelle Odberg, owner of Remanius Vision. “I got the idea to exhibit some of Kirrily’s paintings as she is a customer of the store, and recently needed new “painting glasses”, tells Michelle. “We quickly agreed about throwing ourselves into it so now customers can look at frames and beautiful paintings at the same time. ”
Kirrily Hammond moved with her family from Melbourne in Australia to Frederiksberg in 2018, and the artist has found rich inspiration in her new surroundings and the Danish painter Hammershøi. Her oil paintings and lithograph depict Frederiksberg Have, Søndermarken and Bøllemosen, Strandgade and Fanø. Kirrily is a graduate of both the Canberra School of Art and the Glasgow School of Art, and she has exhibited her work in Australian commercial galleries and art museums since 1995.
The landscape has been a constant theme in her art for over twenty-five years and her paintings are intuitive responses to her surroundings. The beautiful park areas of Frederiksberg Garden and Søndermarken have captivated Kirrily, and she has enjoyed depicting the change of seasons in a series of works. The lithographic prints are on display at Remanius Vision are made at The Danish Workshops for Art in June 2021, where Kirrily produced a new series of prints of places like Bøllemosen and Fanø. Kirrily is very pleased to have the opportunity to show her work in Remanius Vision, especially since it is so close to Frederiksberg Garden and Søndermarken, which are the subject of some of her paintings. Kirrily hopes in the longer term to find Danish commercial gallery representation, as she has gradually established her work here in Denmark.
Welcome to glasses and pictures at Remanius Vision.
I have a selection of new works on display at Remanius Vision, in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. These include four paintings of Danish landscapes – from very the local Frederiksberg Have, Søndermarken and Strandgade in the city, to Fanø – a small island off the far western side of Denmark. The two lithographs, Forest (Bøllemosen) and Fanø, were produced during a residency at the Statens Værkstedet for Kunst in June this year.
The works will be on display until early in the new year. I hope you might get the chance to stop by!
Gammel Kongevej 179 Frederiksberg C 1850 (view map) Mon – Fri 10.00 – 17.30 Sat 10.00 – 15.00
I recently had the opportunity to spend a few weeks on the little Danish island of Bornholm, which is located south of Sweden, in the middle of the Baltic Sea (I was offered the use of a summerhouse so I could explore and paint this magical place). Bornholm has a scattering of small towns and villages across the island, with gorgeous colourful houses and little harbours. In each village there is also usually a smoking house with their distinctive chimneys and delicious smoked fish for sale. I found the landscapes mesmerising and whilst I was there I had a very productive time of painting, and will continue to be inspired for a long time to come.
My residency at SVFK finished at the end of June. I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in lithography, and producing a series of images of my newly discovered Danish surroundings. This has been a continuation of my long-held fascination with urban and rural environments – and specifically the quality of light in these places.
I originally intended to focus on the historic buildings in the immediate vicinity of SVFK, however I became more interested in imagery of the natural environment and made lithographs of Bøllemosen and Fanø as well as areas in Copenhagen such as Søndermarken and Frederiksberg Have.
Lithography is a medium that has enabled me to experiment with drawing, to develop different states of the same image. This allowed me to investigate how different qualities of light can be achieved in an image through counter-etching the stone and experimental use of colour. Images of the prints are online here in the print page of this site.
Etching the stone for the print Simeons KirkeGrinding the stone
I’m super pleased that my article ‘Printing Danishly’ was published in Imprint magazine, including the cover image by Julie Mehretu.
I wrote about Borch Editions, a print workshop in Copenhagen that publishes work by Tacita Dean, Julie Mehretu, Trine Søndergaard, Georg Baselitz, Olafur Eliasson and Mamma Andersson, among many others.
My Residency at the Danish Art Workshops or SVFK is underway and I have been loving making lithographs again in this fantastic facility. I’ve had a whole print workshop to make a new body of work – stay tuned for images!
Preparing the lithographic stone for printingLithographic press, ink and paper ready for printingThere are also presses for intaglio and relief printing
I currently have some new paintings on display at Remanius Vision, an optometrist in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. They are landscapes from the surrounding area – a courtyard view on Smallegade, Frederiksberg Have and Ballerup Skyline.
