Exhibit celebrates new gallery and old collection

The Collie Art Gallery will return to its roots later this month with an exhibition showcasing the bequest of West Australian art dealer Claude Hotchin. Mr Hotchin’s extensive collection was distributed as gifts to councils around the South West and Great Southern from 1947 until his death in 1977. Collie’s collection was donated in 1954 and was displayed at the Collie Shire Council chambers until 2015, when a push for the works to be stored in a more appropriate environment led to the art gallery being built and established. Gallery coordinator Payam Parishanzadeh said the new gallery was able to take good care of the important collection. “The pieces were looked after, but the gallery is a better place for such works because we have the air conditioning and the humidifier so artworks are generally better preserved if the space is specialised for such purposes,” he said. “The gallery opened after 10 years of local people fighting for its establishment, including Jan Wallace, who was a driving force. “We are expecting a good audience for this exhibition because the Claude Hotchin bequest forms a major part of a lot of the art centres in the area.” Mr Hotchin also donated collections to the cities of Bunbury and Albany and the Shire of Plantagenet, with other donations to groups in Katanning and Narrogin. The exhibition, A Glimpse of the Collie Art Collection, begins on August 21 and will run for three weeks until September 13 and will also include other works from the Shire of Collie’s collection. Mr Parishanzadeh said his favourite piece from the collection was a painting of Mt Clarence in Albany by West Australian artist Guy Grey-Smith. This will be the second exhibit at the gallery since it reopened after a lengthy shutdown in June.