New exhibition from QVMAG celebrates prominent Tassie art educators

The pair first met at Hobart's school of art in the late 1960s, and have since been influential in Tasmania's arts education sector.

Senior curator of visual art and design at QVMAG Ashley Bird said it was important QVMAG celebrated the artists that gave so much to the Launceston community.

"Education has been a big part of their practice, they were in the TAFE system in the early 80s that then became UTAS and the art school there," Mr Bird said.

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"And only until the last decade, they were still teaching in UTAS at Inveresk in printmaking, and drawing and painting."

He said their oldest work on display dated back to 1978.

"I'd like to say there's about 100 pieces exhibited here, because there was close to 110 but we had to do a bit of an edit close to the end to make sure we had enough space," Mr Bird said.

"It was very difficult to get it where it is because we're talking about a relationship that has spurred more than 50 years worth of prolific art making."

Mr Bird said there were over 150 people in attendance for the opening on the weekend.

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"There were people reminiscing and there was nostalgia in the room and talk of old galleries with other artists; it was a beautiful occasion," he said.

Artist Penny Mason said it was overwhelming to see their combined works that dated back 50 years on display.

"It's involved digging up a lot of stuff out of storage and thinking, did I do that?" Mason said.

"The whole process of selecting it has been amazingly positive and affirming."

She said the instillation partly reflected her and David's history together.

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"I guess it has to really, you can see lots of crossing over of the work in similar ideas, particularly in the early years," she said.

City of Launceston mayor Danny Gibson said the current exhibition diversified the offerings of the QVMAG.

"What it does is showcases the fact that we have these incredible local artists and educators that are worthy of an exhibition in their own right," Cr Gibson said.

"It's part of our free program, our big diverse offering in terms of QVMAG's ever changing program and importantly, it's about telling local stories."

The free exhibition runs until July 16.

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