Heading down under with trip downtown

By Jane Norris

Published: September 14, 2008

There’s no need to scrounge up airfare to Australia to immerse yourself in a dreamlike realm of heroes, creatures and epic stories straight from Aboriginal traditions. Just make an easy turn off bustling U.S. 250, glide up a quiet green hillside and allow yourself some time to linger among the bark paintings and canvases in the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection.

“It’s kind of like a little hidden jewel in Charlottesville,’’ said Elizabeth Mollica, museum assistant at Kluge-Ruhe. “A lot of people are surprised that it is here.’’

A year-long exhibit that opened late

last month, “All-Time Favorites: Best-Loved Works from the Kluge-Ruhe Collection,’’ is filled with paintings on canvas and bark, as well as sculptures and other items that represent a wide range of geographical regions and painting traditions.

“People always like to see a lot of the bark paintings,’’ Mollica said. “There is a lot of variety.

“Just coming to see the paintings is interesting for all ages. Each one you could just look at for hours.’’

Children also are fascinated by the artwork — and the people who created them.

“They ask a lot about Australia,’’ Mollica said of the museum’s younger guests. “A lot of them are studying about Australia and about art at school.’’

Another exhibit, “Gelam Nguzu Kazi (Dugong My Son),’’ on display through Oct. 12, shows the different traditional influences from the islands in the Torres Strait as reflected in works by award-winning contemporary artists.

Wear comfortable shoes, because you won’t want to hurry from room to room. It’s easy, and much more fun, to let yourself get lost in the paintings.

Many of the images appear against backgrounds of countless dots or small lines, giving the effect of gazing into a starry sky. The longer one gazes at a work, the more details seem to emerge. Many canvases seem challenging and soothing at the same time.

Earth tones ranging from desert tans to limitless shades of rusts, reds and golds snap against black surfaces. Stroll around a corner, and an unexpected color combination with minty greens and seaside grays almost pulses on the next wall.

There are plenty of explanatory passages by the paintings describing the artists and the stories their works depict, but don’t be surprised if your imagination starts filling in details of its own. If you’re coming with your family, it’s a good idea to stow a pack of markers or crayons and a pad of paper in the car, because inspiration may have your fingers fairly itching to draw by the time you click your seat belt to head home.

No surprise, then, that the museum has a variety of educational programs for children and adults.

Call to reserve a spot on a Tucker Box Tour, for instance, and your lunch break can feed your soul. If you’d like to have your meal waiting when you get there, order a lunch from Brix while you make your reservations.

Children’s programs provide opportunities to learn more about the artworks and the rich culture that inspired them. “Inkspots,’’ a printmaking workshop for ages 6 to 11, was held Saturday.

Throughout the year, events at the museum can include lectures by respected scholars, musical programs, screenings of films by and about Australians, receptions and more, so keep checking the Web site to see what’s new.

Folks who enjoy the images can thank John W. Kluge for bringing the works together in Charlottesville. Kluge began collecting intriguing Aboriginal works in 1988, and he’d already created a significant private collection of his own by 1993, when he bought the artworks and archives owned by the late Edward L. Ruhe. Ruhe, a professor in Lawrence, Kan., discovered his own passion for Aboriginal art during a 1965 visit Down Under while he was a Fulbright Scholar.

The combination of the two collections keeps solid scholarship on hand for tomorrow’s researchers — and a wide variety of painting styles on the walls for today’s dreamers.