We are delighted to invite you to our new exhibition – A Travelling Artist’s Diary by Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson. This show is being presented as part of the George Town Festival 2025. In addition to a range of superb artworks, the exhibition recreates a pop-up studio in the Blue Room to offer a unique insight into the working methods of the artist.
Here are the details for your diary.
➽ Opening and Artist’s Talk: Wednesday 30 July 2025, 7.00pm
Your chance to see the artworks and meet the artist. Rebecca will reflect on her journey as an artist.
Free admission
Refreshments will be served
The exhibition will then run until Sunday 31 August 2025 – Rebecca will be present at her pop-up studio in the Blue Room for the duration of the George Town Festival (2–10 August)
➽ The exhibition
A Travelling Artist’s Diary is an exhibition about Rebecca’s art process through time, and highlights how she works towards the development of her artworks. Her personal life story is woven intimately into the many layers of the artwork. Key aspects of this biography include the impact of her childhood on how she began as an artist; how her parents shaped her artistic ambitions; the life choices she made with her husband, such as the travels that continually intertwine her life to her art. There is not one without the other.
These interconnections are at the centre of how Rebecca works. This exhibition is a sharing of her everyday practice through time – featuring paintings, mobiles, installations, sketchbooks and so on. Malaysia and its flora and fauna are her first and biggest inspiration. Nearly all the pieces in the exhibition are artworks not previously shown. They are, she says, ‘like precious talismans’. In addition, Rebecca will set up an artist’s studio at Hikayat for the entire duration of the exhibition so that visitors can observe her working methods and talk with her.
➽ The Artist: Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson
A plantation childhood in the 1960s and 1970s. My mother made our clothes, curry lunches and the best trifle ever. My planter father wrote diaries, loved natural history. My inspirational parents. Dancing nuns at estate schools. Life outside, barefoot. We followed our own paths. I chose archaeology, A levels in Dorset, England, but was sidetracked by the weaving shack. ‘A’ for weaving! Off to Parsons School of Design in New York to become a weaver and pattern maker.
In 1986, with my later-to-be husband David, we built Owen Rebecca Designs in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian flora and fauna on resort wear. Two sons later, we built our home, Tiger Rock, on Pangkor Island. Had a daughter. Moved to Penang for David’s work. Founded the Tropical Spice Garden. While in Jakarta we built our pinisi Tiger Blue in Bira, Sulawesi. Voyage Indonesia began! Back in Penang we restored and lived in a Kapitan Cina’s house. A house in Italy is my cherry on top. The kids, grown, finding their way. With love and luck, now I paint.
The artworks from the exhibition will be on sale.
Hikayat
226 Lebuh Pantai
George Town
10300 Penang
T: 04 261 9001 (Hikayat)
04 261 8001 (Gerakbudaya Bookshop @ Hikayat)
E:
aW5mbyB8IGhpa2F5YXQgISBhc2lh
Produced by
George Town Festival
TLM Events
Hikayat
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