Australian Girls Own Gallery (aGOG) facts for kids

The australian Girls Own Gallery (aGOG) was a special art gallery in Kingston, Canberra. It was open from 1989 to 1998. This gallery was unique because it was a "commercial gallery," meaning it sold artworks.

Helen Maxwell, who used to be a curator at the National Gallery of Australia, owned and ran aGOG. A curator is someone who chooses and organizes artworks for a museum or gallery.

Why Was This Gallery Special?

The aGOG gallery was very important because it mostly showed art by women artists. Helen Maxwell started the gallery because she felt that women artists were not always given a fair chance in the art world. She believed strongly that "women didn't get enough of a voice" in art.

Towards the end of the gallery's time, it did sometimes show art by men, but this was very rare.

First Exhibitions and Featured Artists

The very first art show at aGOG was called Les femmes formidables 1. This show ran from March 16 to April 19, 1989. It featured the work of five talented female artists:

• Banduk Marika
• Barbara Hanrahan
• Joyce Allen
• Lidia Groblika
• Kate Lohse

An art expert named Sasha Grishin said that these artists were a key group of women who made prints in Australia at that time.

The aGOG gallery held many different art shows each year. These included both group shows (where many artists showed their work together) and solo shows (where one artist showed their work). Some of the famous artists who showed their art there were:

• Vivienne Binns
• Pam Debenham
• Judy Horacek
• Marie McMahon
• Patsy Payne
• Mitzi Shearer
• Ruth Waller
• Judy Watson

What Happened Next?

After the australian Girls Own Gallery closed in 1998, Helen Maxwell opened a new gallery. It was called the Helen Maxwell Gallery and was located in Braddon, Canberra. This new gallery was different because it showed art by both male and female artists. The Helen Maxwell Gallery closed in 2010.