Thinking outside of the PO box

Ron Langman AM has a brilliant academic and creative design background that makes him one of our treasured South Australians.
Yet, for all of the most notable and wide-ranging inscriptions in his curriculum vitae including an Order of Australia in 2006 for services to the construction industry, founder of the Adelaide Art Director’s Club, as the creator of the Home Ideas Centre in Adelaide that was copied nationally, and as a councillor for the Royal Adelaide Zoological Society, plus a Masters degree of Entrepreneurship Adelaide University School of Engineering and a Bachelor of Industrial Design, he feels right at home working in an old post office.
But it is no ordinary post office – in The Strand, Port Elliot, where for the past 29 years now-retired post master Ted Rosser, 72, diligently sold stamps, connected us and grimaced as he left bills in the boxes.
Ron, and his wife, Sonya Hender, a brilliant printmaking artist, have turned this beautiful 110-year-old sandstone building into a hub of creative brilliance without losing any of its heritage qualities.
Welcome The Strand Gallery to our art world, starting with an official opening tomorrow (August 5) coinciding with a launch of its SALA festival exhibition of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, photography and printmaking in conjunction with the Quick Whippet Studio Artists – Anna Haig, Halinka Harrison, Lindy Sando, and of course Ron
and Sonya (pictured). The gallery’s stunning interior design, especially the strategic lighting, will continue to accentuate the sheer talent of so many local artists, and significantly, draw tourists to Port Elliot and the region.
Some of the previous post office boxes will make-way for a window to display illuminated art works at night. The next development stage will include a wine bar and cellar on the adjacent block.
Each of the tastefully-restored rooms will showcase specific forms of visual arts, including Sonya’s printmaking room with the largest etching press outside of the University of SA. Sonya achieved her Masters in Social Research, but printmaking has always been where her heart lay and in recent years completed a Bachelor in Visual Arts degree. She is also on the Foundation Board of the South Australian Museum.
Ron has an impressive background in photography, including acclaimed work some years ago for the South Australian Tourism Commission. He has recently ventured back into the artistic side of photography, and took the magnificent image on our front cover taken at Knight’s Beach looking at The Bluff and processed with yellow light painting that reflects in the pools in the foreground. Both Ron and Sonya said they were naturally excited about their new venture in the old Port Elliot Post Office.
“It’s about living as passion for art in all forms,” Ron said. “This is not just our gallery; we want it to be a home to exhibitions of some brilliant artists in the region.
“There is also that immense satisfaction of creating a very worthwhile reason to restore this beautiful old building.”