Terra Firma IIis the second iteration of this popular group exhibition, which focuses on the unique landscape of Australia. We have selected a diverse range of artists from across Regional and Metro Victoria and New South Wales to respond to this concept and are delighted to be presenting this really beautiful show.

Shelley McKenzie – “While the land persists and will persist, in making this work I tried to see signs in the land. What I noticed was a scarification of the texture and appearance of the surface of the land. Roads, ploughed paddocks, denuded feed lots, dams, human structures, enclosures and clearings, dry creeks, remnants of bushland. The firm ground reshaped, redefined.”

 

Sally Stokes- “Covid 19- no trip to the desert this year. Instead I worked from the Sydney Hawkesbury Sandstone bush, sitting amongst the bush in silence, drawing out some essentials, feeling the connection that emerges when all else drops away. It’s that emotional connection, the memory of it and the beauty and variety of the bush. Nothing is predictable, and more and more emerges with the sitting and drawing.”

Harley Manifold- “When I moved down to Warrnambool I started painting a few people wandering about in the evening. Slowly as I became more settled here all of the figures started to disappear – much like the streets at night now because of the Pandemic. Yet it is a peaceful quietness – there is a solace in the solitude. These works are enjoying and immortalising the inbetween places, places not many stop to look at. Taking pleasure in the simple play of light and dark, something anyone can see.”

Andrea Shaw – “These works come from time spent out on walking tracks along the Great Ocean Road. The brambly moonah forests around Torquay, the ironbark’s and shrubs at Point Addis and the lush green ferns shadowed by tall stringybarks near Lorne. Such varying landscapes all within the one shire.Painted from quick reference sketches and photographs, the palettes for these works come from memory and intuition.”

 

Nick Dridan – “These works carry on my interest in my immediate surroundings. Inspired by the shapes, forms and inhabitants of the landscape, I try to distill things into a simple image, something like visual poetry. Narrative or storytelling is sometimes considered in these paintings, but is less important than the overall feeling, which is my general way of working.”

 

Ellie Malin – “End of Summer 2020, the exigent stench of bushfires filled the air. A few short weeks later, we were confining warily inside our homes. Our environment contracted to a limited 5km radius and ‘walks to nowhere’ around the neighbourhood became an everyday outing. Inspiration of my Australian landscape became singularly focused and centred on time spent outdoors and gazing out windows towards the horizon. Old terraces lined up as if to hold each other up, along densely populated streets, front yard foliage, a curious gum tree, scattering pink sunsets, it was these elements and moments from life that connected me with the landscape. For this work I swapped the etching press for a paintbrush to achieve more immediate results, laying out colours and shapes purposely revealing and concealing information beneath the surface.”

Terra Firma II runs until December 23rd, to see the full listing click here.

install images by Carli Wilson Photography.