Liz Wickramasinghe’s paintings explore a combination of themes around domestic crafts, such a textiles and hand-making traditions and the rugged, costal landscapes where she lives on Wadawurrung country in Victoria. By combining a range of painting, masking and relief-printmaking techniques, her works explore layering, repetition, texture, linework and pattern. This approach allows Liz to explore naturally occurring repetition and pattern found in the landscapes and botanical life of her region, highlighting the parallels with her love of weaving, patchwork and collaged imagery. This body of work includes Liz’s first attempts at portraying a still life setting, which bring together the themes and visual references so often apparent in her art practice.

Through exploring dramatic tonal contrasts and examining the balance between light and shade, Nell Symonds creates dynamic still life portrayals. Composed of assorted potteries, summery lemons and curvaceous pears and pomegranates, her subjects are often selected for their shapely proportions, intrinsic colour variations, luminosity and ability to cast compelling shadows.

Sydney based artist, Zoe Sernack has produced 5 new works for us that reflect forms of nature above and below the surface. Using a soft and delicate colour palette, Zoe not only paints but carves into the timber boards to really capture the flow and pulse of the Australian landscape. Her work explores the connections between landscape, memory and the subconscious. She has an instinctive understanding of colour, line and texture while balancing abstracted forms. Zoes’ objective has never been to depict but to evoke a visual connection. Whether it be a sense of place, a feeling or a memory.

An Ode to Pink is a celebration of the captivating colour of pink. This group exhibition features a diverse collective of abstract artists taking us on a vibrant journey through hue and colour.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Daniela Cristallo, Chris de Hoog, Ben Foster, Simon Palmer, Kate Pittas, Alexandra Plim, Susan Simonini, Nastia Gladuschenko, Christina McLean, Madeline Young.

Exhibiting Artists: Lily Platts, Yani Lenehan, Domenica Russo, Gavin Coote, Liz Wickramasinghe, Sky Jasper Mooney, Jude Keogh, Rina Bernabei, Elizabeth Lewis, Sue Wearne, Sophie Corks, Jaq Davies, Korynn Morrison, Lauren Tausend, Naomi Lawler, Jennifer Rosnell, Ana Anderson, Raphe Coombes, Jason McDonald, Helena Newcombe.

Untitled brings together the work of many artists from across Australia, some Corner Store Gallery alumni and some brand new to our space. These artists work across different, and sometimes unusual mediums and ideas. Each artist has been hand-picked by Curator Madeline Young for their unique and striking work. This exhibition will be a joyous, quirky and amusing celebration of a wonderful group of contemporary artists.

“The last couple of years have been tough in the arts. Lockdowns and loss of work ran right across all artforms. Live shows took a hammering. We wanted to help by creating opportunities for those most affected,” said exhibition curator, Arts OutWest’s Steven Cavanagh.

“In 2021 Arts OutWest commissioned 15 Central West songwriters to each write a track reflecting their experiences of 2020. We created a compilation album of original music titled While the World Waits,” Mr Cavanagh explains, “Then we opened the conversation up to visual artists to see what they were feeling.”

For this body of work my focus is to bring out the fundamental highlights of life. Becoming a father and dialing into the journeys and adventures of our lives so far, with an ever evolving response to landscape, a celebration of it’s diverse beauty.

Through my practice, it is important to keep my hands on the materials. From cutting the timber to size, building the supports and finally to finish framing the works, my love and respect of materials is my entry point into my creative process.

Landscape painting is to me, like being in a massive garden and responding to the energy and experience I find there. Reimagining the land to create my own visual world. This is a way to connect and engage with the landscape on a level that expands past my human self, something more, my higher self.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land, the Gumbainggir people and deep gratitude for allowing my stay on country.

FLORA is a group exhibition curated by Gallery Director Madeline Young to celebrate the arrival of Spring. This collection brings together a fantastic group of unique, colourful botanical artworks of all mediums, shapes and sizes.

These contemporary artists use wonderfully diverse techniques and approach experimentation with mediums and materials and throughout their practices.

Exhibiting Artists: Misha Harrison, Zoe Sernack, Fleur Stevenson, Natasha Townsend, Liz Wickramasinghe and Madeline Young.

Is creativity learned? Or is it genetic, is it in the blood?

BLOOD is a collaborative body of work between mother and son duo Madeline Young and Magnus Young-Holborow. This body of work was born of a creative block, some necessary multitasking and an accident.

This series of works explores the theme of belonging through the recurring motif of banksia integrifolia foliage, which is drawn, painted or scraped back into each artwork. Banksia integrifolia, or Coast Banksia is common along Newcastle’s coast and streets and the foliage of this plant is symbolic for me. I planted one of these trees on my birthday in Dad’s garden after he died. This is my sister’s garden now, so it’s where my nephews play.The familiarity of this iconic plant, and seeing it everyday in my neighbourhood, connects me to my own sense of belonging. Having a sense of belonging is something that I realise I actively need to cultivate for myself, and reconnecting to nature and making art are part of this active process for me.

Five female artists from across Australia respond to the landscape.

Abstract artists Daniela Cristallo, Fleur Stevenson, Jackie Anderson, Liz Wickramasinghe and Madeline Young have each created a series of works that celebrate a specific place or landscape. While these artists all have very different styles, this exhibition will bring them all together in a beautiful abstract landscape exhibition.

The Landscape is our second Group Exhibition for 2019. Artists from all over Australia were invited to submit work of any medium or style that featured the landscape as subject matter. We have selected 36 artworks from the 98 that were submitted for consideration.

There will be many different mediums and styles on display for 3 weeks; paintings, drawings, mixed media work, textiles, encaustic and much more, there is something for everyone!

Lara Scolari, one of Australia’s most exciting emerging contemporary artists, will be bringing her work to Orange from 29th November to 10th December, when it will be showcased at The Corner Store Gallery. Back to the Bush exhibits Lara’s love of the bush and Central West NSW and will be her last exhibition of 2018 before the new year sees her embark on such projects as a collaboration with Designer Rugs Australia (due to be released in early 2019).

Suburban Requiem collages together the unruly miniature landscapes of potted gardens and common succulents, overgrown ground cover and Nanna’s staked begonias. The ubiquitous camelia and gaudy eternally flowering geraniums pay homage to the waning suburban garden.

An exhibition of three-dimensional nature inspired artworks in paper and steel by Orange artists Colleen Southwell and Peter Worsley.

Threaded showcases the work of Tracy Dickason, an emerging artist based in Northern Sydney. Her artistic practice is a combination of porcelain ceramics and mixed media contemporary illustration and painting on paper and canvas. 

Many of my paintings reference landscape albeit imagined, abstracted ones.  Others are built up using a more internal visual language which gives the work a kind of story telling quality.

My paintings are a visual documentation of my life’s experiences, explorations and influences.

Viewing my work has been likened to looking out of a car window. The eye is taken on a journey across and around the canvas focusing in and out to reveal new elements each time a painting is viewed.