JANUARY 14 – FEBRUARY 14
FEATURED ARTISTS
HILARY SIMS – MELLISSA READ-DEVINE – SANDY FULLERTON – ANJUM OLMO
An all female exhibition
Saturday 16th January – Opening Event – From 2pm
Please note that due to the current COVID-19 crisis, NSW Government restrictions will apply
ARTISTS
HILARY SIMS – Painter
Hilary’s style of textures, patterns & bold colours reflects her life’s journey. Her landscapes are born from a desire to feel connected to place, and self. Her paintings are personal and reflective of her quirky yet confident and positive approach to life.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1966, Hilary migrated to Australia with her family at 6 years of age. She lives in the Blue Mountains and it has been her home for over 45 years. Considering herself as “a late starter to painting”, Hilary began her art practice after her two daughters were grown and independent. She first ventured into painting as a form of therapy, but soon discovered her thirst of learning and developed her own style.
Hilary has done workshops with established artists, exhibited her work around NSW in Galleries and has been a finalist in numerous competitions.
MELLISSA READ-DEVINE – Painter
Mellissa was born in England in the 1960s and as a child emigrated to Australia with her family. She has studied & practiced printmaking and painting continuously since the mid ‘90sand is a recipient of many prizes and awards. Her sought after works are part of many private and public collections around the world. .Living in rural Sydney overlooking the Hawkesbury River, Mellissa’s paintings have evolved into her “macropointilist”style celebrating the shape, colour and brushstroke of contemporary impressionism. An Associate of the Royal Art Society of NSW, Mellissa is a fine art tutor and travels to teach art enrichment work shops around the country.
ANJUM OLMO – Painter
Anjum has an expressive and playful approach to her art practice combining mark making, patterning and gestural application of colour. Each artwork evolves as a visceral and therapeutic practice often driven by intuition and music, she lives in the Blue Mountains and draws her creative inspiration from her environment.
Summer –Yūgen幽玄 is a juxtaposition of the landscape in the Blue Mountains and combining this with Japanese aesthetics.
Yūgen is said to mean a profound, mysterious sense of beauty of the universe and the sad beauty of human suffering. These paintings are based on this concept, it is a stark reminder of last year’s Black summer bushfires, in which the landscape is still recovering.
Yet there is hope and optimism in the air with the regeneration of the landscape, recreating a profound beauty found in nature. My intention is to create this balance and ultimately to lift the spirit and to celebrate life.
SANDY FULLERTON – Painter
My painting procedure is a very old technique used by the Renaissance artists (1500’s) & the Pre-Raphaelites (1800’s) …… called ‘Prick & Pounce’
This classical procedure was taught to me by the Czechoslovakians who came out to Australia after the WW2 and set up an embroidery textile factory in Surry Hills.
This technique was used by the designers for the manual machine embroiderers to follow…..This process is not used in the industry so much anymore as computers gradually took over.
The Power House Museum have some of our early pattern books, jacquard embroidery machine and jacquard tapes along with embroidered garments….as in the Kylie Minogue Australian Flag Jacket.
The Star Wars wedding dress in ‘Attack of the Clones’ when Anakin & Princess Amidala marry at the Lake Como scene and where Anakin turns to Darth Vader, was done in this technique.
PROCEDURE OF THE CARTOON…….
First stage is to draw onto heavy duty tracing paper to create clean art work……called an Artist’s Cartoon.
2nd stage is to photocopy the art work & colour-up the art of the cartoon……see attached pics.
3rd Stage was to perforate the tracing paper cartoon art work…….called ’Prick & Pounce’.
4th stage was to mark the cloth by placing the perforated pattern into position and mark the mix of powdered chalk & odourless kerosene through the perforations.
This would leave the imprint on the cloth/canvas for the artist/embroiderer to follow.
The cartoon technique is a much longer process, but allows the artist to understand and grow with his painting through the procedure.