MASTERWORKS ART EXHIBITION IN THE VINES
MASTERWORKS ART EXHIBITION IN THE VINES
Swipers Gully Training Restaurant 25 Eltham–Yarra Glen Road, Kangaroo Ground 12 - 26 October 2018 masterworks.com.au
MASTERWORKS COMMITTEE
CONTENTS
Ruth Bailey Nancy Cummane Cherry Demir Simone Houlihan
Introduction 4 Judging Panel
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Artists Penelope Aitken
6
Ona Henderson
19
Mel Rayski-Mati
32
Llewelyn Ash
7
Gillian Hillman
20
Carmel Ritchie
33
Janet Ayliffe
8
Georgia Hooper
21
Joanna Ruchel
34
Kevin Boyd
9
Pamela Irving
22
Libby Schreiber
35
10
Jess Jarvie
23
Colin Bridle
11
Tim Kervin
24
Cinnamon and Rowan Stephens
36
Michele Cleaver
12
Nerina Lascelles
25
Melissa Thomas
37
Anita Dammersmith 13
Natalie Lawson
26
Syd Tunn
38
Cherry Demir
14
Sheryl Lewis
27
John Waller
39
Faye De Pasquale
15
Sharyn Madder
28
Silvi Glattauer
16
Beatrice Magalotti 29
Godwin Bradbeer
Lynne Godina-Orme 17
Michael Mark
Deborah Halpern
Andrew Potocnik
18
30 31
INTRODUCTION SIMON LE PLASTRIER ELTHAM College Principal ‘The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.’ So said Pablo Picasso, co-creator of Cubism and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. How fortunate we are, here at ELTHAM College, that our community can gather together at an event such as MASTERWORKS to celebrate the vital role that art plays – and always will play – in our ever-changing world. Art is an intrinsic aspect of the heritage of the Eltham community, and ELTHAM College is pleased to make our own contribution to the region’s important artistic legacy. As you wander around MASTERWORKS, take a moment to reflect on the many hours of hard work our exhibiting artists have poured into each of their creations. This important date on ELTHAM’s calendar not only raises funds for the College, but the quality of the work on display sets it apart as a truly exceptional art show. We hope you enjoy the exhibition. SIMONE HOULIHAN MASTERWORKS Coordinator Welcome to MASTERWORKS 2018. After a four-year hiatus since our last exhibition, we’re pleased to present this year’s display and are delighted that it is bigger and brighter than ever. With over 30 exhibiting artists, there are works ranging from oils and etchings to sculpture and jewellery, and much more. We’re pleased to showcase the work of many prominent artists, while also providing an opportunity for those who are emerging in the artistic world. For some artists, 2018 marks their first MASTERWORKS exhibition, while others have been involved for more than a decade. We appreciate your support of this exhibition, and hope you will find a wonderful piece of artwork that will bring you great pleasure.
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JUDGING PANEL JAKE TREACY Heide Museum of Modern Art Jake Treacy is an independent curator, writer and poet based in Narrm (Melbourne). Jake’s practice performs a curatorial activism, promoting the prismatic aspects of psychical and social exchange via the discourse and presentation of contemporary art. Through curated and writerly platforms, as well as esoteric and poetic gestures, Jake demonstrates the therapeutic qualities of art and its effects within the everyday. Jake’s studies include a Masters of Art Curatorship (2017) and Postgraduate Art History (2015) at University of Melbourne, as well as a Bachelor of Arts Photography (2009) at RMIT, combined with on-going personal coursework in spiritual, philosophical and social studies. RUTH MCINTOSH Artist Ruth McIntosh was born in 1958 and has been involved in art and art education for many years. She has held various solo exhibitions and has been involved in group shows. Ruth specialises in portraiture using both traditional methods of oil on canvas/linen as well as other media such as watercolour. She is particularly interested in producing small personalised children’s books incorporating her many sketches, along with large oil paintings that reflect the moods of music. Ruth has exhibited many times in the Hidden Faces of the Archibald, including her 2016 piece of Harold Mitchell, which she donated to ELTHAM College on the opening of the Harold Mitchell Performing Arts Centre. GRACE LONGATO Curator and Creative Industries Officer Nillumbik Shire Council Grace Longato joined Nillumbik Shire Council as Curator in 2011 and is responsible for the management of Council’s Visual Art, Public Art and Memorabilia Collections. Grace also co-ordinates the Council’s Artist in Residence Program, as well as their annual art award; The Nillumbik Prize. After graduating with a Bachelor in Education (Visual Arts) and post graduate Diploma in Arts Management from the University of Melbourne, Grace undertook an internship at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces. In 2008 she completed post graduate studies in Visual Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts, as well as a Masters Degree in Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne in 2013.
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PENELOPE AITKEN Penelope Aitken grew up in Eltham and has exhibited in public and commercial galleries, artist-run spaces, outdoor projects and festivals in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Bundaberg – as well as in Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan and Northern Cyprus. Most recently she travelled around Sweden to research the ideas and discoveries of 18th Century botanist Carl Linnaeus. In 1997, Penelope was selected to be a studio artist for two years at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces and in 2000 she undertook an Australia Council Studio Residency at the Taipei National University of the Arts.
All that We Are (Eucalyptus Ellipse) Oil and plant ink on board 900 diameter 6
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In 2007, she spent two months at the Nillumbik Birrarung Laughing Waters Residency in outback Eltham, precipitating her move back to this area. Since then she has made paintings using local gardens and plants as inspiration. She is especially interested in botanical history, local landscape design and the efforts of Landcare and ‘Friends’ groups, as well as suburban gardeners, to reintroduce indigeneity into altered landscapes.
LLEWELYN ASH Llewelyn Ash has been working in glass since 2008, learning to blow glass at the University of South Australia, being guided and mentored by Gabrielle Bisetto and tutored by Tim Shaw. Llewelyn has created his own unique and distinctive style. Prior to discovering glass he painted and created etching from drawings. He now incorporates his printmaking designs onto the glass using the graphic qualities of line to express ideas. Llewelyn has recently completed a two year intensive glass blowing training program at the Jam Factory in Adelaide. His work has been exhibited in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in the last two years, with achievements including the Design Institute of Australia Award, finalist in the Australian National Glass Museum Student Award and Winter Lights Exhibition in Federation Square, selected as a Jam Factory Associate, awarded the Jam Factory Pilchuck Glass School Scholarship in Seattle, and he has won the Young Artist for Whyalla Art Prize, Briton Sculpture Prize and Waterhouse Youth Art Prize.
Sea of Glass Glass 420 x 350 x 350
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JANET AYLIFFE Janet Ayliffe was born and lived for 18 years on Kangaroo Island, later moving to the Adelaide Hills where she lives with her family. She graduated in 1972 in Fine Art Painting from the S.A. School of Art. Janet has been a printmaker, painter and teacher for 40 years, at printmaking workshops in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne and, once a year, a painting course in France. Her work has been shown regularly in group exhibitions, and in over 18 one-person shows.
The Far Eastern Curlew Etching over archival pigment print 840 x 600 8
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Prizes include 2006 Waterhouse Works on Paper prize and six times winner, Victor Harbour Works on Paper and the 2007 MASTERWORKS People’s Choice Award winner. Her work is in public and private collections in Australia and internationally. Recent commission work is in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Flinders Private Hospital. She has been a consistent finalist in the Waterhouse Prize, the Fremantle Print Prize and the Heysen Prize. Janet’s images draw from her inner world, her life on Kangaroo Island. In these works, her close observations are of the natural history of the island and the lives of our southern coastal birds.
KEVIN BOYD Kevin Boyd believes artistic expression is an evolutionary process where growth and change are an ongoing engagement. It is Kevin’s intention to develop artwork that explores the energy and power of nature through the ceramic medium. The very essence of ceramics is to use elements of the earth and engage with the materials to make and express one’s relationship to the physical world. Clay, the earth, is the starting point through manipulation into form with additional ceramic processes added to explore surface, texture and colour. Then there is the fire... the possibilities are endless and the processes inspiring.
Of the Earth Ceramics 580 x 250 x 250
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GODWIN BRADBEER Godwin Bradbeer is a Melbourne-based artist with a reputation for intense and large scale figurative drawing. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since the 1970s, and he has taught at many universities and art schools in Australia and Asia. Despite substantial experience as a photographer and painter, his most definitive practice is in various modes of drawing.
Magnifique Giclée digital ink jet print on archival paper from deteriorated 1968 original drawing, conté on newsprint Edition: 7 / 10 1120 x 800 10
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Godwin’s work is included within Australian national and state galleries and many other institutional collections nationally and internationally. He is the recipient of numerous awards and his work is included in many publications on Australian art, with a major monograph on his work authored by Dr Janet McKenzie recently published by Thames and Hudson. A major survey of his work titled: ‘Godwin Bradbeer: Enigma and Stigma’ was presented in Melbourne in 2017, and earlier this year he showed work at Galerie La Capitale in Paris, where he will exhibit again in 2019. Godwin is represented in Melbourne by the James Makin Gallery, and he will officially open the 2018 MASTERWORKS exhibition as the Opening Night guest speaker.
COLIN BRIDLE Colin Bridle is a hobby artist who enjoys the challenges of creating with many mediums and styles. Colin has been in various art shows and has won a selection of prizes, ranging from first prize for work exhibited in the 2010 Annecto Art Show, to winning the Whittlesea Mayoral Award in 2013. The Whittlesea Shire Council has purchased numerous pieces of Colin’s artwork to display in their libraries and other Council buildings. Three pieces of his work were also transferred on to the footpaths and walls in the Thomastown shopping precinct. Colin enjoyed being the Guest Artist for the Kalkallo Fire Brigade Art Show in 2005, and has also had entries in the Amberley Art Show and Parade College Art Shows.
The Hare and Natures Fusion Ink 930 x 630
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MICHELE CLEAVER A contemporary artist based on the Mornington Peninsula, Michele Cleaver’s mission is to inspire, educate, empower and uplift people through art. She believes that art and colour play an important role in our lives. Greatly influenced by colour, Michele’s art generates feelings of love, light and joy. She enjoys the flexibility of painting with acrylics, using texture, collage and exploring various mixed media works.
Beautiful Birch Trees Acrylic 1240 x 800 12
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Michele will often paint in a variety of styles, including whimsical, quirky artworks through to layered drippy abstracts, frequently incorporating figures, words, birds and nature in an array of vibrant colours. Additionally, Michele is a passionate art tutor, offering regular classes and workshops in Somerville. Her motto is ‘Learn to Paint, Anyone Can’, where children and adults can reconnect with the joy in their life through painting, allowing them to create, play and feel; building confidence, developing new skills, raising self-esteem and allowing for self-expression in a fun and safe environment. This can enable positive change in one’s life. Michele’s teaching style is step by step, in a relaxed, non-judgmental environment.
ANITA DAMMERSMITH Specialising in largely abstract images, Anita Dammersmith uses colours and tones that give her work a unique edge, providing multiple textures and layers. Born in Melbourne of Dutch heritage, Anita studied photography at RMIT and later turned to painting while she travelled extensively throughout Australia, Europe, Asia and America, picking up ideas and bringing them to life on canvas. Anita’s works appear in hotel foyers, restaurants and private collections. She has appeared in House and Garden Australia three times, Home Beautiful Australia and, more recently, House and Garden United Kingdom.
Happy Trees Blue Acrylic on canvas 1220 x 1220
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CHERRY DEMIR Cherry Demir is a Melbourne-based artist who specialises in oil paints to create work that reflects her love of nature and wildlife. Inspired by the luscious qualities of oil paints, Cherry’s work explores the beauty of wildlife and nature in vivid, opulent colours. Constantly experimenting with colour, her work is guided by the ever-changing pigments of the oil paints, and her paintings become an evolving process of dynamic hues, attempting to capture the fragile and elegant stature of her subjects. Dedicated to animal protection and conservation, her recent series has been focusing on endangered species, with 10% of each sale donated to the Little Trunks Project.
Zebra Siblings Oil on canvas 1015 x 760 14
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FAYE DE PASQUALE In Faye De Pasquale’s current art practice, she remains committed to the exploration of the outback landscape and the desire to interpret this in an exciting contemporary manner. Her preoccupation with this theme is constant and all consuming. Faye is challenged by the beauty of this ancient land; the intense color and unique vegetation allows her to portray a vision that is joyful and playful. This connection to the subject is further enhanced by the medium she chooses, whether it be working on delightful high quality paper using watercolor, gouache and mix, or acrylic on canvas, she is given the freedom to express herself in a deeply personal style.
Plateau 1 Acrylic on canvas 950 x 950
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SILVI GLATTAUER Silvi Glattauer is a practising photomedia artist from Melbourne. The central themes in Silvi’s work relate to nature and narratives. There is a connecting thread between materiality, object and preciousness. Her images are about beauty as felt by the sense of sight and touch. Silvi’s approach is to collect, to archive, to classify and to record. Her narratives are strongly related to storyboards of time and place.
Ojos De Mar Photograph - pigmented inkjet on cotton rag paper 700 x 1000
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Silvi has exhibited throughout Australia and abroad, most recently at the Museum of Victoria. She has been a Boweness Prize finalist three times. Other major achievements include winning the prestigious Nillumbik Prize and being commissioned by the Victorian government to create a documentary series for bushfire recovery and memorials in 2014 and 2016. Silvi is also a selected artist in residence for Art Print Residence, Barcelona and Inkmasters, Cairns. Silvi’s work is held in many private and public collections, including the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) and Geelong Regional Galleries, Melbourne Museum, State Libraries of Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland, Monash Gallery of Art and Nillumbik Shire Council.
LYNNE GODINA-ORME Lynne Godina-Orme is a Melbourne-based abstract artist who loves blending and merging colours to allow the free-forming expression that comes from creation. Lynne finds abstracts to be personal, so she asks the viewer to go into the piece and explore. Lynne’s paintings are hanging in private and commercial collections Australia-wide as well as internationally in Italy‚ France, Canada and the United States. She feels privileged to create artworks that she hopes will evoke discussion and enjoyment for people she may never meet, but still has a connection with. Standing Strong Acrylic on canvas 760 x 1220
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DEBORAH HALPERN Inspired by Arthur Boyd, Pablo Picasso, growing up in the creative community of Warrandyte, and many other artists past and present, Deborah Halpern endeavours to push the boundaries of the creative language that she uses. Deborah is the creator of ‘Angel’, a monumental sculpture commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, now located at Birrarung Marr; ‘Ophelia’, the Face of Melbourne for many years, standing sentinel at Southgate; and ‘Portal to Another Time and Place’, at Point Leo Sculpture Park. She is represented in the collections of the Australian National Gallery; Art Gallery of Western Australia; Aichi Prefecture, Japan; Osaka Sculpture Park, Osaka; Shire of Nillumbik; City of Manningham; City of Frankston; and many others – both public and private – in Australia and overseas.
Hide and Seek Glass 540 x 540
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ONA HENDERSON Ona Henderson is a painter and printmaker who has earnt her living from art since 1980. Her work has been featured in 27 main exhibitions and 39 feature exhibitions, winning many awards and prizes. She has exhibited at galleries in London; New York, Palm Beach and Vermont, USA; and Queen’s Hall, Parliament House Melbourne. Ona initiated the Victorian Archibald Salon des Refuses, 2002 and the Salon de Montsalvat Art Prize, which she curated in 2006. She co-ordinated the Nillumbik Artists Open Studio program from 1988 – 2005, and was appointed Director of the Dunmoochin Foundation Board in 2005. Watercolour and printmaking are her muses and The Bend of Islands influences her every day. The wildlife there is abundant, with over 100 species of birds, koalas, kangaroos, native orchids and magnificent river gums, to name some of her favourite subjects. Figurative work is also a passion. Ona has been drawn to nature all her life, and it is where she meets humankind.
Icons - Eltham Copper Butterflies Etching, watercolour 520 x 500
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GILLIAN HILLMAN Gillian Hillman is a bespoke jewellery designer who has operated a studio-based practice in Melbourne for more than 20 years. She enjoys working directly with discerning people who are looking for innovative and edgy pieces to suit their own individual style. She creates considered pieces that often incorporate unusual stones in unconventional ways. Other ranges are free of stones, allowing the play of light on surface textures to create pieces that are original without being ostentatious. Her fascination with unusual pearls has also been much sought after, and she has shown her pearl designs in many exhibitions throughout Australia, including 20 years at the iconic Makers Mark in Collins Street. She is happy to give new life to old jewellery by reusing stones and gold.
Ring 9ct gold, Tahitian pearl
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GEORGIA HOOPER Georgia Hooper studied Gold and Silversmithing and Jewellery Design at NMIT. With study and experience working in gallery and retail environments under her belt, she opened the doors of her Melbourne-based studio. Over the years, Georgia has honed her skills as an artisan to become a passionate and successful jeweller in the contemporary jewellery scene. Georgia creates high-quality pieces that are refined and innovative. The natural world has always been an inspiration for her work and this extends to her belief that great jewellery design should always complement the human form. As a designer, Georgia enjoys collaborating closely with her clients to achieve bespoke pieces that reflect the wearers’ personality. Each piece of jewellery is meticulously handcrafted with a focus on fine detail, high-quality materials and expert workmanship.
PavĂŠ Petite Autumn Ring 9ct Rose gold, 16 x white diamonds
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PAMELA IRVING Pamela Irving has a Bachelor of Education (Art/ Craft) and Master of Arts from the University of Melbourne. Pamela has exhibited widely, with her works held in public and private collections throughout Australia, USA, Hong Kong, Russia, China and Japan. Selected collections include: Museums Victoria, Bars Collection Russia, Art Bank, the City Museum of Ravenna, Italy, regional gallery collections, municipal collections, university collections and Luna Park, Melbourne.
Lap Cat Acrylic on canvas 1000 x 1200
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Pamela works across media and her works adorn many public spaces in Melbourne and afar. Recent commissions include a mosaic mural at the Shanghai American School in Shanghai, NIST, the International School in Bangkok, the International School of Kuala Lumpar and the complete facade of the Luna Palace building at Luna Park, Melbourne. In June/July 2017, the City of Whitehorse, Melbourne, held a very large retrospective exhibition of Pamela’s work titled ‘Irreverent Tales’. The highly successful exhibition included works spanning from 1984 to 2016.
JESS JARVIE Jess Jarvie was recently shortlisted for the Nillumbik Art Prize and won the People’s Choice Award. Her observational paintings depict fallen and gathered flora, with special consideration given to the elements of composition and space. Her paintings make reference to botanical illustration but seek to convey feelings of stillness and rest. Each specimen is like a treasure found, and its innate character or personality is portrayed in a sensitive light. Her fascination for shadows is evident, and this in turn adds depth and realism. Jess’s branch portraits seek to highlight the humble beauty and character of the sometimes-overlooked aspects of nature. Red Box with Pink and Green Leaves Watercolour on paper 520 x 720
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TIM KERVIN Tim Kervin creates his art primarily for his own amusement. He was influenced early on by Pro Hart, for his ability to inject life and movement into his work. Tim likes his pieces to tell a story, usually with a humorous twist. He does not work from concept drawings or any plans to speak of, often starting with an idea or working title and being happy to allow the objects he finds to tell him what they want to be. A peculiar twist in a piece of scrap metal or found object may suggest a look or attitude, and as the build progresses, the piece seems to develop a life force of its own. The sculptor is then a passenger, as the sculpture takes him where it wants to go.
Off to Bag a Bunyip Scrap metal, garden tools, found objects 1150 x 900 x 1100 24
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In 2003 Tim became a member of the Association of Sculptors of Victoria (ASV) exhibiting at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show and the ASV Annual & Awards Exhibition, with encouraging sales success and a couple of minor awards. Recently Tim has exhibited at the Textures of One exhibition in NSW, winning the Decorative category in 2016 and the Sculpture category and overall exhibition winner in 2018.
NERINA LASCELLES Nerina Lascelles is an accomplished Melbourne artist who has been exhibiting both in Australia and internationally for over 25 years. Nerina‘s most recently commissioned work was the collaborative creation of 31 visual panels in a new memorial at the Eltham Cemetery, entitled ‘Our Eltham - Artistic Recollections‘. Her artistic practice combines the influences of the ancient artwork from the Orient, an understanding of Zen Buddhist philosophy, and the incredible beauty of the natural world. Her paintings comprise a collection of vintage fabrics, wallpapers and metallic leaf, combined on to the canvas with screen-printed patterns, paint and encaustic wax. Over the past decade, Nerina’s work has been inspired by the sacred arts of a number of Asian cultures. Nerina believes that the understanding of our true essence and connection to ‘the whole’ is sensed deep within ourselves – beneath the layers of mind, emotions and form. This essence is a beautiful treasure, which is always present, just beneath the surface. Paintings are material objects that depict an image which arose from the essence and which, at their highest function, will offer the viewer a window to their own invisible essence within.
Red Box Forest Moon Mixed media on canvas 1320 x 1320
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NATALIE LAWSON Natalie Lawson’s work investigates translucency and light, fluctuating between the figurative and abstract. Natalie works with latex, challenging its boundaries through innovative processes of application and documentation, inviting a closer look. The latex allows for trace elements of objects such as bark that she collects from natural sources, to imbed minute particles onto the surface adding texture, and thereby establishing a connection to our unique Australian flora and fauna. Over time, the latex will disintegrate, which allows for the works to transform, opening up new possibilities for interpretation. Environmental issues are explored in a contemporary context through sculptural and photographic works in response to the delicate balance of nature.
Canopy Latex, lightbox, archival pigment print 590 x 435 26
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A major influence for Natalie was Eva Hesse (1936–1970), a German artist who explored sculpture through organic associations using innovative materials. Her works had an innate ability to capture light and radiate with it, something Natalie hopes to emulate in her work.
SHERYL LEWIS Sheryl Lewis was born in Melbourne and studied a Graduate Diploma of Visual Arts. Her multi-award winning work is represented in private and corporate collections throughout Australia, Japan and New York. Sheryl has exhibited twice in the Nillumbik Art Prize and won the People’s Choice Award for her entry ‘Following the Landscape’. She has been a featured artist at the Canterbury Art Exhibition where she has exhibited since 1997, winning Best Painting, Small Works. She also exhibits annually at the Lions Club Art Show in Lorne. During her art career of over 20 years, Sheryl has exhibited extensively throughout Victoria, including past MASTERWORKS exhibitions.
Outback Australia 1 Oil on canvas behind glass 170 x 400
In producing contemporary Australian landscapes, Sheryl draws upon the topography of the land and has a deep concern for our diminishing environment.
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SHARYN MADDER Sharyn Madder worked for many years as a freelance education and natural history artist for such organisations as Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, Parks Victoria, Vox Bandicoot and for many and various publishers and individuals, illustrating educational texts and materials. This interest in the natural world continues and remains the main focus of Sharyn’s work, expressed sometimes in stylised and whimsical representations, and other times in realistic detail. She works mostly on paper in watercolour, pencil, pastel and ink, roaming far and wide along the coastal areas of Victoria and occasionally further north. Sharyn exhibits regularly in local community shows and is involved with the Alphington Open Studios artist’s group.
Dead Forest, Cape Otway Soft pastel 570 x 760
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BEATRICE MAGALOTTI A Melbourne-based artist, Beatrice Magalotti works in a variety of mediums, currently working in bronze. Before casting in bronze, working in wax enables experimentation and play. Beatrice completed her Bachelor of Art (Sculpture), at Prahran in 1985 and Curatorial Postgrad at Melbourne University in 1992. Beatrice’s first major exhibition was in 2002 at Moor Street Art Gallery, Fitzroy, and she has been exhibiting on a regular basis, with her latest being held in May at the Red Gallery, North Fitzroy. During May and June 2018, Beatrice was one of the international artists at the Fish Factory Creative Centre, a multi-disciplinary art residency in Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland. This challenging residency was a perfect way to obtain critical feedback and to produce a significant new body of work. Her prizes include the Annie Davison Oliver Award, MSWPS (2017) and the Yering Station Sculpture Prize (2017). Beatrice also completed an art residency at Stanley, Tasmania in 2017.
The Norns Bronze 280 x 420 x 290
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MICHAEL MARK Michael Mark’s painting practice consists of rubbing oil and pigment with his hands and palette knives, across and on to gessoed surfaces. Michael looks to Caspar David Friedrich, Albert Pinkham Ryder and Henry Ossawa Tanner for inspiration, and while not a landscape painter, he finds more in common with them than he does pure abstraction.
Untitled #57 Oil on canvas 1040 x 820 30
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An American-born artist, Michael has degrees from universities in Boston and LA, and he moved to Australia in 2003, completing a PhD at the VCA in 2008. Since 1995, Michael has shown in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, New York and Melbourne in both commercial and public galleries. In 1997, Michael spent a year in Amsterdam studying Flemish painting techniques on a Fulbright Grant, and in 2007 he spent two months at the Nillumbik Laughing Waters Residency, Eltham. He has taught drawing and painting at Boston Museum School of Fine Arts; Savannah College of Art and Design; Centre for Ideas/VCA, the University of Melbourne; Deakin University; and is currently Head of Painting at La Trobe College of Art and Design.
ANDREW POTOCNIK During the last 40 years, Andrew Potocnik has been fortunate enough to indulge in his passion of working with wood as a hobbyist, teacher, demonstrator and writer. Although his inspiration comes from wood and all the textures, colours and fragrances it contains, he cannot help but share everything he learns with others. Andrew’s work is featured in more than a dozen books, numerous museum collections in the USA, and private collections both in Australia and overseas. He currently writes for three magazines in Australia, UK and USA, sharing the joys of every project he explores. In reality, all he does is tell stories, most often about how things are made or how he makes things. Andrew supposes his school reports were accurate when his teachers wrote ‘talks too much’.
Focus 2 Wood 400 x 300 x 100
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MEL RAYSKI-MATI Mel Rayski-Mati loves the way metal can be bent, rolled and folded. This stems from the fact that something of such strength can be manipulated into something of such beauty. When Mel is working with hammer and forge, fire and steel, she loves nothing more than recreating natural shapes, like leaves, ferns, feathers and animals. Working from a home studio in Hurstbridge, her specialties are custom-made mirrors, three-dimensional wall art and garden sculptures. They are often made from many hundreds or even thousands of individual parts that will eventually create large-scale images and beautiful patterns. Mel won the People’s Choice Award for Sculpture at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2018 for the piece ‘Weeping Beauty’. Cubes Mild steel 1700 x 2100 x 600
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CARMEL RITCHIE Carmel Ritchie’s art reflects the way life affects her. It is to be viewed from the heart. Different events, feelings and thoughts all are expressed through various mediums, colours and techniques. Carmel has a strong love of nature and can find deep solitude through it. She has always found that making art soothes yet stimulates her soul and mind in ways that other educational subjects do not. Carmel has explored various mediums creating weavings, pottery, paintings, mosaics and sculpture. She loves working in limestone as its natural texture, which can include fossils, shells and crystals, is wonderfully tactile. Carmel studied art in secondary school and continued painting while she was a young mother. During the 1980s she taught weaving, pottery and macrame at the Living and Learning Centre in Eltham, and recently became an art teacher in a local primary school, encouraging students to explore mediums, techniques and to enjoy the process. Her art is not only a great personal form of expression, but it is an actual force which is used to describe memories, nature and ideas.
Lady with Arms Crossed Limestone 900 x 300 x 300
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JOANNA RUCHEL Joanna Ruchel is an artist who works in clay with fibre, painting and mixed media, making work as time allows, with materials and spaces as they come to hand. She works with young people at ELTHAM College, so the work can only come in snatches of time. The work is primarily a response to the land (to varied lands and whatever land she is on at the time). Joanna loves the Australian dry country, and the work reflects blown surfaces, surfaces that have been scratched and altered, undulations and crevices that have happened. The clay work has a functionality; she creates useful things to be employed on the bench or table, so the using allows the relationship between vessel and user to develop.
Rain Clay 350 x 250 x 250 34
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LIBBY SCHREIBER Libby Schreiber has been exhibiting her linocut prints for the past 14 years, developing a style that is decorative and whimsical. She finds inspiration in a title, often sought from a variety of themes. Images are drawn onto linoleum and then carefully carved and printed in her studio, where she creates black and white and colour reduction prints, containing stylised, yet familiar, subjects. While Libby formally trained as a painter, it is print (specifically linocut) that has enabled her to find her individual style and passion for art making. Libby finds carving not only therapeutic, but also thoroughly enjoys the spontaneity it brings to her work, creating textures and atmosphere that would be difficult to produce in other mediums.
Ewe-niversal Linocut 650 x 700
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CINNAMON AND ROWAN STEPHENS Surf Coast artist and mother of two Cinnamon Stephens has been creating since 1992. In recent years, her artwork has enjoyed an added strength and vibrancy, thanks to the collaborative support of her husband Rowan. Recently, the creative duo completed an artist in residency in Umbria, Italy, where two major sculptural pieces remain at Podere Conte Racani.
Native Spoontail Steel, copper, found objects 450 x 250 x 120 36
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Cinnamon chooses steel and copper as her prominent mediums and is inspired by nature’s organic lines and forms. As well as 11 solo exhibitions and numerous group shows, she predominantly works on commissioned pieces. These have included large sculptural installations and metalwork murals for the Surf Coast Shire office, Angelsea Fire Station, City of Geelong, Andrew Love Cancer Centre and Clonard College. Her most recent exciting commission is to create 10 metalwork panels depicting the local flora and fauna of Anglesea, to be installed in the town’s central streetscaping.
MELISSA THOMAS Melissa Thomas began creating art over 20 years ago, not knowing what lay ahead and where the journey would take her. Initially she started creating pieces of artwork for family and friends. Influences for creating the works came out of the natural world, constructing pieces that blend into its surroundings, such as animals, plants and landscapes. All these allow the viewer to be immersed into another world. Melissa has worked with many wonderful clients and landscapers to supply them with a diverse range of artwork. She has primarily used stainless steel, mild steel and glass for these designs. She has many pieces in private and public collections, and one of the biggest is 15 topiary sculptures for the Melbourne Zoo.
Portal Through to Tranquility Mild steel, stainless steel 800 x 800 x 80
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SYD TUNN Syd Tunn is a painter and printmaker who graduated with a Diploma of Art from Monash University in 1965 majoring in painting, life drawing and printmaking. Syd has worked full time as a fine artist since 1980, with 30 main exhibitions and 39 feature exhibitions. His many awards include the Flinders Art Award and three times winner of E.R.A., with his work featuring in nine publications. Syd’s works have an air of whimsy, taking beauty and humour seriously – a major aspect of his life. He is an accomplished portrait and figurative painter, regularly showing in the Victorian Archibald Salon des Refuses, in which he was runner-up in 2002. He was appointed Director of the Dunmoochin Foundation Board in 2005. Founding Nillumbik Open Studio artists, Syd and his wife Ona Henderson have been involved in the program for over 30 years, celebrating their own 36th consecutive year and a combined 108 years of art-making – collaborating and unleashing braver results together. Songbird Quartet Etching, watercolour 550 x 450 38
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JOHN WALLER John Waller’s work uses colour, shape and texture as a musician uses notes. John demonstrates an understanding of his chosen media, producing technically adroit work, which sits at the front rank of Australian art. But craftsmanship is only part of his achievement, because, after decades working with his chosen subject, this artist’s perceptions and feelings run deep. John’s underplayed environmentalism, and his visual reverence for planar landscapes, allows layered meanings to quietly emerge as we contemplate and take pleasure in these semi-abstract works. John asks us to look outward, envisaging the earth sweeping into the distance, using a natural vocabulary of improvised organic-looking forms, as well as insistent bands which echo that meeting of plain and sky at horizon’s edge.
Transcendent Landscape 2 Oil, acrylic, charcoal and graphite on linen 1830 x 1520
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SPONSOR DIRECTORY PLATINUM SPONSOR
MORRISON KLEEMAN ESTATE AGENTS Gayle Blackwood 0408 776 070 sales@morrisonkleeman.com.au www.morrisonkleeman.com.au Town Square, 20 Commercial Place ELTHAM 3095 T: 03 9431 2444 2/86 Grimshaw Street GREENSBOROUGH 3088 T: 03 9435 7666 3/101 Hazel Glen Drive DOREEN 3754 T: 03 9717 8780
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EVENT SPONSOR
DESIGN SPONSOR
TanjaLedwichDesign TANJA LEDWICH DESIGN Tanja Ledwich tledwich@me.com 0407 481 968
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