Salon des Refusés
Artist Name: TANYA OGILVIE-WHITE
Artwork Title: FIRESTORM
Medium: Photographic encaustic
Size: 42 x 90cm
About the Artist:
Tanya Ogilvie-White is an encaustic artist and fine art photographer from Byron Bay, NSW. She uses a modern adaptation of the ancient technique of hot wax painting to transform her landscape and wildlife photographs into ethereal, archival-quality dreamscapes.
Artist Statement:
Bushfires occasionally burn with such ferocity that they create their own weather, raining embers and incinerating everything in their path. In this triptych, layers of molten wax and raw pigments have been burned into hardwood panels using a live flame, echoing the dramatic firestorms that tore through Australia in 2019-20.
Artist Name: LEE WILKES
Artwork Title: GUTHEGA TO BLUE LAKE (CONTRAILS)
Medium: Oil on linen
Size: 102 x 72cm
About the Artist:
Lee Wilkes is a Brisbane based painter and photographer working primarily with landscape, as a blurring of time, space and memory. Utilising traditional oil paint, Wilkes uses repetition, reflection, and abstraction to express the impermanence and transformation of his rugged landscapes, with ambiguous horizon lines blending the boundaries between land, sea and sky. Alternative materials such as aluminium panel, mirror, Epoxyglass and found items, challenge the tradition of his oil paintings.
Artist Statement:
My current body of work combines my interest in the natural landscape with memory, using my own experience, history and nostalgia in combination with an exploration into memory degradation and frailty. Guthega to Blue Lake (contrails) was painting entirely from my memories of an expedition to the Snowy Mountains of NSW in late 2019. Using memory allows me to create the painting from a purely emotional recollection rather than pre-existing imagery, allowing the work to take on a life of its own.
Artist Name: SUSAN GOURLEY
Artwork Title: TOOLS FOR REGENERATION
Medium: salvaged materials including gardening implement, cardboard, paper, wire, plus twine, and adhesive
Size: 100 x 15cm
About the Artist:
Susan Gourley is an interdisciplinary artist currently living on Jagera and Turrbal Country (Brisbane). With a self-reflexive approach to her colonial heritage, Gourley’s current practice is informed by ecology, colonialism, the cross-cultural, and ecofeminism. The recipient of a Griffith University Postgraduate Research Scholarship, Gourley graduated with a Doctor of Visual Arts in 2019.
Artist Statement:
This land cannot be reverted to the way it was prior to British invasion. Nor can it flourish under continuing colonial ideologies and practices. These hybrid objects symbolise the regenerative possibilities offered by the different knowledge systems existing within Indigenous and non-Indigenous culture, coming together to reimagine the Australian landscape.
Artist Name: FELICIA ARONEY
Artwork Title: BAREFOOT GRASS
Medium: mixed media in oak frame
Size: 63 x 63cm
About the Artist:
Represented by several Australian Art Galleries, Felicia Aroney is recognised as a "textural artist". Felicia draws inspiration from her environment. Her mixed media abstracts incorporate oil, acrylic and collage creating depth and light and shade. Felicia has been a finalist in the "Mosman" Art Prize, "Waverley" Art Prize, "Hornsby" Art Prize, "Blacktown" Art Prize and small works exhibition "Lethbridge" Art Prize.
She has had over 50 solo and group Exhibitions. Exhibited in Hong Kong, Singapore and Florence (Italy).
Felicia work has been sourced from Design Houses, and has collaborated with Designer Rugs to create the exclusive "Aroney" Collection. She has collectors world wide.
Artist Statement:
"Barefoot grass" is a piece based from memory. Growing up in Western Australia`s heat I found much joy and comfort running under the sprinklers to cool my little body. The texture, spontaneity and mark making in this work resemble the grass between my toes and the tracks in which I danced, feelings of connectedness to the earth. By using oils and dry recycled paint, this painting recycles existing life and in doing so, is reminiscent of the cyclical continuity of nature.
Artist Name: MOREEN WELLINGTON LYONS
Artwork Title: THE BLOOD PITT WHYTE BROTHERS MASSACRE 1842
Medium: Acrylic
Size: 40 x 80cm
About the Artist:
Aboriginal Women Wotjobaluk Native title holder.
Seven pieces of my artwork is currently on exhibition including submission
Emerging mature Artist working in Acrylic, Ochre, Sands, on Canvas
2020 Finalist in the Wyndham City Council Art Competition "Womens Meeting Place".
Artist Statement:
In 1842 the Whyte Brothers road up on my Aboriginal Ancestors and massacred every man, women and child they could find, Arthur Wellington a child hid in a cupboard of the recently vacated doctors accomodation located and renamed Wellington Station in Central Victoria. The main street of Coleraine is named after the Whyte Brothers.
More than 500 massacres have been identified as taking place in the years following invasions, the genocide with no name.
Artist Name: ANNE YANG
Artwork Title: SAVANNAH COUNTRY
Medium: Oil
Size: 100 x 80cm
About the Artist:
I paint representational artworks in both oil and soft pastel, having gained Master Pastellist Status with the Pastel Society of Australia in 2014. My joy of being immersed in nature, and the challenge of exploring and recreating her subtleties and many moods is what inspires me to paint.
Artist Statement:
Gulf Savannah Gums, is a painting inspired by a camping trip to Queensland's Gulf country, after a road journey of over 2000kms. The harsh outback country is largely flat, and dry, but here near Lawn Hill Gorge, the countryside changes and undulations lead towards the lush Lawn Hill Creek. These twisting gums are characteristic of this region, like miniature ghost gums, seemingly stunted by their challenging environment. I enjoyed painting the cool, bright green of their foliage, which was in contrast to the hot reds of the earth and dry grasses.
Artist Name: LUPA BRYANT
Artwork Title: DREAMS OF THE BAY
Medium: Mixed Media
Size: 66 x 82cm
About the Artist:
I am a Tasmanian artist that specializes in fine detail art drawing, typically of animals, fantasy, and nature. Recently I have explored more traditional artistic portrayals of animals and landscapes with a touch of fantastical flair, be it an ostentatious sunrise or sunset, or transforming my figures into nature guardians.
Artist Statement:
In this piece, the rich colours of ink markers atop the pen work serve to make a realistic depiction of the unique flora and fauna of the bay with a more surreal style for the sky and sea. I wanted to capture the beautiful intricacy of nature and its inhabitants.
Artist Name: MICHELE NEWMAN
Artwork Title: APPLE TREE BAY
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 68 x 48cm
About the Artist:
-Bachelor or Fine Art completed 1991
-Received some Awards at art school
-Worked as independent freelance artist in residence in the community and schools
-received 3 residencies with Arts Victoria
-exhibited regularly solo and group shows
-some work collected
-Finalist in the Hornsby Prize October 2019
Artist Statement:
Apple tree bay
Hawksbury river
camping
fishing
She won my heart
Artist Name: CLAUDIA HUSBAND
Artwork Title: LITTLE ITALY, NSW | CHRISTMAS DAY, 2019.
Medium: Foraged charcoal on handmade Khadi paper, charcoal remnants (Little Italy) – dyptich
Size: 130 x 123cm
About the Artist:
Claudia Husband is a Brisbane-based artist, trained in printmaking in both Australia and the United States. Claudia’s work explores notions of nostalgia and personal familiarity to natural environments, through a detailed exploration of material and mark making in printmaking and drawing.
Artist Statement:
While driving from Brisbane to Northern New South Wales on Christmas Day 2019, I passed through the recently burned town of Little Italy. The ground still smoking from the recent fires, I walked through the decimated bushland to collect charcoaled remnants. As I waded through the ash, it suddenly began to rain.
Artist Name: GREG NUNN
Artwork Title: RISE AND SHINE
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 90 x 150cm
About the Artist:
Creating art, more specifically painting and sketching, takes me to my happy place, a place where I feel more centred and relaxed. It fuels my soul and enhances my senses, I’m at peace when creating art.
Apart from attending painting workshops and receiving tutoring from some well-known master artists; I am self-taught. I have sketched and painted on and off for most of my life. My artistic career took off in 2005 after moving to Brisbane.
I create art because I love the journey, the challenge and obviously the final outcome. The more complex and detailed the subject the more I enjoy it (a sucker for punishment you might say). I don’t do it to make money, although that helps. I do it for the sense of achievement I get out of finishing a beautiful and admired piece of art.
I try not to box myself into a corner and focus on a single theme or subject matter. I love painting landscapes and iconic urban scenes from my travels. More recently I have been doing portraits and that has proved quite fulfilling also. I do love scenes that somehow incorporate water, that’s always a good challenge.
My medium of choice is predominantly oils on canvas. I typically adopt a 3 or 4 pass technique. First blocking in the large forms, shapes and shadows followed by a couple of translucent modelling/contouring layers to get a better sense of depth. Then the final detail and highlights layer to finish off.
Continuous improvement is important to me. The next painting needs to be better than the last. I’m not looking for any notoriety or becoming wealthy from my pursuit. But I do enjoy sharing my work with others and having them admire something I have put so much effort into. I find that really rewarding.
I get inspiration from all the great masters. It is not so much about their subject and their magnificent finished works, but more about their technique. I love trying to understand what technique they may have employed to achieve a particular outcome. Wherever I can I will visit art galleries to explore the wonderful paintings they exhibit.
Artist Statement:
Magic happens during the early morning minutes of a day as the sun rises and paints the sky with its luminescent colours. This scene is made even more special as it comes up over our beautiful Moreton Bay, paired with the iconic Redcliffe Jetty. Clouds in the atmosphere present the sun with a canvas to express what a magnificent day is to come. I call this painting Rise and Shine.