A Walk In The Park

It is our enormous pleasure to welcome Melbourne-based still life painter Susan Morris to our Project Space at Michael Reid Southern Highlands this month, with her collection of new work titled A Walk in the Park.

On walks with her dog Milou in her home-town of Melbourne, also known as ‘the city of gardens’, Susan’s painter’s eye observes and picks out plants in her local environment to be captured in oils back in her studio.  The ever ubiquitous dried gum leaves depicted in the painting Fall, is a celebration of one of nature’s gifts at the end of its life cycle.  A small branch that would usually be trodden on or swept aside, it’s beauty now brought back to life through gentle and fine brush strokes.  The inky dark background highlighting its fragility and uniqueness as it dances and falls in the light.

“Still life is often autobiographical in nature, as are my paintings. They reflect where I’ve been and where I live. The containers also have a story to tell, whether it is in the immediacy of a glass jar,  an heirloom vase from a country far away or a clay vessel from a local potter. Holding our precious and unique indigenous flora, that relationship speaks of home, history and country.” says Susan.

Susan has been a finalist in numerous awards including the Waterhouse Natural Science and Art Prize, the Mosman Art prize, the Lethbridge 20000, the Waverley Art Prize, Omnia Art Prize, the Linden Postcard Prize and the York Botanic Prize as well as a solo exhibition at the Victorian Artists Society in 2021.