FACES SPACES PLACES is an exhibition presenting the work of Bernie Greaves, Debbie Mackenzie and Andrea Wilson. From contemplative landscapes to gestural portraits, this collection of paintings displays a range  of possibilities within the scope of figurative painting.

Michael Reid Southern Highlands is pleased to present a group show by the Artists of Ampilatwatja. This exhibition showcases landscape paintings of the fertile yet scorched land of Ampilatwatja, which is located 320 km north-east of Alice Springs. The artists have predominantly painted Arreth, which translates to strong bush medicine, a flower that flourishes in the region and holds significant cultural meaning. The land has provided and sustained the Alyawarr people for generations and Akwerlp Alpeyt Artna Arntetyew is a poignant reminder of the interconnectedness between plant, land, animal and people.

The Artists of Ampilatwatja Art Centre was established in 1999 and the work of the artists is recognisably distinct to the centre.

Lily Platts is an artist based between Canberra and Bombala. Platts is fascinated with the everyday world around her and draws inspiration from rituals, objects and interactions that are often overlooked in our daily lives.
Platts has exhibited in various group and solo shows, and was recently the recipient of the 2020 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship from the Art Gallery of NSW after graduating with Honours from RMIT, Melbourne.

“My work explores themes of the everyday interactions we have with objects and the world around me. My recent work is inspired by scrolling through facebook marketplace in the hopes that something would catch my eye, I became fascinated with the way I use this platform and my need to consume. I was drawn to the objects in these images; chairs, tables and any other random possessions that were going at a cheap price. The more I looked, the more I enjoyed the incidental compositions that were taken when trying to sell unwanted or unused items. They were dynamic and straight to the point, but I was fascinated by the life that the furniture led and the way that it told a story of the people behind the lens.”

With a confidence in colour and brush strokes, Brooke Dalton captures the essence of home settings in a way that makes you want to escape inside her paintings. Serving to transport us to a place where colour is brave and life is uplifting, these paintings are a new view of the way we live or would like to live.

Brooke Dalton’s atmospheric paintings rightfully strike a chord with many of us, and it is her ability to reinvent, refine and so honestly interpret her surroundings that keeps her paintings at front of mind of collectors nationwide.

Dreamscapes collapse the barrier between the dreaming and waking realms, tapping into the world of unconstrained imagination. Each vignette has stitched together random, unrelated imagery, in a similar way our brain conjures up dreams and creates an alternative reality, which to a conscious, rational mind, wouldn’t make sense. Unusual juxtapositions of objects and images introduce an element of playfulness to the work and charge it with a whimsical narrative.

Joanna Gambotto completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at the National Art School in Sydney in 2013. She’s been a finalist in numerous art competitions, most recent ones including: Paddington Art Prize 2021, Naked & Nude Art Prize 2021, Dobell Prize for Drawing 2021, Calleen Art Award 2020 and JADA 2020. She has been the winner of various art prizes including the Dobell Drawing Prize – Peoples’ Choice, the Hornsby Art Prize and the Northbridge Art Prize.

In her first Southern Highlands exhibition, Mudgee based watercolourist Denise Faulkner has pushed her practice to new heights. Comprised of twelve new watercolour works, From Little Things sees Faulkner demonstrate her marvellous technical skill and thoughtful treatment of the mini narratives she is renowned for.

From Prussian and French ultramarine blues to ruby and crimson reds, Faulkner’s vivacious watercolours dazzle the eyes. From Little Things sees the artist play with scale, both in the size of her paintings and with her subjects. Faulkner embellishes large birds like peacocks atop tiny trees, such as bonsais. Each work exploring a narrative imagined by the artist and later solidified on paper.

Everlasting captures the annual winter flowering of wattles and the all-consuming lemony bloom of native daisies. This new series of work looks at embracing the repetition and the noise that characterises the woodland landscape that surrounds her.“The singular beauty is difficult to comprehend without being overwhelmed by the repetition”.

In Elizabeth Barnett’s new show To the Coast, we are swept away in the rapture of summer. To the Coast continues Barnett’s still life’s responding to seasonal changes, this time seizing the first joyous summer after Victoria’s extensive lockdown. For Barnett, coastal flora was a key inspiration and took on new meaning. The artist was particularly drawn to flowering gums that grow along the Victorian coastline in summer, blooming in resplendent lime greens to electric pinks, celebrating life lived by the seaside. Weathered banksias gnarled by coastal winds stand strong while providing work for busy buzzing bees, a testament to nature’s continuation regardless of residential life standing still. To the Coast captures this coastal flora atop blue and white striped textiles that recall the ebbs and flow of the tides.