In this new body of work, Northern Rivers-based artist Kathryn Dolby has sought to bind multiple experiences of water that occurred over the past two years, on boards that were in varying stages of progress over that duration. Through her pregnancy, she began painting the ocean spurred by an incredible urge to be by the sea – where water became a meditative visualisation for water birth, and also the two major floods that occurred when she was full term.  The powerful experiences of the flood and of birth demonstrating how simultaneously destructive yet also healing and life giving this compound is – at once providing calm refuge with the meditative motions of the sea and also clearing a path in surges.

Dolby’s paintings are blurred, morphing, shifting, slipping landscapes painted from deep visceral memories, propelled gently by the words found in Olivia Laing’s novel, To the River: “The Slipping Landscapes of a Dream.” In her practice, Dolby’s preference is that her work ‘suggest’ and ‘evoke,’ enjoying to blur the bound between abstraction and representation – and the  freedom to play and tease at those sensations rather than painting a direct copy of the real world. It is her hope also that through the abstracted, ambiguous elements of the paintings, the work can extend beyond her lived experience and into something that can be carried by the viewer into their own world, memory and colour associations.

“I’m interested in the power, strength and also lightness of water. With thinned down, fluid layers of paint, fleshy tones of the body morph into waves, mountains into water, sky into sea, memories swirling, fading, and morphing into something new. Ripples through the subconscious like an untamed tide, intense and also gentle, solid and soft, liberated and new. These works are an ode to the power of the elements and their influence on our experience of the world”. 

~ Kathryn Dolby (2023)

As always,  colour is a huge influence on Dolby and her memories are replete with colour triggers from particular moments in time. The thick volcanic red mud from the floods that drew a line through the trees and landscape for weeks afterwards, magnifying the green tips of the trees against the sky. Choosing to focus on the green tips, the renewal of the trees and the hint at new life it suggested, it felt palpably more hopeful and light to focus her energy there. There is a kind of flood line that links and moves up and down the works – some of the lines are milky while others are muddy.

The initial challenge of  uniting works that were created over such a long span of time, with significant gaps between painting sessions was resolved by the artist’s habit of moving from board to board until they all cohered through layering, with the layers of memories, until the thread connected together in a clearer way. The result is a determined, honest, considered  and deeply feminine offering from one of our most talented emerging artists. Kathryn Dolby continues to push and evolve her practice, richly imbuing her work by life as she lives it.

– Amber Creswell Bell 2023

I have judged art prizes for much of my professional life and having done so, view the outcome of judgmental collective decision making – with some knowing behind the curtain horse-trading scepticism. Stuff happens behinds the scenes at art prizes. For having said all that, I do however, never miss viewing the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. There are always less shenanigans within Landscape prizes.

So, there I was in 2020 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales viewing the Wynne Prize, when I should turn the corner and run smack into the practice of Julianne Ross Allcorn. There was a painting of wattle, banksia, grevillea, waratah, gumnuts, gum blossoms, seeds and leaves from different native plants, a Gymea lily, and the wildlife of our bush. There was in that painting, and to be found in the artist’s practice in general, a gentle narrative of fire, regeneration, and wonder.

In a contemporary manner, Allcorn’s paintings to my eye, channel an earlier world of a more detailed observation and the Australian bush. Her paintings make use of raw plywood to create a unique negative space on which to work. The artist sketch paints in layers, sometimes panoramic in scope- but always hyper observant. From top to bottom, left to right Allcorn’s paintings read as if you are standing within a grove of native trees. In the gum trees, you see through the brush and into canopy, to witness a densely packed and active world.

As a viewing member of the public, I applauded the judge’s choice. As an art dealer, I was delighted that the artist had then- not a full exhibition schedule dance card. She does now and I am delighted, that once again, that Julianne Ross Allcorn is holding her second solo exhibition at my Southern Highlands gallery.

Michael Reid OAM, 2023

In this new body of work, Northern Rivers-based artist Kathryn Dolby has sought to bind multiple experiences of water that occurred over the past two years, on boards that were in varying stages of progress over that duration. Through her pregnancy, she began painting the ocean spurred by an incredible urge to be by the sea – where water became a meditative visualisation for water birth, and also the two major floods that occurred when she was full term.  The powerful experiences of the flood and of birth demonstrating how simultaneously destructive yet also healing and life giving this compound is – at once providing calm refuge with the meditative motions of the sea and also clearing a path in surges.

Dolby’s paintings are blurred, morphing, shifting, slipping landscapes painted from deep visceral memories, propelled gently by the words found in Olivia Laing’s novel, To the River: “The Slipping Landscapes of a Dream.” In her practice, Dolby’s preference is that her work ‘suggest’ and ‘evoke,’ enjoying to blur the bound between abstraction and representation – and the  freedom to play and tease at those sensations rather than painting a direct copy of the real world. It is her hope also that through the abstracted, ambiguous elements of the paintings, the work can extend beyond her lived experience and into something that can be carried by the viewer into their own world, memory and colour associations.

“I’m interested in the power, strength and also lightness of water. With thinned down, fluid layers of paint, fleshy tones of the body morph into waves, mountains into water, sky into sea, memories swirling, fading, and morphing into something new. Ripples through the subconscious like an untamed tide, intense and also gentle, solid and soft, liberated and new. These works are an ode to the power of the elements and their influence on our experience of the world”. 

~ Kathryn Dolby (2023)

As always,  colour is a huge influence on Dolby and her memories are replete with colour triggers from particular moments in time. The thick volcanic red mud from the floods that drew a line through the trees and landscape for weeks afterwards, magnifying the green tips of the trees against the sky. Choosing to focus on the green tips, the renewal of the trees and the hint at new life it suggested, it felt palpably more hopeful and light to focus her energy there. There is a kind of flood line that links and moves up and down the works – some of the lines are milky while others are muddy.

The initial challenge of  uniting works that were created over such a long span of time, with significant gaps between painting sessions was resolved by the artist’s habit of moving from board to board until they all cohered through layering, with the layers of memories, until the thread connected together in a clearer way. The result is a determined, honest, considered  and deeply feminine offering from one of our most talented emerging artists. Kathryn Dolby continues to push and evolve her practice, richly imbuing her work by life as she lives it.

– Amber Creswell Bell 2023

Sally West is a highly acclaimed contemporary artist from Australia who has garnered widespread recognition for her distinctive use of thick paint and bold, textural surfaces. Her captivating beach series, which draws inspiration from a range of Australian beaches, including Terrigal, Avoca, Freshwater, Manly, Coogee, Maroubra, Bondi, Camp Cove, Blueys, Lizzie and North Curl Curl, has garnered a significant following.

West has earned numerous art prizes throughout her career and has exhibited her work in many prestigious art competitions. These include the Portia Geach Art Prize at the SH Ervin Gallery, the New South Wales Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, the Paddington Art Prize (2016), the KAAF Prize (2016), EMSLA (2016), Salon Des Refuses (Wynne) Prize, the Charlatan Ink Art Prize in Manhattan, New York City, the Pacific Palms Art Prize (winner 3 years), the Gosford Art Prize, the Mosman Art Prize (2019), the Hornsby Art Prize, and several others. Sally West’s work is highly sought after by collectors and art enthusiasts, and she is considered one of Australia’s most prominent contemporary artists.

Sally West is a highly acclaimed contemporary artist from Australia who has garnered widespread recognition for her distinctive use of thick paint and bold, textural surfaces. Her captivating beach series, which draws inspiration from a range of Australian beaches, including Terrigal, Avoca, Freshwater, Manly, Coogee, Maroubra, Bondi, Camp Cove, Blueys, Lizzie and North Curl Curl, has garnered a significant following.

West has earned numerous art prizes throughout her career and has exhibited her work in many prestigious art competitions. These include the Portia Geach Art Prize at the SH Ervin Gallery, the New South Wales Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, the Paddington Art Prize (2016), the KAAF Prize (2016), EMSLA (2016), Salon Des Refuses (Wynne) Prize, the Charlatan Ink Art Prize in Manhattan, New York City, the Pacific Palms Art Prize (winner 3 years), the Gosford Art Prize, the Mosman Art Prize (2019), the Hornsby Art Prize, and several others. Sally West’s work is highly sought after by collectors and art enthusiasts, and she is considered one of Australia’s most prominent contemporary artists.

In this new body of work, Northern Rivers-based artist Kathryn Dolby has sought to bind multiple experiences of water that occurred over the past two years, on boards that were in varying stages of progress over that duration. Through her pregnancy, she began painting the ocean spurred by an incredible urge to be by the sea – where water became a meditative visualisation for water birth, and also the two major floods that occurred when she was full term.  The powerful experiences of the flood and of birth demonstrating how simultaneously destructive yet also healing and life giving this compound is – at once providing calm refuge with the meditative motions of the sea and also clearing a path in surges.

Dolby’s paintings are blurred, morphing, shifting, slipping landscapes painted from deep visceral memories, propelled gently by the words found in Olivia Laing’s novel, To the River: “The Slipping Landscapes of a Dream.” In her practice, Dolby’s preference is that her work ‘suggest’ and ‘evoke,’ enjoying to blur the bound between abstraction and representation – and the  freedom to play and tease at those sensations rather than painting a direct copy of the real world. It is her hope also that through the abstracted, ambiguous elements of the paintings, the work can extend beyond her lived experience and into something that can be carried by the viewer into their own world, memory and colour associations.

“I’m interested in the power, strength and also lightness of water. With thinned down, fluid layers of paint, fleshy tones of the body morph into waves, mountains into water, sky into sea, memories swirling, fading, and morphing into something new. Ripples through the subconscious like an untamed tide, intense and also gentle, solid and soft, liberated and new. These works are an ode to the power of the elements and their influence on our experience of the world”. 

~ Kathryn Dolby (2023)

As always,  colour is a huge influence on Dolby and her memories are replete with colour triggers from particular moments in time. The thick volcanic red mud from the floods that drew a line through the trees and landscape for weeks afterwards, magnifying the green tips of the trees against the sky. Choosing to focus on the green tips, the renewal of the trees and the hint at new life it suggested, it felt palpably more hopeful and light to focus her energy there. There is a kind of flood line that links and moves up and down the works – some of the lines are milky while others are muddy.

The initial challenge of  uniting works that were created over such a long span of time, with significant gaps between painting sessions was resolved by the artist’s habit of moving from board to board until they all cohered through layering, with the layers of memories, until the thread connected together in a clearer way. The result is a determined, honest, considered  and deeply feminine offering from one of our most talented emerging artists. Kathryn Dolby continues to push and evolve her practice, richly imbuing her work by life as she lives it.

– Amber Creswell Bell 2023

Sally West is a highly acclaimed contemporary artist from Australia who has garnered widespread recognition for her distinctive use of thick paint and bold, textural surfaces. Her captivating beach series, which draws inspiration from a range of Australian beaches, including Terrigal, Avoca, Freshwater, Manly, Coogee, Maroubra, Bondi, Camp Cove, Blueys, Lizzie and North Curl Curl, has garnered a significant following.

West has earned numerous art prizes throughout her career and has exhibited her work in many prestigious art competitions. These include the Portia Geach Art Prize at the SH Ervin Gallery, the New South Wales Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, the Paddington Art Prize (2016), the KAAF Prize (2016), EMSLA (2016), Salon Des Refuses (Wynne) Prize, the Charlatan Ink Art Prize in Manhattan, New York City, the Pacific Palms Art Prize (winner 3 years), the Gosford Art Prize, the Mosman Art Prize (2019), the Hornsby Art Prize, and several others. Sally West’s work is highly sought after by collectors and art enthusiasts, and she is considered one of Australia’s most prominent contemporary artists.

In this new body of work, Northern Rivers-based artist Kathryn Dolby has sought to bind multiple experiences of water that occurred over the past two years, on boards that were in varying stages of progress over that duration. Through her pregnancy, she began painting the ocean spurred by an incredible urge to be by the sea – where water became a meditative visualisation for water birth, and also the two major floods that occurred when she was full term.  The powerful experiences of the flood and of birth demonstrating how simultaneously destructive yet also healing and life giving this compound is – at once providing calm refuge with the meditative motions of the sea and also clearing a path in surges.

Dolby’s paintings are blurred, morphing, shifting, slipping landscapes painted from deep visceral memories, propelled gently by the words found in Olivia Laing’s novel, To the River: “The Slipping Landscapes of a Dream.” In her practice, Dolby’s preference is that her work ‘suggest’ and ‘evoke,’ enjoying to blur the bound between abstraction and representation – and the  freedom to play and tease at those sensations rather than painting a direct copy of the real world. It is her hope also that through the abstracted, ambiguous elements of the paintings, the work can extend beyond her lived experience and into something that can be carried by the viewer into their own world, memory and colour associations.

“I’m interested in the power, strength and also lightness of water. With thinned down, fluid layers of paint, fleshy tones of the body morph into waves, mountains into water, sky into sea, memories swirling, fading, and morphing into something new. Ripples through the subconscious like an untamed tide, intense and also gentle, solid and soft, liberated and new. These works are an ode to the power of the elements and their influence on our experience of the world”. 

~ Kathryn Dolby (2023)

As always,  colour is a huge influence on Dolby and her memories are replete with colour triggers from particular moments in time. The thick volcanic red mud from the floods that drew a line through the trees and landscape for weeks afterwards, magnifying the green tips of the trees against the sky. Choosing to focus on the green tips, the renewal of the trees and the hint at new life it suggested, it felt palpably more hopeful and light to focus her energy there. There is a kind of flood line that links and moves up and down the works – some of the lines are milky while others are muddy.

The initial challenge of  uniting works that were created over such a long span of time, with significant gaps between painting sessions was resolved by the artist’s habit of moving from board to board until they all cohered through layering, with the layers of memories, until the thread connected together in a clearer way. The result is a determined, honest, considered  and deeply feminine offering from one of our most talented emerging artists. Kathryn Dolby continues to push and evolve her practice, richly imbuing her work by life as she lives it.

– Amber Creswell Bell 2023

Steve Tyerman paints the places with which he is most familiar – the landscapes surrounding his home in the  hinterland of the Gold Coast, as well as the coastal areas of SE Queensland and far northern NSW. Using rich impasto technique, his paintings are an attempt to create a synthesis of his visual sensations and lived experiences, and reflect the artist’s emotional responses to these places tempered by his keen interest in gardening, wildlife, literature and the natural world.

As a means of countering the ubiquity of the cropped and filtered digital image, Tyerman seeks to portray the perspective of viewing with ‘two eyes’ – looking up and down,  adjusting the focus to near and far, and peripheral vision. The human experience of the brain combining all our other senses, memories, expectations, fears, preferences, preconceived ideas and other thought processes to create every lived moment is what he hopes to render in his paintings.

“I’m interested in the passage of time through the landscape, the changing light conditions, the journey of water, the flora and fauna that are so crucial to the environment, the life cycle of plants, our human presence, symbiotic relationships and the connectedness of all these elements in a beautiful and complex ecosystem”.