This exhibition addresses portraiture as a form of self-expression.
I am Amalea Smolcic, a twenty-six-year-old artist living on a farm in Richmond. The environment I inhabit influences my creative process, and I draw inspiration from the picturesque beauty of the land. To me, life is more than a mere transaction with time, it requires a touch of grit, and playfulness.
This body of work delves into the portraits of fifty strangers, seeking to capture the essence of being human—our thoughts, emotions, and dreams. Instead of fixating on appearances, I explore the imaginative side of what a face represents to me, though my own lens. I strive to break down the bias that separates strangers from our loved ones, recognizing the importance and inherent goodness in every person.
The fifty canvases are arranged randomly, echoing the arbitrary nature of their selection. Each portrait stands as a unique entity while contributing to the interconnectedness shared by everyone. Colour and light take precedence over realism in my work, transcending the confines of shadows and illusions. By embracing spontaneity in material selection, I allow for the unfettered expression of artistic freedom.
Carmel Dilger / High Beam / Oil paint on linen / 50 cm x 35 cm
Daily opening times:
28 June – 31 July 2023 9AM-5PM
Showcase of Tasmanian Art Teachers artistic practice
The TATA Teachers Exhibition showcases the work of Tasmanian professional artists who work or have previously worked in the state as art teachers. As art teachers, who also engage in their own arts practice, there is an ebb and flow of time and space.
TATA recognises the importance of encouraging and giving art teachers the opportunities to take the time to engage in their own art practice. An essential component of a practicing artist-art teachers’ process is art making.
It enhances art teaching practices and processes and provides rich arts learning opportunities for students. Through its Teacher Exhibition, TATA aims to share the rich and diverse range of practicing artist art teachers we have in the state.
Daily opening times:
Friday 2 June – Thursday 22 June 2023 9AM-5PM
Exhibition of paintings, arising out of life drawing classes exploring the ways of observing the line of the body in landscape and indoor settings.
The Body Observed
Inspired by my life drawing practice, visiting museums, and sometime experience co-caring for a person with disability, The body Observed explores the relationship between the body and the viewer, interrogating how the body may be [re]defined by the nature of its observation.
In doing so the works engage three variations on the gaze including the observant gaze, the fantasising gaze, and the mechanistic gaze.
The mechanistic gaze, looks and goes little beyond delineation, relying on line alone. The observant gaze looks and speculates…possibly about the relationship between the observed and her/his context. The fantasising gaze goes further hoping for a transformation for the body or the observer, or an outcome from observing.
These variations, in turn, have implications for the interplay between the body and its environment.
rory kay, 2023
Opening event:
Friday 28 April, 6pm
Daily opening times:
Friday 28 April – Saturday 28 May 2023 9AM-5PM
Welcome to everything is not oKAY, enjoy your stay
the debut exhibition of nipaluna artist Rory Kay, presenting for the first time a collection of Tasmanian Expressionism
Lynn Kelly. Awash (2021). Oil on canvas. 90cm x 90cm
Opening Event Thursday 2 March 2023 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Waterforms is a series that investigates natural design. The paintings are impressionistic interpretations of segments of water views from Tasmanian places visited by emerging artist, Lynn Kelly.
Natural elements interact to control energy and atmosphere. Conditions can change quickly. Our environmental experiences are affected by times of day, weather and our points of view.
Likewise, in a painting the visual components are combined and arranged to express mood and movement.
These works are sections from water views removed from their scenic contexts. They are square in format, making them somewhat ambiguous.
Rather than making pictures the aim was to explore how colours and shapes can be composed to evoke a feeling and create the impression of a place.
Lynn Kelly. Seethe (2022). Oil on canvas. 100cm x 100cm
Lynn Kelly. Quietude (2022). Oil on canvas. 100cm x 100cm
Lynn Kelly. Under the Bridge (2021). Oil on canvas. 90cm x 90cm
Corey Sparkes. Lilypad Pond. Digital Art.
Opening Event Wednesday 8 February 2023 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Hobart to Yaizu is a series of digital illustrations by emerging artist Corey Sparkes inspired by the little known link between two cities.
“Yaizu is the sister city of Hobart’ is something you don’t hear often, if not at all.
I remember learning about Yaizu in school and thinking to myself, “hey this is great!” However, aside from Kanjiro Harada’s stunning Japanese Garden that is located within Hobart’s Botanical Gardens, there is very little in the way of promotional material in regards to this fact. This body of work exists as a promotional piece for both cities, identifying their shared characteristics in regards to landscape and environment through a minimalistic approach that explores the use of colour, limitation and indulges the idea of “play” rather than work or accomplishment.
Overall these pieces intend to serve as a cleansing moment of simplicity in our lives that can often be overwhelmed by chaos and complexity.” – Corey Sparkes
Corey Sparkes. Sandy Bay. Digital Art.
Corey Sparkes. Mount Fuji. Digital Art.
Corey Sparkes. Hobart. Digital Art.
Opening Event Friday 11 November 2022 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Featuring works by Nolan Art‘s Adult Students, this annual exhibition features oil and acrylic painting, watercolour and drawing.
Rhys Cousins. (2022). Photography.
Opening Event Friday 2 December 2022 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Traces, by Rhys Cousins and Lucy Maddox, explores the historical, emotional, and tangible encounters between people and urban materials. Through two- and three-dimensional works, the exhibition examines the signs left by human interaction with surfaces. Collaborating across landscape and visual art, the exhibition generates conversations about viewers’ relationship to place.
The name connects to the ephemerality of objects, as well as of the lives of the humans that connect with them. These minute and often overlooked elements will take the fore in Traces, investigating the subject from both abstract and figurative perspectives. While the outcomes are often minimalist in outward appearance, the beauty of the work lies in the small details and textures. Moreover, the process of creating the work is a part of the work itself. Responding to the urban textural landscape of Hobart and its surrounds, the creation of Traces involves an interaction between the art and artists, both physical and conceptual. For instance, casts are made of surfaces in the local area, and the creation of these casts inevitably alters the material subjects, often in minute ways.
Working under the collective Tangere, meaning “to elicit emotion through touch,” Rhys and Lucy are a transdisciplinary duo who challenge the boundaries between their practices for new artistic and creative outcomes.
Rhys is a creative practitioner working across design, art and landscape architecture, exploring new possibilities of experience as informed by materiality, space and light in public space. Lucy is a visual artist working in a variety of modern and traditional mediums, including painting, printmaking, and digital art. Her practice investigates the emotional associations made through touch, body language and gesture.
They will respond to the concept of Traces through two different perspectives. Rhys will approach the concept abstractly through volume and space, his work unveiling the city narrative as texture. In contrast, Lucy’s painted and drawn works will capture the intimate, emotional experience of touch. These two artists’ works will be intermingled, conversing with one another to explore the richness of ‘Traces,’ but juxtaposed in technique, style and medium to challenge conventional viewership.
In addition to their individual work, they will also collaborate on an installation to explore the interaction between audiences and the work. By providing visitors with magnifying lenses, this visual dialogue will aim to allow audiences to respond personally to the local texture and signs rather than simply pass them by.
Rhys Cousins. Grounding (detail) (2021). Plaster and urban material remnants. 3 x 2.5m. Photograph by Cassandra Hogan.
Rhys Cousins. Grounding (performance) (2021). Plaster and urban material remnants. 3 x 2.5m. Photograph by Cassandra Hogan.
Rhys Cousins. Untitled (detail) (2021). Plaster, stone.
Earth and Land presents lutruwita/Tasmania’s natural beauty, captured within the clay of Angela Reiher’s sculptural forms and Caitlin Love’s canvas.
Opening Event Friday 30 September 2022 5:30pm – 7:30pm Top Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre
Emerging artists Angela Reiher and Caitlin Love met in 2020 after taking ceramics classes together. They soon realised their shared ambition to produce a body of work to exhibit. Angela and Caitlin’s interest in the natural landscape and obsession with the Tasmanian wilderness was the subject of many conversations which lead the pair to recognise the many ways their works speak to each other. Angela collects wild clay from different locations in lutruwita/Tasmania, to use within her work. Caitlin represents the natural environment in her paintings, including some of locations where Angela has sourced her clay from. Their work embodies the landscape in more ways than one.
Angela and Caitlin have nurtured a strong friendship over the last couple of years, consistently supporting and encouraging one another to follow their motivations as artists. Together, the pair launched their work for Earth and Land with a trip to Tasmania’s wild and captivating West Coast, early in 2022. This is the first time that Angela and Caitlin have exhibited their work.
Caitlin Love. South Cape Rivulet. Acrylic on Canvas. 38 x 82cm
Angela Reiher. Untitled (2022). Clay. Photographer: Sid Scott
Angela Reiher
Angela Reiher is an artist based in nipaluna/Hobart. Angela was born in Warragul, Victoria and moved to lutruwita/Tasmania in 2018. She came on a holiday to Tasmania in 2017 and fell in love with the amazing and diverse landscape as she travelled around the state. She has recently retired from a life of teaching to release her dreams and passion for the arts.
Angela has a deep-rooted connection with the natural world and her works reflect this. Angela’s work is inspired by what she sees around her, or literally includes elements from the environment. In her ceramic work, she uses items such as rocks for tools in shaping, trimming, carving and finishing work. Angela uses shells, rocks and leaves and other found items as inspiration and to emulate colours in glazes and in the finishing effects. Her handbuilding reflects the organic shapes in the environment and incorporates aspects of natural elements such as wild clay.
Angela loves connecting to the earth by collecting and hand processing clay found in the wild. Everything is done by hand until the final firing stage, including collecting the clay, picking up or digging out the clay with a small handheld shovel or shell. Clay is broken down and squished by hand, from large lumps into a smooth mix. Angela then pushes it through a sieve and dries it out to a usable degree, wedges it and makes it ready to use. Angela uses wild clays as finishing effects on ceramic pieces that she has either handbuilt or wheel-thrown. Angela likes her artwork to ‘create itself’. She begins with an idea but has learnt to have no boundaries. She likes the work to take on its own form and, in a way, to create itself.
Caitlin Love
Caitlin Love was born in Ngunnawal country/Canberra and she studied Art History and Curatorship at The Australian National University. She moved to lutruwita/Tasmania in 2015 and based herself in nipaluna/Hobart to further her study at the School of Creative Arts, completing her master’s degree. Caitlin currently works as an art teacher.
Painting has been a lifelong passion of Caitlin’s. In this exhibition, Caitlin captures the essence and life of Tasmania’s diverse and pristine wilderness through her exploration of the colours and vistas that have captivated her during hiking and camping trips. These paintings reflect her personal connection to Tasmanian landscapes and the profound nourishment she receives from being in nature. There is a welcoming sense of solitude and peace that can be found in Tasmania’s unique landscape, which offers Caitlin both a sense of belonging and a feeling of remoteness.
Nick Hills. Darker Than Empty.
The debut solo exhibition by emerging Tasmanian artist Nick Hills.
Breathe pushes the themes of life and decay in the natural world to a new level. It’s a menagerie of characters and emotional states, everything from spiders tangled upon melting limbs to whimsically psychedelic animal portraits.
Originally inspired by a need to break through some mental health barriers, Nick’s work is a great insight into the artists mind and the 3-year journey involved in coming out of a difficult time and building up a whole new perspective on life.
Coming from a background in mountain biking and a love of hard metal music (the pieces are named after lyrics from Nick’s favorite bands and musicians), Nick’s unique style is both dark and brightly energetic.
All works are archival inkjet printed on 100% cotton rag museum grade paper by Papermill Printhouse (Melbourne) and Full Gamut (Hobart) and are all framed by Hobart’s finest Wagner Framemakers. All prints are available for purchase. Merchandise, stickers and other accessories are also available for sale down in Spacebar Gallery.
Nick Hills. Mind Over Matter.
Nick Hills. Fade Away.
Nick Hills. Grind your teeth.
Photo by Stu Gibson.
Nick Hills
Nick Hills is an emerging artist based on Tasmania. Nick specialises in digital illustration, creating colourful thought-provoking works.
