Announcement | Show opens 11am, 26 Sep & Artist Talk 3-4pm, 27 Sep
Announcement | September 2026
Homage to the bird | 26 September to 18 October 2026
A friendly reminder our Annual Spring Show
opens this Saturday.
Catalogue goes live 11am, online and in person
Shannon Garson & Fiona Hiscock (Ceramics)
Jane Guthleben & Greg Oakley (Painting)
Martin King (Print)
Vicki Mason (Jeweller)
Tom Moore (Glass)
Colleen Southwell (Paper)
The show will be open 7 days a week, 11-4 and by appointment.
Jane (Painting) Each morning when I walk the dog we are greeted by a family of wattlebirds - that is, we hear their metallic calls from the thick bushes and trees where they nest. They glide from branch to branch as we pass, chasing nectar and keeping their distance. Their chattering is in the soundtrack of my childhood.
Colleen (Paper) I am an avid daybreak wanderer of the garden – work-boots pulled on over pyjamas, crisp air on skin. It’s the light and morning chorus of birds that draws me. The Light of Dawn (Top wings up) is a bird unfurling to catch the light, inspired by these daybreak connections with the life in the garden.
Greg (Painting)
The brilliant turquoise-blue plumage of the Collared Kingfisher makes it one of Australia’s most striking coastal birds. In this painting, I have placed it among lush foliage and vivid red flowers of a native mangrove, celebrating the wonderful harmony of colour found between a bird and its natural habitat.
Tom (Glass) I reckon I’ve made more birds than anything else, I am beguiled by these elegant ancient weirdos. Some of the oldest blown glass was made in the shape of water-fowl, the ductile material perfect for the sininous neck - it's almost as if glass wants to be a bird.
Vicki (Jewellery) This series draws on jewellery traditions that use bird motifs as cultural symbols. Inspired by superb fairy‑wrens, eastern rosellas and rainbow lorikeets, the works explore how flight reframes perspective. Watching birds sweep past my windows gently reminds me to lift my gaze to the wider landscape of possibility that new perspectives afford me.
Fiona (Ceramics) The exquisite, tiny and inspirational Southern Emu Wren seen for the first time on an annual camping trip to Cape Conran close to Orbost, Victoria. What a birding highlight! The fruit is the hardy, woody seed case called a follicle (3rd plate)
Martin (Print) Each etching features a bird against a backdrop of a lightly etched tree trunk, or branch, the latter appearing as parts of skeletons - some human, some also imaginary skeletal forms … There are pressures on all species, including our specie, hence the irony of tree branches being composed of human skeletal sections.
Shannon Garson (Ceramics) The work above is about a shy rainforest bird called the Noisy Pitta. Despite their glorious plumage they are hard to spot, they live in the deep dark rainforest and have beautiful distinctive call. I’ve only glimpsed one once as I saw a flash of turquoise/golden yellow and the distinctive geometric black and white stripes. When I looked again I couldn’t find it in the shadows and leaves. Far left is Welcome Swallow.
On Sunday 27 September, 3-4pm, Colleen Southwell will have a conversation about the weaving together of two practices of making – art and garden – they are both inextricably entwined and both require a gentle hand, and an understanding of the opportunities and limitations of the material (plants and paper). My days begin and end with walks around the garden, hence these observed moments of birds “The Light of Dawn” and “The Light of Dusk”. Seats are limited so please book your spot now.
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