6 Women Artists
A FOUR-DAY POP-UP SHOW AT MALVERN ARTISTS’ SOCIETY GALLERY
The exhibition showcases artworks by six women skilled in their individual medium choices.
Margaret Bellamy’s oil paintings with a focus on outback Australia range in the palette selection, with a standout work, for me, of the red desert dotted with spinifex.
Amanda Wyness has grouped an overview of her competent watercolours, while Margaret Holloway’s oil paintings a lush with texture and thickness.
Gillian Schofield features Cyanotypes, a range of prints and Charcoal drawings.
Two of the six are members of MSWPS Angeline Bartholomeusz and Carmel O’Connor.
Angeline has used palette knife with acrylic paint, plus brush. I commented that some of the work has a sense of Silkscreen printing, yet others seem to honour the fauvists.
A favourite is Walk Lightly that Angeline painted during the build-up to the The Voice referendum. It talks of connection to the earth, to the rugged Australian outback and a message of caring for our lands. Three of her artworks convey landscape yet spend time them and the hidden figures reveal themselves.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
In 2022, I became a full-time artist. I am a self-taught artist with a unique style, who has won multiple awards and been a finalist in several shows.
I paint from memory to capture the emotional aspects of a place and create a sense of location. I draw inspiration from Australian Impressionists and Modernists such as Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Russel Drysdale, Fred Williams, and Arthur Boyd. These artists produced works that depicted the land and its people in unique ways. I aim to create artworks that allows viewers to see my perspective.
As an abstract painter, I use landscapes as a metaphor to tell stories. My themes strongly connect with the land and environment. Inspired by the Australian landscape, I strive to transcend photographic replication. I create an imagined place that feels familiar but exists only in my mind. I invite viewers to explore and immerse themselves in this imaginary world.
Carmel is embracing her stylised house motif in several artworks of oil on linen and incorporating the motif into still-life works that convey a sense of glazed pottery.
They are bold bright, charming, and exquisitely painted. I was drawn to Three Vases, already sold, when I arrived. The painting is crowded with colour making the protea and other flora jump out of the canvas. Then the design, and composition of the work shows the confidence of an artist who has much experience in the discipline.
It was a pleasure to meet up with four of the artists on site in the well lit and professionally installed exhibition.
Congratulations to all six artists.
Denise Keele-bedford
