Maureen Harley is an artist based in Toora, and although she has no formal art training, she has a Master’s degree in Mental Health: Nursing Practice and Management, Education in Nursing and Midwifery. She feels that the patience and observational skills required for that work have translated well to the art practice she picked up again some years ago. Maureen has been entering art prize competitions since 2022 and has been successful in making it as a finalist in some of Australia’s most well-known and prestigious shows.

Maureen works across several mediums with preferred subjects being of birds, animals and all things old and rural with works portrayed in a realistic manner with a high-level of detail.

2025

Ø  Leongatha Rotary Art Show Highly Commended

Ø  Finalist John Villiers Outback Art Prize

Ø  Solo Exhibition, Stockyard Gallery, Foster

Ø  3rd Works on paper, Woollam Art On Show, Mackay, Qld.

2024

Ø  Finalist Kennedy Prize, Adelaide

Ø  Finalist John Villiers Outback Art Prize

Ø  Finalist National Contemporary Art Prize

Ø  Finalist Stanthorpe Art prize

Ø  Finalist Michael Beazer Works on Paper Prize

2023

Ø  Finalist Ravenswood Art Prize for Australian Women

Ø  Finalist John Villiers Outback Art Prize

Ø  Finalist National Capital Art Prize

2022

Ø  Finalist National Capital Art Prize

Ø  Drawing Encouragement Award Mirboo North Art Show

Ø  Highly Commended, Toora Village Art Collective

Ø  Group Exhibitions

Ø  Work hanging in private collections in Australia, England, America and New Zealand.

 https://www.maureenharleyartandphotography.com

CLICK ON BLUE THUMBNAIL ABOVE FOR ENTRY FORM.

Competition Exhibition: any medium - great prizes to be won.

1st prize: $750.00, 2nd prize: $500.00, 3rd prize: $250.00, Hangers PicK: $200.00

CREATIVE STUDENTS EXHIBITION will run from July 24 to August 05. No Opening Night

CREATIVE STUDENTS EXHIBTION will run from August 07 to August 19.

Opening Night August 08 - 5 to 6.30pm

Indigenous art and items from Wulgunggo Ngalu - many items for sale.

See ENTRY FORM ABOVE FOR DETAILS

PRIZES

1st: voucher $125 + cash $275 = $400

2nd: voucher $75 + cash $125 = $200

3rd: voucher $50 + cash $50 = $100

*VOUCHERS FROM: YARRAM BARGAIN CENTRE

As part of the Tarra Festival celebration/activities, the artist HELEN TIMBURY will be giving an Artist Talk & Demonstration on Friday 18th April, 4.30-6pm at the Gallery. ***FREE EVENT*** (This will be held just prior to the 7pm opening of the Rotary Art Show at the Regent Theatre). The TRAVELLING THROUGH exhibition is a collection of linocut prints, monoprints and recent paintings - something for everyone and not to be missed.

OPENING FUNCTION - Saturday 08 February 2025 from 2pm to 3.30pm. Free entry.

LOVE IN TRANSLATION

This exhibition, from long time collaborators Sue Acheson and Russell Lilford, has a theme of love - but not as you may think - there are no pink hearts here…Looking at how love is used and abused, and the many kinds of love there are.

Commenting on the use and abuse of love and how it traps us into certain acts. There is joy and pain reflected in the exciting paintings and ceramic sculptures.

Sue Acheson

Sue's sculptural forms are a reflection of the natural world around her. Subjects she reflects on include personal (Love of Self), political (Love of Power), environmental (Love of Country) or related to community (Unconditional Love).

The energy of the Earth has a profound effect on all of her work, as does the Australian bush. The calligraphic marks often made as decoration are graphic representations of the light and shadow falling through trees, especially early morning and late evening.

Russell Lilford

Russell is on a quest to expand his visual language, to widen a lexicon that includes the emotional, spiritual and philosophical in his paintings. He presents work that facilitates a connection with people that allows ideas and quandaries to be transmitted. The viewer is able to read his work in many different ways depending on your perspective, and may open up meaningful dialogues to a vast array of thought.

OPENING EVENT: Sunday 12 Jan - 2 to3.30pm

BRONWYN TEESDALE

I have  painted with various mediums most of my life but the last few years have settled on water based pigment for its fluidity and ability to enhances my work in unexpected ways.  The ochre based works were totally up to the pigment to decide on the outcome. I had no preconceived idea at all. Even with the more traditional watercolours the paint blends and moves with a life of its own.

My interest and working life has always been the environment and my paintings try to demonstrate the beauty all around us if you can look to see it.

Lindy and I have been involved in art groups and exhibited together before and although our work is very different the variety gives an interest for everyone.

LINDA SENHENN

Living a sustainable life for me is a ‘thread’ thing. Threads are essential and my art pieces are sculpturedaround threads of recycling, reusing and reforming.These textile forms are held together by threads which areused to bind, hold, weave or for decoration.

Thirty years ago I started tearing, twirling and trussingscraps of my clothes into woven 3D forms, influenced byplaces I have lived: urban Melbourne, remote NorthernTerritory as well as Bass Coast.

In this exhibition I have reused everything: weft threadsand fabric; paper carry bags in weavings; boxes andbaskets made from paper resourced from encyclopaedia; found objects as stencils for mono prints.

I wish to express the rawness and edginess I feel aboutclimate change as it affects our natural world and my frustrations as a human to deal with society’s waste.

Changing form, structure or function of a material withan aim to conceal, to play…this is integral to my work.

Linda Senhenn 11/2024

contact: 0438859254

lindasenhenn@gmail.com

OPENING EVENT: Friday 13 December, 5-6.30pm

SCOTT SHEIL

Having been gardener for many years I have spent a lot of time observing the natural world and feel this is my main source of inspiration.  I find the shapes and patters in plants, animals and the world around us endlessly fascinating.  Living in East Gippsland, basically in the bush, provides me with the opportunity to absorb its’ influence without thinking too much.  I work mainly with hand tools and enjoy the quiet that offers me, often just listening to the birds.  I use three different grades of stone, they all have different qualities, textures, colour, limitations and advantages.  I feel I am constantly learning and developing along the way.

All pieces are carved from Mt Gambier limestone.

scotsheil@instagram

Sue Gilford

Sue works in pyrography, a technique of burning into wood with a hot needle.  She loves experimenting with drawing and painting and incorporating this into timber pieces and gourds she grows on her Agnes property in South Gippsland.  Her subject matter shows her concern and love for the natural environment and wildlife.

Sue can be contacted by email: ellybow85@gmail.com or telephone: 0419 782 822

Di Deppeler. I have worked with recycled wood for over 40 years and have exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, and received a number of awards for my work, both paintings and sculptural furniture, I have also worked in community arts projects.  The sculptural work is based around recycling wood that would otherwise have been destroyed. This recycled timber defines the design.  Extensive travels and a love of trees inform the work and completing a Masters in Art, (sculpture) at Monash gave me a broader view and new skills.

 My challenges and satisfaction are in making disparate pieces of found and recycled wood, come together with as many marks of age and usage retained as possible.  It is the imperfections in life, and certainly in myself and my materials that interest me. It is fun, challenging, sometimes frustrating, mostly exciting, the final result can be good, bad or indifferent. My paintings are oils, acrylics, or mixed media and are mainly of trees leaves and old buildings/objects, seen and photographed in travels and at home.

 Eileen Thurgood has been involved with the arts in East Gippsland for many years.  Her initial media was black and white photography, especially photographing the often overlooked details to be found in nature.

An interest in wanting to present her work in multiple images, rather than a single framed image, led to her exploring handmade boxes and containers.  In turn, this introduced her to the incredible world of artist books.

 Throughout Thurgood’s development has been the underlying influence of the Surrealists and the practice of collage and assemblage.  Her work reflects the idea that randomly gathered objects and images when placed together form unfamiliar relationships.  While still recognizable, these elements often assume novel associations encouraging the viewer to see them in a totally new way.

 The boxes and artist books are for the viewer to investigate and present an opportunity for them to form their own interpretation and connection.

 Thurgood has participated in many group exhibitions since completing her Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts and Post Graduate Diploma with Monash University) and a number of exhibitions shared with one or two other artists.

Julie Ward nee’ Stephenson was born in Sale.  As a music teacher she has frequented this area the yearly Eisteddfods with her choirs, orchestras and man soloists.  Art was sidelined for her career at Gippsland Grammar school and her family.  Painting has graduated from a hobby to an inevitable ‘must do’ for Julie when she gets to her Artsea studio in Seaspray most weekends.  She has exhibited here at the Courthouse as a soloist and on many other occasions like the Yarram Archies and Miniatures in May.

 NEAR.  Julie is well known for her seascapes and has included a few for your enjoyment.  She has also visited the old Woodside cemetery and was completely intrigued by the fenced family plots there.  Tiny miniatures of our wonder 90 Mile Beach will also feature and make an inexpensive souvenir of this area.

 FAR.  Recently Julie and her husband John drove to Western Australia and this gave Julie an opportunity to paint more of her beloved scenery, with the Great Australian Bight, the Indian Ocean and the pink salt lakes of South Australia most obvious.  Desert scenery (as opposed to the 90 Mile Beach) with water tanks and burnt out forests, the longest straight road in Australia; all were subjected to the often large canvases Julie prefers to cover.  Bright colours prevail, often with strong textural highlights.

We hope you will enjoy visiting this exhibition.

Annual portrait competition exhibition. Great prizes to be won. Scroll up to locate for Entry Form. Please read conditions of entry carefully. Please be mindful of copyright laws.

OPENING EVENT - Thursday 25 July, 2.30-4pm. Free entry, all welcome. Artwork, patchwork, crochet, woodwork and lots more. Some items will be for sale - don’t miss an opportunity to grab a beautifully handcrafted items by local artists and artisans. Find out what other classes and community activities that are on offer at the Neighbourhood House.

NOTE: CELEBRATION EVENT - Thursday 27th June, 2.30-4pm. FREE ENTRY

Wulgunngo Ngalu is located at the former Won Wron Prison site in Gippsland, Victoria and is a culturally appropriate 'learning place' for indigenous men undertaking community based orders.  This exhibition not only showcases indigenous art but also explains the programs that are conducted at Wulgunngo Ngalu.

NOTE: The OPENING FUNCTION will be held on Saturday 01 June, 2pm to 3.30pm, Free entry, all welcome.

NOTE: Opening Function will be held on Saturday 6th April, 3-4.30pm. Free entry, all welcome.

www.johnsullivanartist.com

OPENING FUNCTION Saturday 9th March, 2024. 2-3.30pm

A varied media exhibition by the members of Five Gates Studio, Yarram. Oils, acrylic, pastel, ceramics, textiles - something for everyone. Artists: Robin Hunt, Karen Rogers, Rae Avery, Kerry Anderson, Jessica Meaker, Mary Montague, Kim Baggaley, Jen Nickell, Jennie Teskey, Rosemary Packham, Lois Gronow, Sharene Grant, Vanessa West, Maria King, Dianna Speed

Colourful, whimsical works in watercolour/gouache/drawing pen. Hand crafted ceramic mugs and sculptures.

OPENING NIGHT 15th December, 2023. 5-6.30pm

TRACEY SAMIOS is a visual artist, working mainly in acrylics, pastels and linocut printmaking. Her artwork is a mixed bag varying in styles from naive to abstract, using bright colours and inspiration from real life and her imagination. Her art studio is at the Burrinja Cultural Centre and art gallery in Upwey. Her work is inspired by wonderful painters such as Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, L.S. Lowry, Joan Miro, Margaret Olley, Gary Bunt, Anders Hultman, Vuillard, Cedric Morris, Joan Eardley and many others.

NOTE: OPENING NIGHT - Thursday 21st September, 2023

FIRST PRIZE $750, SECOND PRIZE $500, THIRD PRIZE $250, HANGERS PICK Custom Framing to the value of $200.00

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS, HVP PLANTATIONS & YARRAM CUSTOM FRAMING

ENTRY FORMS DUE: 11 AUGUST, 2023

WORK TO BE DELIVERED ON OR BEFORE 22 AUGUST, 2023 BETWEEN 3-4PM OR ALTERNATIVELY 23 AUGUST, 2023 BETWEEN 9-9.30AM

NOTE: No Opening Night