'While their practices and mediums are disparate and varied, the narrative thread welds these artists together as they interrogate and confront the unwieldy chaos and beauty of life.'
Exhibition Statement
The Summer Group Show will bring together a disparate collective of artists who will interrogate emotional resonant connections we all have with the world around us. These engagements with the urban and natural world range from the frivolous to the sensual.
Artists Lorraine Waugh, Karen Bloomfield, Astrid Munday, Leasha Craig,Carolyn Kenrick, Steve Starr and Robyn McMullan engage spontaneity and emotion to stimulate audience imagination and interpretation.
While their practices and mediums are disparate and varied, the narrative thread welds these artists together as they interrogate and confront the unwieldy chaos and beauty of life.
Artist Statement
Lorraine Waugh
Lorraine Waugh has a 25-year art practice in photography, landscape and abstract painting and watercolours that has taken her to artists in residencies in Italy and Spain. Lorraine has exhibited in Australia, Spain and Italy. Lorraine’s artworks have been acquired for private and public collections in Australia, Spain and Italy. Lorraine was educated at Sydney Technical College and the National Art School in Sydney.Lorraine currently lives in Sydney NSW.
Waugh’s work engages with the multiplicity of landscapes around her coastal home at Broken Bay and theBrisbane Waters. Waugh’s work was created during the Covid-19 lockdown when the natural world began to respond to the lack of human activity. The ecosystems of the Hawkesbury pulsate like a huge organic organism, closely connected with the sun, moon, mountains and the tides. Waugh’s paintings capture the coastal and forested hues and forms of this primeval and ancient landscape.
Waugh’s series of abstract landscapes are sensual, organic, experimental and vibrant.
@lorrainewaugh.artpage
Karen Bloomfield
With two artworks in the collection of the Australian Embassy in Kabul, Bloomfield is one of a select group of Australian artists chosen to represent Australian Art inInternational Embassies.
Bloomfield, President of the Australian Society of Marine Artists and Exhibiting Artist with the Royal Art Society of NSW, is regularly exhibited in some ofAustralia’s most prestigious art awards.
Represented in several east coast galleries, Bloomfield has created a brand for herself through two distinctive mediums: Industrial oil paintings on canvas; andAustralian Wildlife in charcoal and ink on plywood. Her recent melding of the styles has been termed ‘Reductionist Pop’.
Bloomfield’s work peppers collections throughout Australia, Amsterdam, the U.K., Hong Kong, China, Ireland and Afghanistan.
Bloomfield celebrated her first appearance in the Hong Kong market in 2019 at the AsiaContemporary Art Fair.
Artist Statement
'I believe that my role as an artist is to capture and preserve society in this very moment &to garnish this moment with my own filters, wit, emotions and beliefs.
It is in this way I share my vision of how I perceive that simple, mundane, ugly and unexpected things may be viewed to be beautiful or, at the very least, engaging. It is my desire to encourage the growth that comes from seeing more than one viewpoint – in everything.'
Karen was educated at Newcastle Art School and lives on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
@karenbloomfield_art
Astrid Munday
Astrid Munday is a painter and a singer/ songwriter, currently based in Sydney. She attended Art School at Alexander Mackie, CityArt Institute in the 1980s completing a Bachelor in Fine Art, majoring in painting. Munday has worked in the film industry and Australian Opera as a scenic artist and also gets work doing specialist paint finishes.
Munday’s painting has been figurative up until more recently, finding an interest in abstraction and blending the two. In May 2021, Munday exhibited a body of watercolour paintings, Journey To Abstraction in response to the Covid pandemic.
Munday’s watercolours are colourful reflections on life, whether it be geometric shapes, an abandoned car yard, an old dirt road, or autumn leaves. Munday’s paintings have a ‘unique vibrancy and mood’.
@astrid.munday
Leasha Craig
Leasha Craig is a contemporary sculptor who works and lives on the NSWCentral Coast. Leasha completed Open Foundation as a mature aged student in2005, this enabled her to enrol at the University of Newcastle where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours Degree in 2012. Her experience at university, gave Leasha the opportunity to explore all the disciplines both conceptually and technically and indeed fueled her desire to sculpt.
Leasha is an extremely talented and diverse artist, she is an accomplished abstract and figurative sculptor proficiently working in many mediums and techniques. Resulting in stunningly resolved sculptures that are unique and innovative.
Leasha's abstract work is very organic inspired by the human form and nature. Her work invites the audience to explore their own emotions and thoughts encouraging the viewer to evolve their own personal definition of the artwork.
Leasha’s portraits and figurative sculptures are exceptionally emotive capturing a likeness in features and the very essence of who they are. The powerful emotive content, aesthetic flowing forms and sense of movement in all of her work beckons the audience to reach out and connect with the piece.
Artist Statement
'The inspiration or concept is the starting point of all my work, the medium selected, form and emotional response sort is all dictated by the concept, I aspire to create artwork that uplifts and inspires people, unites communities, commemorates and enriches a space. Art is a powerful form of communication that has no boundaries, a universal language available for all to appreciate and enjoy. I consider my role as a contemporary artist is to engage the audience through my work opening a visual communication to inspire social change, personal growth and an understanding of our individual perspectives.'
@leashacraig
Carolyn Kenrick
Carolyn Kenrick is a Sydney born and based artist. Growing up in Broken Hill, her father was a talented local artist and sign writer, she was immersed in all aspects of art from painting and drawing as her earliest memories. In Broken Hill she was fortunate to formally study with local artists including Clark Barrett who encouraged her to relocate toSydney and continue her professional development with teacher and mentor GraemeTownsend.
For three decades Carolyn has carefully and lovingly fashioned complex objects such as apples, crowns, heart of thorns and tears, various birds and animals. Then mounting them as high and low relief 3D assemblage
Carolyn work shave moved into the digital format in the past decade…… the images created draw on the 3D Assemblages from her prior discipline with the same visual storytelling of mental/emotional states, fables, dreams and deep diving into the collective unconscious
The DigitalDioramas are a combination of numerous photos to create the story and visual trick of trompe l’oeil. Finding inspiration in the nostalgia of past eras and homage to designers vintage photographer’s, fashion designers and artists to bring a new story and new life to the almost forgotten talents of these geniuses
'Carolyn’s works are convincing yet mysterious. They are a Jungian’s after party for interpretation. We don’t know how or where we are being led, but the artist has set up the trajectories and now it’s up to us to complete the journey. Kenrick is subtle in her renderings, but the subject is often multi layered with meaning, which she will not be directly drawn into explaining. In her most recent works, she does not dictate to her audience but merely suggests by way of visual cues and then allows the audience to ravel or unravel through their personal connections, interpretation and experience.'
Annei Errey (artist)
@carolyn_kenrick
Steve Starr
Steve Starr’s primary focus is on digital collage, photography and painting and his practice now extend to sculptural installations. In addition to his art practice, Steve (aka Thompson)is a published author, curator and heritage specialist with over 20 years of experience in the arts and cultural sector. Steve has published many books, essays and web exhibitions on Australian art, photography and social history.Steve was educated at East Sydney Technical College, The University Sydney,University of the Arts London and UNSW: Art & Design and lives in ElizabethBay NSW.
Starr’s practice is inspired by his time living at Katoomba surrounded by the vast Blue Mountains NationalPark, where one can sense the natural and complex systems of life operating all around us. Systems that has been evolving and growing since the beginning of life on this planet. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how these systems are vibrant and opportunistic, either through the virus that identified a ready and vulnerable host and the natural environment responding quickly to the sudden withdrawal of the human presence.
Starr’s series of mixed media prints are sensual, esoteric, luxuriant and lush.
www.linktr.ee/stevestarrart
Robyn McMullan
Robyn is a Sydney Based Artist originally from Dunedin, Aotearoa, where she studied Fine Art at the Otago Art School. In her process of abstraction which draws heavily on nature, she intends to create a sense of quiet disquiet, she asks you to listen, feel and take note of our presence. Working in washes of watercolour both bold and delicate, abstractly backgrounding the illustrative quality, allowing the paint to react creating textures and found colour.
Many themes and subjects conspire and reveal themselves to a sense of belonging but also; of how humans have impacted the landscape, and its’ inevitable conclusion. Complex and immediate, Robyn’s ‘Scapes’ can be playful, brooding and contemplative, as forever engaging as nature itself.
New works on Paper
'This series of watercolour paintings titled “Mosaic” is the result of time spent isolated in my studio, an idea born from previous work about connection to the land and our impact but with hindsight of the strange epoch in which we are now living. Beginning with the Black Summer 2019/2020, through uprisings and a pandemic – an unseen enemy, in which we slip in and out of restrictions.'
Exhibition Statement
The Summer Group Show will bring together a disparate collective of artists who will interrogate emotional resonant connections we all have with the world around us. These engagements with the urban and natural world range from the frivolous to the sensual.
Artists Lorraine Waugh, Karen Bloomfield, Astrid Munday, Leasha Craig,Carolyn Kenrick, Steve Starr and Robyn McMullan engage spontaneity and emotion to stimulate audience imagination and interpretation.
While their practices and mediums are disparate and varied, the narrative thread welds these artists together as they interrogate and confront the unwieldy chaos and beauty of life.
Artist Statement
Lorraine Waugh
Lorraine Waugh has a 25-year art practice in photography, landscape and abstract painting and watercolours that has taken her to artists in residencies in Italy and Spain. Lorraine has exhibited in Australia, Spain and Italy. Lorraine’s artworks have been acquired for private and public collections in Australia, Spain and Italy. Lorraine was educated at Sydney Technical College and the National Art School in Sydney.Lorraine currently lives in Sydney NSW.
Waugh’s work engages with the multiplicity of landscapes around her coastal home at Broken Bay and theBrisbane Waters. Waugh’s work was created during the Covid-19 lockdown when the natural world began to respond to the lack of human activity. The ecosystems of the Hawkesbury pulsate like a huge organic organism, closely connected with the sun, moon, mountains and the tides. Waugh’s paintings capture the coastal and forested hues and forms of this primeval and ancient landscape.
Waugh’s series of abstract landscapes are sensual, organic, experimental and vibrant.
@lorrainewaugh.artpage
Karen Bloomfield
With two artworks in the collection of the Australian Embassy in Kabul, Bloomfield is one of a select group of Australian artists chosen to represent Australian Art inInternational Embassies.
Bloomfield, President of the Australian Society of Marine Artists and Exhibiting Artist with the Royal Art Society of NSW, is regularly exhibited in some ofAustralia’s most prestigious art awards.
Represented in several east coast galleries, Bloomfield has created a brand for herself through two distinctive mediums: Industrial oil paintings on canvas; andAustralian Wildlife in charcoal and ink on plywood. Her recent melding of the styles has been termed ‘Reductionist Pop’.
Bloomfield’s work peppers collections throughout Australia, Amsterdam, the U.K., Hong Kong, China, Ireland and Afghanistan.
Bloomfield celebrated her first appearance in the Hong Kong market in 2019 at the AsiaContemporary Art Fair.
Artist Statement
'I believe that my role as an artist is to capture and preserve society in this very moment &to garnish this moment with my own filters, wit, emotions and beliefs.
It is in this way I share my vision of how I perceive that simple, mundane, ugly and unexpected things may be viewed to be beautiful or, at the very least, engaging. It is my desire to encourage the growth that comes from seeing more than one viewpoint – in everything.'
Karen was educated at Newcastle Art School and lives on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
@karenbloomfield_art
Astrid Munday
Astrid Munday is a painter and a singer/ songwriter, currently based in Sydney. She attended Art School at Alexander Mackie, CityArt Institute in the 1980s completing a Bachelor in Fine Art, majoring in painting. Munday has worked in the film industry and Australian Opera as a scenic artist and also gets work doing specialist paint finishes.
Munday’s painting has been figurative up until more recently, finding an interest in abstraction and blending the two. In May 2021, Munday exhibited a body of watercolour paintings, Journey To Abstraction in response to the Covid pandemic.
Munday’s watercolours are colourful reflections on life, whether it be geometric shapes, an abandoned car yard, an old dirt road, or autumn leaves. Munday’s paintings have a ‘unique vibrancy and mood’.
@astrid.munday
Leasha Craig
Leasha Craig is a contemporary sculptor who works and lives on the NSWCentral Coast. Leasha completed Open Foundation as a mature aged student in2005, this enabled her to enrol at the University of Newcastle where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours Degree in 2012. Her experience at university, gave Leasha the opportunity to explore all the disciplines both conceptually and technically and indeed fueled her desire to sculpt.
Leasha is an extremely talented and diverse artist, she is an accomplished abstract and figurative sculptor proficiently working in many mediums and techniques. Resulting in stunningly resolved sculptures that are unique and innovative.
Leasha's abstract work is very organic inspired by the human form and nature. Her work invites the audience to explore their own emotions and thoughts encouraging the viewer to evolve their own personal definition of the artwork.
Leasha’s portraits and figurative sculptures are exceptionally emotive capturing a likeness in features and the very essence of who they are. The powerful emotive content, aesthetic flowing forms and sense of movement in all of her work beckons the audience to reach out and connect with the piece.
Artist Statement
'The inspiration or concept is the starting point of all my work, the medium selected, form and emotional response sort is all dictated by the concept, I aspire to create artwork that uplifts and inspires people, unites communities, commemorates and enriches a space. Art is a powerful form of communication that has no boundaries, a universal language available for all to appreciate and enjoy. I consider my role as a contemporary artist is to engage the audience through my work opening a visual communication to inspire social change, personal growth and an understanding of our individual perspectives.'
@leashacraig
Carolyn Kenrick
Carolyn Kenrick is a Sydney born and based artist. Growing up in Broken Hill, her father was a talented local artist and sign writer, she was immersed in all aspects of art from painting and drawing as her earliest memories. In Broken Hill she was fortunate to formally study with local artists including Clark Barrett who encouraged her to relocate toSydney and continue her professional development with teacher and mentor GraemeTownsend.
For three decades Carolyn has carefully and lovingly fashioned complex objects such as apples, crowns, heart of thorns and tears, various birds and animals. Then mounting them as high and low relief 3D assemblage
Carolyn work shave moved into the digital format in the past decade…… the images created draw on the 3D Assemblages from her prior discipline with the same visual storytelling of mental/emotional states, fables, dreams and deep diving into the collective unconscious
The DigitalDioramas are a combination of numerous photos to create the story and visual trick of trompe l’oeil. Finding inspiration in the nostalgia of past eras and homage to designers vintage photographer’s, fashion designers and artists to bring a new story and new life to the almost forgotten talents of these geniuses
'Carolyn’s works are convincing yet mysterious. They are a Jungian’s after party for interpretation. We don’t know how or where we are being led, but the artist has set up the trajectories and now it’s up to us to complete the journey. Kenrick is subtle in her renderings, but the subject is often multi layered with meaning, which she will not be directly drawn into explaining. In her most recent works, she does not dictate to her audience but merely suggests by way of visual cues and then allows the audience to ravel or unravel through their personal connections, interpretation and experience.'
Annei Errey (artist)
@carolyn_kenrick
Steve Starr
Steve Starr’s primary focus is on digital collage, photography and painting and his practice now extend to sculptural installations. In addition to his art practice, Steve (aka Thompson)is a published author, curator and heritage specialist with over 20 years of experience in the arts and cultural sector. Steve has published many books, essays and web exhibitions on Australian art, photography and social history.Steve was educated at East Sydney Technical College, The University Sydney,University of the Arts London and UNSW: Art & Design and lives in ElizabethBay NSW.
Starr’s practice is inspired by his time living at Katoomba surrounded by the vast Blue Mountains NationalPark, where one can sense the natural and complex systems of life operating all around us. Systems that has been evolving and growing since the beginning of life on this planet. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how these systems are vibrant and opportunistic, either through the virus that identified a ready and vulnerable host and the natural environment responding quickly to the sudden withdrawal of the human presence.
Starr’s series of mixed media prints are sensual, esoteric, luxuriant and lush.
www.linktr.ee/stevestarrart
Robyn McMullan
Robyn is a Sydney Based Artist originally from Dunedin, Aotearoa, where she studied Fine Art at the Otago Art School. In her process of abstraction which draws heavily on nature, she intends to create a sense of quiet disquiet, she asks you to listen, feel and take note of our presence. Working in washes of watercolour both bold and delicate, abstractly backgrounding the illustrative quality, allowing the paint to react creating textures and found colour.
Many themes and subjects conspire and reveal themselves to a sense of belonging but also; of how humans have impacted the landscape, and its’ inevitable conclusion. Complex and immediate, Robyn’s ‘Scapes’ can be playful, brooding and contemplative, as forever engaging as nature itself.
New works on Paper
'This series of watercolour paintings titled “Mosaic” is the result of time spent isolated in my studio, an idea born from previous work about connection to the land and our impact but with hindsight of the strange epoch in which we are now living. Beginning with the Black Summer 2019/2020, through uprisings and a pandemic – an unseen enemy, in which we slip in and out of restrictions.'
