Artist Interviews

2025 

CHERYL WILCOX
ABOUT

Professionally trained Artist and Art Teacher Cheryl Willcox was born and raised in NSW Australia. She is a wife and mother of two who loves to explore, sketch, and paint her beautiful beachfront home and new places around the world.

Always creating and painting, she studied Art at Newcastle College of Advanced Education, graduating with a Bachelor of Education in Art.  In 1982 Cheryl began her career as a high school Visual Art Teacher.

A stint in China in 2000 gave Cheryl the space and time to reflect and become familiar with Art from another culture and how it is interwoven through all aspects of life and society.

On returning to Australia, with a reawakened love of its natural beauty; rugged, picturesque, clean, and eternal landscape, Cheryl decided, “This has to be painted! And cannot be taken for granted again!”

It would be another 10 years, after the children were launched into their post school possibilities, when time and space would be available for Cheryl to create Art.

Cheryl decided to seriously level-up her Art skills by enrolling in Watts Atelier Art School in the State of California, USA. The techniques she learned there leveraged both the old and modern “Masters”.

A space for her professional studio and workshops space was created recently when she and her husband renovated the bottom floor of their home. This was the beginning of her career as an exhibiting Artist and Art Mentor.

KAREN MALMGREN
ABOUT

I am a visual Artist working in most media & have been fortunate to have won numerous awards over the years.
Art is my passion, Abstract, Traditional & everything in between, but when younger I didn’t have time for this pleasure.
Then came retirement, a few lessons & WOW, I so enjoy putting paint to canvas.
I love exploring various techniques & mediums to open up new creative possibilities.

The beauty of this country inspires me, the glorious beaches, harsh outback & amazing sky. I aim to capture the essence of this beauty in my paintings, I try to paint not just what I see, but what I feel inside.

There is nothing like standing with waves splashing my ankles while looking out over the ocean to stir my heart & ignite my senses making me impatient to paint what I am feeling.
I have a fascination with clouds, maybe the clouds are the skies imagination & the colours are the smiles of nature.

GWENDOLIN LEWIS
ABOUT

Combining knowledge from my design years and my Fine Art degree produce work that can be illustrative and impressionist with a love of mark making. I prefer intimate scenes rather than vast landscapes, looking for interesting light passages shapes, and tonal contrast. My work encompasses and explores my immediate environment and draws on my acutely honed skills of observation.

I paint in oils but mostly leave this medium to my larger Maritime subjects which have bright colours textures and stronger bold contours. Innovation and experimentation are high on my list of priorities when I am painting, and the process of discovery and change keeps my enthusiasm high. I have found that although I am not a mixed media artist, complimentary combinations of materials allow my work depth and energy. Soft Pastels play a large part in all my painting.

I am drawn to subjects that captivate my interest and nourish my spirit. Walking in the open landscape, in my garden, or along beaches watching the wild surf. In my eyes, all could be captured in paint or drawn in pastel.

The huge ships coming into port with their tugboats make wonderful subjects as they create moving architectural shapes and coloured images. There is an excitement and romance about these ships coming from faraway places and remembering my grandparents sailing away on the P&O liners in the 1960s. I photograph many of these subjects but there are only some that are committed to canvas or paper.

Mark making and gestural drawing as much as actual painting is what I love to do, that’s why Soft Pastel features in my work as it is primarily a drawing medium. Soft pastels bridge the gap between painting and drawing and I find the loose texture and brilliant colour qualities exciting. They are versatile and can be used on pre-sanded papers with underpainting and layering colours not unlike Oils. The different mark making qualities range from broad to fine linear strokes which gives them endless possibilities.

GEOFFREY BREEN
ABOUT

Background. Born in 1942 I’m a pre boomer and a still young 82. I live on a bush property
in Pokolbin NSW. I continue to be active with painting and outside work around the
property.
Education I completed a full-time degree in Architecture at the University of NSW in 1967
and later completing post graduate degrees in Landscape design and Environmental
Planning at the same institute. A subsequent abortive attempt at an MBA Degree at
Macquarie University firmly established that my skills lay elsewhere.
Professional Career I’ve had a successful 40-year career in Architecture.
I retired at 70 in 2012. Preferred Painting Subjects, Media, and Format. My interests are eclectic. But subjects are generally chosen for ‘open’ and ‘volumetric’ structures typically involving a network of
elongated cast shadows.
Method of Working For small interior subjects I usually work from life where I can
observe and record my subject over a period of time. For large outdoor subjects my work is now (almost all) from memory or wholly conceptual – initiated by an idea that interests me. My experience as an architect has provided a solid grounding to visualise subjects from a variety of viewpoints.
Competition Entries No first prizes – just making the finalist shortlist and being judged
among a contemporary peer group is sufficient reward.
AGNSW PRIZES My first attempt at the Wynne Prize got me into the Salon des Refuses
I’ve entered the Wynne and Sulman Prizes several times since but without making the
shortlist.
GOSFORD PRIZE I’ve been a regular finalist in the annual Gosford art Prize.
MUSWELLBROOK PRIZE I was a regular finalist for several years – mostly paintings but
included one work on paper. Last year not so lucky.
KILGOUR PRIZE. I was a finalist in the Newcastle Art Gallery Kilgour prize in 2017. Ever
hopeful, I’m currently evaluating some preliminary concepts for entry to the next prize
when the extended gallery re opens.
NEWCASTLE CLUB PRIZE First time lucky. I was shortlisted as a 2023 finalist.
Pending: MPRG. I have lodged an entry for the 2024 National Works on Paper Prize I have lodged entries for the 2024 Wynne and Sulman Art Prizes.

ADRIAN RAYSMITH
ABOUT

Work in View “Civic Centre, Newcastle

Work in View “The Railway Newcastle”.
In 1956 Adrian began an apprenticeship as a watchmaker in Newcastle.
This culminated in his skills and dedication being recognised and in 1964
was awarded the inaugural resident scholarship of the combined Australasian Horological Guild and Federation of Swiss Watchmakers. This was for twelve months study and work in the colleges and factories of Switzerland. On return to Australia in 1965 he presented a gold watch to the prime minister Robert Menzies which he made as part of the training in Switzerland.
Since retirement in 2012 Adrian has become totally dedicated to expressing his lifelong passion for visual art by taking lessons from experienced artists and constantly studying the knowledge and techniques of the masters. He enjoys working in the more classical styles of the traditionalists such as Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Vermeer and Australians such as Roberts, Dobell, Streeton, impressionists Monet, Van Gogh, Russell and of course many others and a full range of subject material from landscape to portraiture.
” I hope I have some years left to continue this wonderful journey, it is a wonder of the imagination of the creative mind that no two paintings are the same, a visual expression of the thoughts of the artist”.

PETER MOTTERSHEAD
ABOUT

The recent approach with his artistic practice has been to create a Body of Work which may be seen as visual metaphors regarding the concept around the human relationship to our natural environment. Peter has observed that as human’s we have attempted to dominate the natural world (of which we are ultimately a part), however, we then experience these forces work back at our consistent efforts to order and structure our environment. The notion is that we are now witnessing natural reactions which seem to be an effort to balance this process, especially with regard to climate change and recent responsive dramatic weather events. There has been a personal response by Peter to explore the phenomenon of human impact on the natural environment, regarding our structured impositions on the landscape in a visual form. Although in our Post-Modern world many may see Abstraction as a relic of Modernist understanding, this construct however, has been used to explore this visually, as a refined way of expressing this concept.

EBONY BENNETT
ABOUT

Ebony is a nature artist and illustrator, specialising in Australian wildlife, landscapes, and plants.

She grew up in the Hunter Valley Region of New South Wales, on a rural property surrounded by bushland and wildlife. As a result, she has always been fascinated and inspired by nature and the ever-changing beauty of the Earth’s natural landscapes.

She paints in oil on canvas and works in a painterly style to capture the character of the animal while still maintaining a high level of detail. Her artworks range from large scale bird portraits to Australian birds and animals in their habitats.

Ebony has a Bachelor of Environmental Science and a Masters in Natural History Illustration, and is represented by the Aarwun Gallery, Gold Creek (ACT), Watershed Gallery, Pokolbin (NSW), the Traffic Jam Galleries, Sydney (NSW),The Royal Gallery, Queenscliff (VIC) and the Nissarana Galleries, Noosa (QLD).

JESSICA BLACK
ABOUT

I have always found our natural environment endlessly fascinating. Before I commence a painting each of my subjects are studied and researched closely. This way I am continually learning about our precious wildlife and the Natural world, and hope to share some of this knowledge and appreciation of nature’s beauty through my art.

I am a self-taught artist, and though I only have been practicing watercolour for a few years, it is a medium that has completely drawn me in, and even changed the way I see the world around me. Finding the balance between control and letting watercolour’s unique properties do their own thing is a fine line to navigate and with each piece I try to incorporate elements of both. I start with loose washes using a variety of techniques to create interesting patterns and textures that only watercolour can really produce. I then use numerous glazes on the primary subject to produce rich colours and build detail. The unpredictable and unforgiving qualities of watercolour are, to me, exciting yet challenging which keeps me continually engaged and wanting to improve.

STEPHEN MCDONALD
ABOUT

These artworks attempt to capture the silent language that nature emanates through colour and light – the light that animates the veils of appearance.
All the pastel drawings and oil paintings in this exhibition are either done out in nature before the subject or from sketches and memory. All from direct experience.
Creating directly from nature connects me to its dynamic unfolding rather than fixing a static moment in time. The drawings are more direct, spontaneous and representational and the paintings move toward abstraction.
The predominant motifs of this exhibition are the fiery energizing Sun, reflective serene Moon, infinite celestial sky and formless depth of the ocean. Nature for me is the mirror of our inner being.
“Only from the Heart can you touch the sky” – Rumi