I’m delighted to be selected as a finalist in the Fleurieu Biennale Art Prize. All the work will be on display at the Fleurieu Arthouse in McLaren Vale, South Australia, from 5 June to 5 July, 2026. A selection of Curator’s Choice works will be displayed simultaneously at the McLaren Vale Visitors’ Centre. Visit one of the country’s best wine regions at the same time as appreciating artworks from local and interstate artists! Work will also be available for sale online from 6th June.
The theme of the Art Prize is ‘A Sense of Place’. My selected drawing ‘Bleeding Dry’ was my response to the destructive effects of the recent drought across my local area:
” Against a ghostly backdrop of drought ravaged grey box woodlands in the Adelaide Hills, floats the silhouette of a mistletoe desperately clinging to its eucalyptus host. Deprived of its life blood from the desiccated eucalypt, the mistletoe has also succumbed. Having lost many twigs and seed pods and most of its leaves, the remaining branches are windblown into an iconic form that usually symbolises vitality. I felt compelled to document this haunting image as my response to the prolonged drought afflicting many parts of Southern Australia, familiarising myself with every remaining branch and twig of the mistletoe as I painstakingly rendered them with pencil on paper. I can only hope that the landscape so familiar to me can adapt and survive this new reality.”