Elisabeth assumes a quiet place of wisdom as she intuitively guides each student according to their capacity and personal direction. A master of contemporary art with 50 years’ experience of teaching and exhibiting and winner of countless awards, Elisabeth is respected as being one of Australia’s leading contemporary female artists and colourists. She lives in Wedderburn, NSW.
Wendy Sharpe is one of Australia’s most awarded artists, include winning the Sulman prize, the Portia Geach Memorial prize (twice), the Archibald Prize, the Kedumba drawing prize, the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, the Mercedez Benz Scholarship and numerous other awards.
Born in Bath, England, Ollis is a graduate of Cardiff College of Art and Design, Wales and received his Master of Art (Painting) from the Royal College of Art, London. He arrived in Australia in 1976 and lectured at the University Northern Territory and La Trobe University, Bendigo, Victoria before being appointed Head of Painting at the National Art School in 1996. Bernard was Director of the National Art School of Sydney from 1996 to 2008.
Emma Walker is already one of Australia’s most convincing and original painters. Her work is as audacious as it is poetic; the one quality leavens the other, so that just as delicate reverie sets in, you’re pulled up by a less immediately seductive note, an act of painterly boldness or some other form of tough, enlivening aesthetic decision. Walker’s work gets stronger with the years, treading the sometimes over trodden path between representation and abstraction in a way quite unlike any of her contemporaries. She orchestrates her constantly returned-to motifs – seas, inlets, rivers, headlands, skies, clouds and shadow – in ways that are constantly invigorating. The emotions and moods of her works are conjured directly out of the processes of painting, unmediated by theory or jargon.
In his art practice, Michael’s consuming passion is to achieve “the essence” or “soul” of human relationships and personal values in a spiritual sense, while working in a “materialistic world”. He constantly challenges the balance between reality and illusion. For retreat participants, this highly awarded artist with forty years of teaching experience will help artists explore their “songs of innocence and experience”, (in the words of William Blake,) to bear messages from their own psyche into the material realm.
Tim’s paintings and prints are cinematic in scale and distinctive for their rich colouration and technical skill. Giant flowers and golden fruit resonate from ambiguous backgrounds. The work is sumptuous, romantic, historical and contemporary. Maguire uses digital photographs as source material for his oil paintings. He applies colour separation and glazing techniques.
Tim has exhibited extensively in Australia and Europe, since winning the Moet and Chandon Australian Art Fellowship in 1993. His work has been in solo exhibitions in Paris, Melbourne, Munich, Sydney, New York, London, Birmingham and at the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art. http://www.tim-maguire.com
Anthony is one of the most respected travel writers at work today and is a specialist in the history of travel writing. An author, broadcaster and critic, he has spent much of the past two decades travelling in and writing about Morocco, North Africa and the Middle East.
Barry Divola is a journalist and author from Sydney. He has published seven books, including Fanclub, Searching For Kingly Critter, The Secret Life Of Backpackers, an ongoing series of children’s books about different musical genres, and his latest book of fiction, Nineteen Seventysomething. He writes for Rolling Stone, the sydney magazine, Who, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald about everything from popular culture to travel. He has won the Banjo Paterson Award for short fiction three times. He is also a regular on ABC 702 radio.
James Guppy is a contemporary Australian artist living in a small coastal town in northern NSW. His primary medium is acrylic but can vary from painting to collage/assemblage. The narratives, which dominate his work, use the traditions of western figurative painting to explore contemporary issues with a surreal and absurdist twist. These dramatic art works examine social issues through the lens of western art history.
Born on the east coast of Australia, this painter is well known for going out into the desert to record the surroundings. Making small, immediate drawings he then returns to his studio to paint. But it's what he does with the notion of landscape that attracts me to his work. Instead of treating the landscape as 'grand vista' for a faithful even reverential interpretation (the ubiquitous three vertical stripes), Peter Sharp instead chooses to hone into the things he sees on the ground, a rock or a seed pod for example might inspires him.
Over the past years my work has focused on the demise of the natural world and its renewal, often as objects or artifacts within an institutional setting. My prints Bird Skins initiated an exploration of the rituals of collecting and how this act plays a key role in the preservation of our memories. My fascination is not just with collections but also with the psychology of display.
Paul has been a resident of Osaka for the past six years, and his prize-winning images of Japan have been published in National Geographic and Kansai Magazine. His commission work alone sustains him while living in this vibrant country, with his passion and empathy for Japanese culture rewarding him with an extensive client base and many exhibitions.
Artists
ELISABETH CUMMINGS
Elisabeth assumes a quiet place of wisdom as she intuitively guides each student according to their capacity and personal direction. A master of contemporary art with 50 years’ experience of teaching and exhibiting and winner of countless awards, Elisabeth is respected as being one of Australia’s leading contemporary female artists and colourists. She lives in Wedderburn, NSW.
WENDY SHARPE
Wendy Sharpe is one of Australia’s most awarded artists, include winning the Sulman prize, the Portia Geach Memorial prize (twice), the Archibald Prize, the Kedumba drawing prize, the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, the Mercedez Benz Scholarship and numerous other awards.
BERNARD OLLIS
Born in Bath, England, Ollis is a graduate of Cardiff College of Art and Design, Wales and received his Master of Art (Painting) from the Royal College of Art, London. He arrived in Australia in 1976 and lectured at the University Northern Territory and La Trobe University, Bendigo, Victoria before being appointed Head of Painting at the National Art School in 1996. Bernard was Director of the National Art School of Sydney from 1996 to 2008.
EMMA WALKER
Emma Walker is already one of Australia’s most convincing and original painters. Her work is as audacious as it is poetic; the one quality leavens the other, so that just as delicate reverie sets in, you’re pulled up by a less immediately seductive note, an act of painterly boldness or some other form of tough, enlivening aesthetic decision. Walker’s work gets stronger with the years, treading the sometimes over trodden path between representation and abstraction in a way quite unlike any of her contemporaries. She orchestrates her constantly returned-to motifs – seas, inlets, rivers, headlands, skies, clouds and shadow – in ways that are constantly invigorating. The emotions and moods of her works are conjured directly out of the processes of painting, unmediated by theory or jargon.
MICHAEL JOHN TAYLOR
In his art practice, Michael’s consuming passion is to achieve “the essence” or “soul” of human relationships and personal values in a spiritual sense, while working in a “materialistic world”. He constantly challenges the balance between reality and illusion. For retreat participants, this highly awarded artist with forty years of teaching experience will help artists explore their “songs of innocence and experience”, (in the words of William Blake,) to bear messages from their own psyche into the material realm.
TIM MAGURIE
Tim’s paintings and prints are cinematic in scale and distinctive for their rich colouration and technical skill. Giant flowers and golden fruit resonate from ambiguous backgrounds. The work is sumptuous, romantic, historical and contemporary. Maguire uses digital photographs as source material for his oil paintings. He applies colour separation and glazing techniques.
ANTHONY SATTIN
Anthony is one of the most respected travel writers at work today and is a specialist in the history of travel writing. An author, broadcaster and critic, he has spent much of the past two decades travelling in and writing about Morocco, North Africa and the Middle East.
BARRY DIVOLA
Barry Divola is a journalist and author from Sydney. He has published seven books, including Fanclub, Searching For Kingly Critter, The Secret Life Of Backpackers, an ongoing series of children’s books about different musical genres, and his latest book of fiction, Nineteen Seventysomething. He writes for Rolling Stone, the sydney magazine, Who, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald about everything from popular culture to travel. He has won the Banjo Paterson Award for short fiction three times. He is also a regular on ABC 702 radio.
JAMES GUPPY
James Guppy is a contemporary Australian artist living in a small coastal town in northern NSW. His primary medium is acrylic but can vary from painting to collage/assemblage. The narratives, which dominate his work, use the traditions of western figurative painting to explore contemporary issues with a surreal and absurdist twist. These dramatic art works examine social issues through the lens of western art history.
PETER SHARP
Born on the east coast of Australia, this painter is well known for going out into the desert to record the surroundings. Making small, immediate drawings he then returns to his studio to paint. But it's what he does with the notion of landscape that attracts me to his work. Instead of treating the landscape as 'grand vista' for a faithful even reverential interpretation (the ubiquitous three vertical stripes), Peter Sharp instead chooses to hone into the things he sees on the ground, a rock or a seed pod for example might inspires him.
CHRISTINE WILLCOCKS
PAUL WHITTON
Paul has been a resident of Osaka for the past six years, and his prize-winning images of Japan have been published in National Geographic and Kansai Magazine. His commission work alone sustains him while living in this vibrant country, with his passion and empathy for Japanese culture rewarding him with an extensive client base and many exhibitions.