Event Type: Kid Friendly

Opening event:
Thursday 11 May 5:30pm

To be opened by Jane Hutchinson, co-CEO Pollination Foundation, Tasmanian Australian of the Year 2016 and co-founder of the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.

Daily opening times:
11 – 21 May, 2023
10AM-5PM

Ancestral Dreams is an exhibition of photography examining our connection to nature, literally and metaphorically, focusing on trees in the forests of Tasmania/lutruwita as a reflection of our human condition. Viewers are invited to look twice and find their own emotional and empathetic response to nature through personal experience.

Ancestral Dreams is an exhibition of photography examining our connection to nature both literally and metaphorically. Initially started as a small study in 2016, an arts residency at the Cradle Mountain Wilderness Gallery expanded the work considerably and includes the National Park, the Vale of Belvoir and the eastern edge of the Tarkine/takayna.

This collection includes images focusing on trees as “equivalents” to our human condition, drawing on the evolution of the tradition established by early 20th century photographer Alfred Stieglitz and advanced over time by others including Edward Weston, John Cato and Tasmania’s own Peter Dombrovskis.

The resulting work portrays the wilderness of Tasmania/lutruwita with an emotive and poetic sensibility. It asks the viewer to look twice and find their own emotional and empathetic response to nature through personal periods of ecstasy, solitude, peace, familial connection and awareness of our own mortality.

For artist Pete Walsh, whose previous work has focused on conservation and anthropogenic impact on the environment, this more current practice has also resulted in a sympathetic and deeper respect for Indigenous understanding around connection to nature, kinship in country. This more spiritual aspect of the work invites the reader to ponder on questions of how we understand, manage and respect the land we rely on for our existence.

Everything breathes in of itself. We separate for our minds. The space around things is connected as much as the things themselves.

When learning new skills. Everything was separate, needing its own time, place, and category. It needed to stay within these categories, or chaos would quickly follow.

Now, it all needs to merge. The Artist, Florist, Model, Mother. In spite of the possible chaos and the definite unknown. Because the comfortable categories are no longer necessary. I can no longer play different roles. I just need to be whole.

Daily opening times:
Friday 12 May – Sunday 25 June 2023
Mon – Fri 9AM – 5PM

Sonder – noun. the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as one’s own

SONDEROUS is an annual showcase of works by Salamanca Arts Centre’s Resident visual artists, with works created as part of their Studio practice.

The works presented range in mediums including but not limited to photography, painting, collage, printmaking and more.

Featured Artists:
Catherine Arsaut
Halima Bhatti
Emma Bingham
Hannah Blackmore
Michaye Boulter
Belinda Casey
Katherine Cooper
Antoinette Ellis
Phillip England
Joe Fazackerley
Jamin Kluss
Donna Oakford
Julie Payne
Emily Snadden
Linda Veska
Richard Wastell

Opening event:
Thursday 27 April 5:30pm

Daily opening times:
Thursday 27 April – Tuesday 2 May 2023
9AM-5PM

Domain is an exhibition of paintings exploring aspects of place forming The Queens Domain, a shared space, on the edge of central nipaluna/ Hobart. Paintings have grown from a few initial studies and aim collectively to contribute to the conversation about this landscape.

Domain is an exhibition of paintings exploring aspects of place forming The Queens Domain, a shared space on the edge of central nipaluna/Hobart. It is a series of sketches, tying together pieces of a complex location made of divergent parts.

These works scratch the surface of the 230 hectares of this communal place that brings together native and introduced elements. The sites and structures form part of a physical and cultural terrain that has been subject to change over time.

Paintings have grown from a few initial studies and aim collectively to contribute to the conversation about this landscape.

Alexander Beech is a painter based in nipaluna/ Hobart. His practice is linked to the landscape and more recently to places near where he lives and works. He immerses himself in the landscape reflecting on events past and present and synthesises connections between the subject matter and refines what is laid down in paint. Alexander received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours (First Class) and a Master of Fine Art and Design (Painting) from the University of Tasmania. He has exhibited work in a number of states and has been a finalist in several significant art prizes including The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, The Glover Prize, Hadley’s Art Prize and the Macquarie Group Emerging Art Prize. His work is held in private collections and the Macquarie Group Collection.

Opening event:

Friday 28 April, 6pm

Daily opening times:

Friday 28 April – Saturday 28 May 2023
9AM-5PM

Welcome to everything is not oKAY, enjoy your stay

the debut exhibition of nipaluna artist Rory Kay, presenting for the first time a collection of Tasmanian Expressionism

Saturday 22 – 30 April 2023
Daily Opening Times:  10AM -5PM
Variations: Not open Anzac day (Tue, April 25 )

Crossing is an immersive interactive installation, negotiating ever-shifting waters and exploring our relationship to the sea and the act of crossing.

Experience the mesmerising journey of Crossing, an immersive installation that explores the themes of being close to the sea and the act of crossing. As you enter the space, you are greeted by wooden pathways and screens that cover the gallery floor; these are evocative of pathways, bridges or stepping stones. With each step, you are transported deeper into the experience, surrounded by fluid animations and immersive sounds that evoke the sensation of water and waves.

Drawing on Petterd’s personal connection to water, the installation invites you to experience the sensation of being on a beach and stepping over stones, creating a dialogue with the ever-shifting waters around you.

Engage with the installation through your movement and become part of the experience,  The installation draws you into a mesmerising dialogue with the ever-shifting elements of the space, encouraging reflection and contemplation. With pathways guiding your journey, you are invited to move between, to be in transition, and to arrive at a deeper understanding of your relationship to water and the sea.    

Robin Petterd is a digital media artist based in lutruwita/Tasmania, Australia. He completed a practice-based PhD in digital media from the University of Tasmania and has exhibited his work in events across Australia, the USA, and Europe. Petterd has curated international touring exhibitions and taken part in residencies in Japan and the Netherlands.    

Friday 31 March – Wednesday 3 May 2023
Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm
Sat – 9am – 3pm
Sun CLOSED

Rivulets and tarns define pathways in landscapes that we can trace.

Rivers, tarns, rivulets and lakes define pathways in country that we can trace.
Vital information for maps, natural waterways are integral to  human  experience of ‘landscape’.
They are co-opted to become highlights on bushwalks, playgrounds for paddlers.
Our natural waterways are capillaries of ecosystems providing for all life.  So much so, that the metaphor of living waters transcends different cultures. Do we cherish them? Water, ‘pure’  water is a sacred thing. It is a dynamic landscape that we seek to carry our woes away. These oil paintings celebrate waterways  in Tasmania/Lutruwita.

“It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere…”

A tiny soiree of elegant new works inspired by the glamour and fun of Happy Hour. Inspired by Tasmanian native flora, this custom set of handmade cocktail picks ornately reference the delicate and fragile nature of the plants they are inspired by in Emily’s signature botanical style.     

They are functional objects, perfectly suited to the most fabulous of occasions. A beautifully decadent garnish for your glass – after all “it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere”.

Emily is a multi-award winning Tasmanian studio Jeweller & SAC resident artist.

Opening event: Thursday 30 March 2023, 5.30pm

An exhibition of paintings by Robyn Harman. Her artistic practice reflects the striking imagery of coastal landforms around Tasmania. Everything changes in time, the light, the wind on the water and the rock that is exposed to the eroding forces of the sea.

Robyn Harman continues her exploration of rock formations around the coastline of Tasmania. She is interested in the way landscape is viewed; as ancient and tracked with memories and myths, as terrain refracted by abstraction and digitisation. These paintings bring to mind the geological history of the island, the amount of thermal energy needed to create these mineral monoliths, the stretch of time that weathered and hewed them into their present state isolated from the shore. This understanding of time is contrasted with the use of photography and the capture of the briefest moment when the sea and the light fall upon the rock in a certain way. One fraction of a moment in an inestimable span – a freeze frame in geological time chronicled with the materiality of paint. The rock stands mute and resolute in steadfast solitude.

“Thresholds” is a free Sound Event by Matt Warren and future in nature (Dave Kendal) performed once to coincide and accompany the exhibition “Restless” on Sunday 5th March from 3pm – 5pm.

Alongside and amongst the paintings by Linda Veska, Matt Warren and future in nature (Dave Kendal) will each perform solo sets as well as an improvised collaborative set, responding to the word “Restless”, the works of Veska and informed by each other’s responses.

Matt Warren is a lutruwita/Tasmanian electronic media artist, musician, curator and writer, based in nipaluna/Hobart. The works investigate memory, transcendence, liminal space and the suspension of disbelief. His music and sound practice have a basis in both composition and improvisation. He performs and records electro-acoustic and drone works, solo and collaborates with others under several monikers. https://www.mattwarrenartist.com/

future in nature (Dave) We need a future in nature – biodiverse, inclusive, resilient. Our culture needs to reintegrate nature, we need to dwell in nature. Nature informs the music of future in nature – driving aleatoric arrangements, capturing raw sonic landscapes, and providing inspo for bass loops and analog tones.