Event Type: Opening Event

Opening Event : Studio Gallery, Level 2
Thursday 5 December 2024, 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Meet the Artist : Studio Gallery, Level 2
Saturday 7 December 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm

Exhibition Dates :
Thursday 5 December 2024 – Friday 31 January 2025
**Installation viewable 24/7

The beauty and fragility of the southern ice cap and ocean captured in a single image by a unique three-dimensional artwork made with layered Perspex.

The Great Southern Ocean project is a collection of small artworks created specifically for exhibition at the Salamanca Art Centre Studio Gallery and Lightbox. The focal piece is Monument, a 3-dimensional painting on display in the Lightbox. This artwork was created by Beric Henderson, and made by applying small amounts of paint to sequential layers of clear Perspex and then assembling them together. The resulting holographic image reveals an iceberg forever captured in time. There are human and marine visitors above and below the waterline. The Monument artwork, together with the intricate drawings and paintings in the Studio Gallery, express a unique artistic vision of the power and beauty of the Southern ocean and Antarctic region.

This artwork was created by artist Beric Henderson, and inspired by his time as former Artist-in-Residence at the Salamanca Art Centre’s Artists’ Cottage in 2023. Since 2019 the artist has been producing an ever-growing body of ocean themed paintings and drawings, many of which have been shortlisted for national art prizes including the Mission to Seafarers (2022/2023), Adelaide Perry Drawing Award (2020/2021) and recently the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Award (2024). The artist is based in the warmer climate of the NSW mid-north coast but frequently visits Hobart to seek inspiration.

Opening Event :
Thursday 5 December 2024, 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Meet the Artist :
Saturday 7 December 2024, 10:00am – 3:00pm

Exhibition Dates :
Thursday 5 December 2024 – Friday 31 January 2025
Monday – Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday & Sunday CLOSED

CLOSED for Christmas / New Year
from 5:00pm Friday 20 December 2024 | REOPENS 9:00am Monday 6 January 2025

An imaginative collection of unique paintings and drawings by Beric Henderson, inspired by the wild majestic beauty, icy landscapes and roaring seas of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica.

Great Southern Ocean is a collection of unique artworks that explore the excitement and beauty of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic ice-lands. From the ferocious stormy seas of the roaring forties to the dream-like quietude of Antarctic icescapes, this collection of small drawings and paintings will inspire the imagination!

The artworks on display were created by artist Beric Henderson, and inspired by his time as former Artist-in-Residence at the Salamanca Art Centre’s Artists’ Cottage in 2023. Since 2019 the artist has been producing an ever-growing body of ocean themed paintings and drawings, many of which have been shortlisted for national art prizes including the Mission to Seafarers (2022/2023), Adelaide Perry Drawing Award (2020/2021) and recently the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Award (2024). The artist is based in the warmer climate of the NSW mid-north coast but frequently visits Hobart to seek inspiration.

Many of the works in this exhibition reflect on the changing marine environment impacted by climate change. The drawings and paintings were drawn from the artist’s imagination with the intention of better appreciating the ocean wave patterns and rhythms, and the impact of global warming on the Antarctic ice cap. The artworks are intended to promote reflection on the power, importance and beauty of the Earth’s oceans, and the critical role ongoing research will play in understanding and maintaining it.

All artworks are for sale and priced for Christmas!

Opening Event :
Wednesday 27 November 2024, 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Exhibition Dates :
Tuesday 26 November – Monday 16 December 2024
Tuesday – Sunday 10:00am – 5:00pm
Mondays CLOSED

Land Bridge by Peta Cross consists of multiple small en plein air oil paintings on wood. Painted quickly with minimal reworking they are largely sea scapes. The paintings are part of a sequence completed over several years mapping the coasts of Northern Tasmania (where the artist was born) and Southern Victoria (where the artist lives). 

The exhibition Land Bridge is an enquiry into The Bassian Plain or isthmus that is now submerged between Southern Victoria, (Cape Otway to Wilsons Promontory) and Northern Tasmania  (Mussleroe Bay to Cape Grim). The exhibition also includes, oil sketches from Flinders Island.

The Bassian Plain or isthmus served as a land bridge for thousands of years until the last ice age, 12,000 years ago. Many species of plants, birds, marsupials, insects and of course Palawa moved freely through the extraordinary biosphere it can only have been. The Palawa oral history of this event is notably one of the oldest if not the oldest narratives in history. Recorded in the 1830’s the narrative describes the positioning of the star Canopus near the South Pole.

Researchers were able to measure the sea floor of the Bass Straight and the ability to cover the isthmus on foot. They calculated the positioning of the star by descriptions of the Palawa and discovered that both conditions occurred at least 12,000 years ago.

The “ghost land plain” reveals itself through the many tiny islands of the Bass Straight. So many histories are now secrets of the deep and as geological time reveals, our histories may be submerged in years to come or another land bridge form.

” I have been fascinated by this sense of the land yearning for itself for so many years. I have spent most of my life living on both sides of the straight. Born and raised on the North West coast now living in Narrm ,Melbourne.

As a painter I am interested in sketches or unfinished works as much as finished works. This exhibition is an effort to draw or simply “map”, light, air, sea, coast, it is more of a work in progress, the mapping is not complete and the idea around the landbridge may be developed into a larger scale exhibition in the future.”
– Peta Cross

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Opening Event :
Friday 11 October 2024, 6:00pm – 7:30pm

Exhibition Dates :
Saturday 12 – Saturday 26 October 2024
10:00am – 4:00pm daily

Opening Event :
Friday 11 October 2024, 6:00pm – 7:30pm

Artist Talk :
Sunday 13 October 2024 @ 2pm

To light up or illuminate; well-lit

This dictionary definition is a repeating theme behind this collection of latest works. The title of “Luminous State” is a duality and can refer to both a literal geographical location, such as in this case, the state of Tasmania, and a condition of the mind.

“Over the years I’ve researched and examined many of Tasmania’s remote and rugged landscapes. This group
of works which has formed the “Luminous State” exhibition, is a collaboration of these sojourns and a
memory filled revisiting of this visual and emotive discovery.

Despite the variety in locations represented, the one repeating factor in this exhibition is the quality and
transient nature of Tasmania’s light and my ability in harnessing this light quality in paint. Tasmania’s light is recognised across the nation as having a clarity and warmth that bathes it subjects. Particularly at certain times of the year as the sun tracks a low trajectory across the sky.

The illumination of this direct light through clear alpine air or filtered light through a heavy atmosphere, provides an unending and ambient form of communication to the viewer. Recording these moments literally in the field by means of plein air studies, sketches and photographs has provided me with the means back in the studio of giving to the viewer of my work the same emotive response I experienced when on location.

If the viewer can feel the bite of a southerly breeze or the desperate warmth of alpine sun late in the day emanating from these paintings, then my work has found its purpose.”
– Clifford How

Opening Dates :
Wednesday 30 October – Sunday 10 November 2024
10:00am – 4:00pm daily

Opening Event :
Thursday 31 October 2024, 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Terre by Audrey Durbridge is a collection of artworks articulating the textures, tonality and resonance of coastline.

Terre is a collection of artworks articulating the textures, tonality, and resonance of coastline. Made primarily from materials gathered and processed within their place of origin, Bellerive, and Barrett’s Bay as these are my studio sites and are the constant informants of my creative impetus.

Earth pigments, inks and stains infuse the cloth and paper with colour that creates a rich surface for embellishment. Collage, appliqué and stitch then provide the unexpected placements and connections. Using coastal detritus and salvaged metal gives form to the patterns and rhythms of place.

This work is situated between the unexpected and the intentional. The combining of various materials is the process through which the artwork forms, with mixed media becoming its own content. Terre is the language that represents my relationship to place.

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Opening Event :
Friday 20 September 2024 @ 5:30pm

Daily Opening Times :
Wednesday 3 – Friday 27 September 2024
Monday – Friday – 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturdays 10:00am – 2:00pm
Sundays CLOSED

An exhibition of works by Greg Wood, SAC’s current Artist in Residence.

Greg Wood’s paintings offer moments of reprieve and contemplation. At once both closely observed and deeply imagined, they depict landscapes not quite locatable. Records of light, colour, and atmosphere, his paintings are the stuff of memory itself.
–Amelia Wallin

Greg Wood is a painter of the earthy and ethereal. During the last 25 years his practice has involved the observation of landscape and the natural world. He paints places traversed through sensory impression
For Wood the essence of place is more important than specifics of location. He creates art that alludes to the mysterious impressions left by landscape, the emotional afterimages that endure. His delicate, layered canvases invite us to enter a felt sense of place, imbued with memory and emotion. Wood describes his work as a ‘slow release’ –the nuance of his paintings gradually revealing themselves to the viewer. A formative influence is Melbourne tonalist, Clarice Beckett, who has informed his use of thin, gestural layers of muted colours, flattened forms, merging tones and diffuse light.

Wood’s paintings are psychologically and visually alluring. The more we look, the more we are invited to come into communion with the subtle aspects how place shapes us, how we dwell in landscapes both literal and interior.

Daily Opening Times :
Friday 25 October – Monday 4 November 2024
Monday – Friday 10:30am – 5:00pm
Saturday & Sunday 10:00am – 4:00pm

Opening Event :
Friday 1 November 2024, 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Point of Reference by Michelle van Pelt is an inquiry into how, and why, we respond to landscape through painting.

Feelings of distance and isolation, enclosure and safety, or clear eyed wonder and joy can arise spontaneously when viewing a landscape. This collection of paintings attempts to delve a little deeper into those initial responses. In particular, it asks that we consider what of our selves we bring to each experience of the land. How do we view a landscape? And who are we when we are looking or responding? Does our experience of the encounter shift as we move through a place, or spend more time? In this way, the point of reference circles between that which is seen, and that which is looking.

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Opening Event :
Friday 15 November 2024, 5:30pm – 7:30pm

Opening Dates :
Thursday 14 – Wednesday 27 November 2024
10:00am – 5:00pm daily*
* 10:00am – 12:00noon on Final Day / Wednesday 27 November 2024

“Fourteen thousand six hundred and three days had passed since I last saw the sun rise through the storms over the Ravenswood hills. After all that time – and finally – I saw its beauty. Without knowing how much. I missed it so.”
– Richard Butler

the desire to be there is an exhibition of photographs by Richard Butler at the Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre.

The photographs were made across an 18 month period ending in December 2023. The motivation for the series was artist Richard Butlers’ return to Launceston after a four decade absence.

Not long after his arrival he stood on the deck of his Trevallyn home and through the storms and rain saw glimpses of the misted hills far across the Tamar Valley. The view evolved without repetition each day. It held his attention as a magicians trick captures the imagination of a child. All that mystery. All that wonder.

At dawn during the day and at each days’ end for eighteen months Richard stared into the swirling weather. He saw and photographed the thinly raked light against the shadows in the thunder clouds. He loved the blankets of gold and cyan coloured mist covering the foothills of Mt Arthur, Mt Barrow and Ben Lomond. Those daily weather events provided a personal revelation. He had assumed the weather in the valley was relatively constant across each season, but was shown the colours and tone at every second of every day were remarkably different.

The experience both beautiful and mesmerising. The weather and all of its symbolism had found him and opened a new awareness. “Until recently, I have not wanted to photograph the land”.

But the land informed his thoughts on the connection between place and identity. Richard felt a sense of longing caused by the passing of unretrievable time. Everything seen today would not be seen tomorrow. “On the really wild days everything is at work. All crashing. All at the same time” Richard wrote in his note-book. “The poetic nature and interplay between time and light; of line and colour; of space and the graphic flatness of the East Tamar valley walls – these are the walls we are  climbing. The walls which must be climbed.”

“We long for connection with a permanency beyond ‘our us’.”

For this series, Richard has used colour negative and colour transparency film. He scanned the film in his studio and produced the digital files in-house. The printing of the images was a collaborative effort, in part due to the size and other challenges in handling each print. “I wanted the images to be big, almost falling off the sheet. When you stand in front of them, I hope you will stare into their colours and just wonder.”

When a small light-sensitive piece of film is shown the world by old lenses that film provides a beautifully imprecise response. “I love film – it is just like the weather – and rejects any notion of predictability” He feels the story-telling elements of film are ideal for this interpretive folio.

The most exciting photographs in this folio are those where more is inferred and less is shown. Contrary to larger format photography and different technology platforms – it is what isn’t in the photographs that Richard believes is critical. “Absences liberate. Absences provide opportunity to reflect and dream. The essential elements are interdependent and together with imagination, are interlocutory. With a bit of luck magic can happen.”

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Opening Event :
Friday 6 December 2024 @ 6.30pm

Daily Opening Times :
Friday 6 December 2024 – Sunday 5 January 2025
Monday – Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday – Sunday 11:00am – 4:00pm

CLOSED for Christmas / New Year
from Monday 23 December 2024 | REOPENS Saturday 4 January 2025

Joy resides in simple things : the warmth of the sun on your skin, the breeze in your hair, the freedom of dance within… But what if these simple pleasures slip away?

Simple things define our childhood, shaping our experiences, exploration, and growth. Without them, childhood fades, halting our development.

Within us reside various personas: the playful child, the mature adult with desires, moments of sadness or confidence. On the surface, we embody a blend of these identities.

To reveal our true selves demands courage, requires us to dive deep. Self-discovery hinges on the freedom to explore this life.

Without freedom, nothing is simple.
– Magie Khameneh

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The Story

Mona’s story starts with following the peacock, the Persian metaphors which sent Eve out of heaven.
She wants to feel, experience, indulge in what we call living.
To feel the breeze in her hair, to see the dazzling colours under the dancing brims of sun.
Simple as it seems but not where she lives.
She refuges to her imagination to build what has taken from her, to flee from pain, shame and suffocation.

Her story is a testament to her resilience as she navigated enforced modesty and the suppression of her true self, ultimately shaping her life and proving that the ideas of freedom can evolve into reality when nurtured within one’s mind.

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Open Day : 
Saturday 5 October 2024, 10:00am – 4:00pm

Daily Opening Times :
Thursday 3 – Monday 28 October 2024
Monday – Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturdays / Sundays / Public Holidays 10:00am – 4:00pm

Off The Studio Wall by SAC Resident Artist Hannah Blackmore, explores contemporary Tasmanian landscapes and seascapes, where themes of light dance across a subtle palette, capturing the rugged yet serene essence of Tasmania’s natural beauty.

Discover the beauty of Tasmania’s landscapes and seascapes through the evocative work of local artist Hannah Blackmore in her solo exhibition, Off The Studio Wall, showing in the Studio Gallery at Salamanca Arts Centre.

Running from the Thursday 3rd to Monday 28th October 2024, the gallery will be open daily from 10:00am to 4:00pm, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in Hannah’s unique artistic vision.
Join us for an exclusive Open Day on Saturday 5 October 2024, and chat with the artist about her work.

Off The Studio Wal’ explores contemporary Tasmanian abstract landscapes and seascapes, where themes of light dance across a subtle palette of warm tones, cool greys, and white. Hannah’s innovative technique of blending plaster with paint lends a distinctive texture to her canvas, capturing the rugged yet serene essence of Tasmania’s natural beauty.

With 25 new paintings being released, this exhibition offers art and nature lovers a chance to bring Tasmania’s captivating scenery into their own spaces.

Hannah Blackmore’s artistic journey is anchored in her fascination with the power of reduction. Her works transcend traditional landscape representation, guiding viewers to connect with the essence of nature in its purest form. Through a sophisticated use of colour, texture, and form, Hannah captures the very soul of landscapes and seascapes, distilling them into compositions that pulse with emotional intensity.

While minimalist in appearance, Hannah’s paintings resonate deeply. By stripping away extraneous detail, she unveils the emotional core of each scene, inviting viewers to experience a range of feelings from tranquillity to introspection.

For an even deeper dive into Hannah’s creative process, visitors are invited to explore her studio, conveniently located next door to the Studio Gallery. Witness firsthand the inspiring environment where these atmospheric pieces come to life.