“In this exhibition I hope to share a lighthearted and fresh perspective on the familiar.”
– Cecilia Smith
A TRIO of painters feature in the latest exhibition at New England’s arts marketplace The Makers Shed, Glen Innes. Showing until the end of January, 2021, ‘Solstice’ includes new works by Peter Champion, Marianne la Cour and Cecilia Smith, offering a range of styles and genres to art lovers across the region.
Inverell’s Peter Champion is an award-winning New England landscape painter and his return to Glen Innes is a welcome one, considering his popular exhibition at the town’s gallery was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peter confesses to be obsessed with capturing the elements at work in the range of land- and sea-scapes completed for ‘Solstice’, including ‘Moonrise’ (pictured above).
“My interests often are to do with the effects of light, the time of day, the season and also the effect of the wind particularly on water,” he said.
“The works in this exhibition are all oil on canvas and reflect what I see that makes me take notice, the many variables that occur.
“Then my approaches can be somewhat different, although I do tend to use broken colour to relate the actual atmosphere to the paintings.”
Belonging
Glen Innes-based artist Marianne la Cour was inspired by the New England highlands in the series of watercolours and mixed-media works she is exhibiting in ‘Solstice’, painted during this challenging year of extremes.
“The aftermath of the bushfires and drought is still etched into my mind,” she said.
“Every morning when I look out at all the greenness of the present landscape, I reflect and try to understand. My practice is about place – a sense of place, a connection to place and the feeling of belonging to a place.
“As a painter, I work by mark making, using movement and form and by layering of colour. I quite often incorporate texture into my paintings, and often paint a canvas over and over again.
“I love colours and I create colour combinations as reference to places and emotions.”
Domestic twist
Central Coast-based artist Cecilia Smith travelled to the New England region this year in search of her family’s origins around Kelly’s Plains and Tenterfield. ‘Solstice’ marks her group show debut after painting portraits and landscapes. For this exhibition she has illustrated a series of domestic scenes with a twist.
“My recent work reflects the interest I have in the relationship that exists between humans and their environment on a domestic level,” she said.
“In particular, I am fascinated by the dependency we have on the myriad items in our homes, and the membrane that seems to inevitably grow over one’s consciousness in our perception of these.
“The irony is, that without all of this ‘stuff’ which forms such a huge part of our lives – from basics like fresh food, to common household objects – we would suffer and perhaps feel a momentously primitive insecurity.
“The problem of plastic is growing, and it slips under our personal radars on a daily basis. In this exhibition I hope to share a lighthearted and fresh perspective on the familiar.”
Solstice: new works by Peter Champion, Marianne la Cour and Cecilia Smith, showing at The Makers Shed, 123 Grey Street Glen Innes, Wednesdays to Saturdays until January 30, 2021. Selected works also available for purchase online.
When asked about what made her stick to her dream despite the obstacles, Marianne says: “I think I always was an artist, it just took a long time for ‘it’ to flourish. When I moved to Australia, becoming an artist was my ultimate goal, and I never lost sight of that. I did a lot of other things as well to keep bread on the table, but every opportunity I had to create, I took”. 
Michael Burge Media 