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Palm House exhibitions
About the Palm House
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Erected in 1876, the Palm House is the oldest glasshouse in New South Wales. The venue is flooded with an abundance of natural light all year round, creating a serene environment ideal for exhibitions. Click here to download pdf of map. |
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Current exhibition |
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Gardens in Focus 3 Photography Competition ExhibitionCelebrate the beauty of botanic gardens around the world as captured by both amateur and professional photographers in the third annual Gardens in Focus exhibition. Exhibited images will include the overall winners and category winners, together with a selection of the best entrants from the competition categories: Plant Portraiture, Garden Views, Garden Creatures, People in Botanic Gardens, International Botanic Gardens and Creative Visions. This year the framed images in the exhibition are available for purchase on a first in, first served basis. When: Saturday 8 - Sunday 16 June, 10 am - 4 pm (12 - 4 pm only Sat 8 June) |
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Upcoming exhibitions |
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Taking Flight‘Taking Flight’ is a collection of bird paintings by Megan Spiers. Each painting has been inspired by her travels in the outback and bird watching along Australia’s amazing coastline. Megan’s work is highly detailed with an emphasis on depicting the natural behaviours of birds in their environment. She has a deep respect for the natural world, after living in national parks and travelling extensively in Australia and overseas, and this is reflected in her oil and acrylic paintings. The exhibition is free and a selection of paintings and fine art cards will be available to purchase. When: Friday 2 - Tuesday 13 August, 10 am - 4 pm daily |
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FusionThe exhibition will display the works of members of Primrose Paper Arts. Works will predominantly use unique paper made by the members themselves using recycled paper and plant fibres. The exhibition will include prints, collages, books, and other three dimensional paperworks. Primrose Paper Arts celebrated its 21st anniversary this year. The group operates from Primrose Park Art and Craft Centre, one of North Sydney Council's Community Centres. The membership base includes established and emerging artist, with interests which include papermaking using recycled paper and plant fibres, paper sculpture, artist books, surface design, and printmaking. The Group aims to promote an interest in, and an appreciation of, paper as an art, and to provide support to artists using paper as the basis of their art works. When: 19 August - 1 September 2013, 10 am - 4 pm |
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Creative ExpressionsA display of Australian Artists’ creativity in different media. Renate Fischer paints landscapes and seascapes as well as the Australian bush in acrylics and watercolours in an impressionist/expressionist style. Leeka Gruzdeff paints urban and country landscapes as well as musicians, dancers and singers in a free colourful way. Leeka’s inspiration comes from local and country scenery as well as musicians, dancers and singers. Helga Kelly’s landscapes and bush scenes are also colourful and painted impressionistically. Helga’s inspiration is the landscape and the bush. Renate loves the landscape and the sea. She can see the ocean from her studio window and loves the different moods the weather presents. Melea O’Connell is a very creative Jewellery maker and designer, employing different techniques, even making her own beads. She also is the published author of books. Melea’s ideas also come from nature and the inherent qualities of the materials she uses. Tanya and Owen Nicholls are writers and illustrators of science fiction and fantasy books for adults and teenagers. Their works has also been published here and oversees. Tanya’s and Owen’s ideas spring from all sorts of things happening around them, nature, the universe, history, travel, entertainment, politics. The three artists, Renate Fischer, Leeka Gruzdeff and Helga Kelly have been painting for over 30 years and have also been teachers of art at various stages in their lives. Melea O’Connell has been making jewellery for a number of years and is also a published author of books. Tanya and Owen Nicholls have been writing and illustrating books for more than 20 years and are also published authors with their own publishing business. When: 2-15 September 2013, daily 10 am - 4 pm |
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Enamels & TextilesHeather is celebrating over 40 years of working with enamels, exploring and researching techniques. She still finds the combination of glass, metal and fire exciting and challenging as each piece comes out of the kiln- from red hot to dark colours to the final piece. The brilliant colours and durability of enamel are combined in wall pieces, small sculpture and with gemstones in necklaces. Leather and timber boxes have enamel set in their lids. Elizabeth weaves mainly in hand-dyed wool and silk, producing scarves and wraps with a luxurious handle and unique colouring. The scale of pieces range from filmy fine yarns to heavy rugs. Heather and Elizabeth have been exhibiting together since 1993 and are members of the Society of Arts and Crafts of NSW, exhibiting at CraftNSW in the Rocks, and the North Shore Craft group. Elizabeth has recently won the Colour award at the New Zealand Creative Festival, also the merit award for Complex Weaving and in 2012, the Complex Weavers award at their exhibition in Los Angeles. In 2008, Best in show award for Living with Beauty, textiles for the home, in Colorado Springs USA When: 18-29 September 2013, 10 am -4 pm daily |
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Recent exhibitions |
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Watercourse XWatercourse Art Exhibition, the tenth and sixth at the Palm House, is a showing and sale of original framed, unframed paintings and a selection of greeting cards by a group of artists who met at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery. The works vary in style from traditional to contemporary, in different mediums, however predominately watercolour from which the group’s name was derived. Artists are Alison Duff, Barbara Gray, Cheryl McDonnell, Chris Griffiths, Glenys Thompson, Gai Grayson, Janelle Langridge, Lyn Scaysbrook, Margaret Hincks, Magda Kamper, Nirvana Woodlands, Pauline Blaik, Pat Egan, Raquel Tapia and Trish Duncan When: Thursday 28 March to Tuesday 9 April 2013, 10 am to 4 pm |
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Flourish ExhibitionWendy Littlewood When: Wednesday 13 March to Tuesday 26 March 2013, 10 am to 4 pm |
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Reef DreamscapesHelen Lancaster and Maureen Locke-Maclean have joined together to create Reef Dreamscapes, featuring the many techniques and applications of textile fibre art for which they are renowned. This is a must see exhibition. Demonstrations during exhibition. When: 18 February to 3 March, 10.30 am - 3.30 pm Artist profiles Helen Lancaster Helen's first solo exhibition in painting was in 1984 at the Hogarth Gallery. Most of her work relates to the Great Barrier Reef, where colour explodes in a combination of three-dimensional forms, particularly when created in textiles. Helen has specialised on the Great Barrier Reef for the last 32 years and exhibited her works both nationally and internationally with particular interests in anemones, corals, sea snails and nudibranches using fabric manipulation, embroidery and crochet to create reefs and wearable art. Maureen Locke-Maclean Living at Wamberal on the Central Coast, Maureen walks on the beach daily at sunrise and notes the debris and seaweeds on the beach. |
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NativesViewers are often taken aback when they learn that the canvases they have been admiring are not paintings but photographs. The exhibition entitled Natives is a study of Australia’s botanical treasures and how they are completely different from anything else in the world. The artist, Esther Beaton, has widely photographed the unique wildlife and plant life while travelling around Australia working for book and magazine publishers, including Australian Geographic. Between assignments, she began to experiment with her images on the computer. Gradually, she began to transform her 'realistic' photos of plants and wildflowers into impressionistic swirls of colour and blazing patterns. As a result, the artworks retain the raw essence of Australia’s amazing flora, while introducing a certain boldness that enhances their individual characters. International visitors to Sydney are likely to respond to the artworks since the images will evoke memories of their own trips to outback destinations. However, because each image is accompanied by background information, anyone who lives in Australia can discover more about the unique beauty of our continent’s native plants. When: 16-30 January 2013, 10-4 daily |
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Summer SolsticeSet up to take advantage of the glowing light of the Palm House, this exhibition will delight the senses with artworks that celebrate the Summer Solstice or connect with Celtic heritage. It will focus Lynne Sinclair-Wood’s sensitive pastel depictions of ‘standing stones’ and celtic ideas like ‘Hiraeth’. These will be supported by fantastic prize winning quilts celebrating summer, paintings and drawings that investigate the cosmos, and gateways between worlds, the Palm house is transformed by a cornucopia of images and artworks made in textiles, mosaics, pastel drawing, watercolour, oil and acrylics. From large to miniature. Also cards, bookmarks, carved Welsh ‘Loving Spoons’, scarves and jewellery. Painting, drawing, textiles also wood work, jewellery by artists Barbara Aroney, Lynne Sinclair-Wood, Cheryl Van Oyen, Jeannie Henry, Carol Anne Xuereb, Sue Kinneally major artists, plus other artists. When: 12 - 23 December 2012, 10 am - 4 pm |
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TransparencyThe Joseph Varga School is a special, non-profit, independent school for children from 5 to 18 years of age, with a particular focus on providing educational programs for the individual child. Every year, students work enthusiastically to produce art pieces reflecting their unique talents. The theme, Transparency, is in keeping with the school’s ethos, as we strive for honesty and openness in everything we do. When: Tuesday 6 November to 13 November 2012, daily 9 am to 4 pm |
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The Painted OutbackOver 3 months we travelled a distance of 18,700 km travelling in a loop right around Australia. We set up our tent in 45 different places and most days on the road we travelled about 500 km. We were like gypsies - imagine the planning that goes into a trip like this - bike on top, tent in the back and 40 empty canvasses in a carry bag, waiting to be painted for an exhibition that was already booked. What I have ended up with are about 30 paintings completed 'en plein air' during our stopovers and then there are the other 30 paintings completed in the year after the trip, inspired by the trip but completed in the comfort of the home studio after the images were digested by the heart and mind and which I feel, capture the soul of the outback, as they are enhanced by my memories. These paintings express mood rather than reality, with exaggerated and flamboyant use of colour - yet I feel that I have not invented these landscapes, but summarised them, in the same way that you can call up the entire red centre with one image of Uluru. They have a different painting language to the 'en plein air' paintings. There are dots for rocks and blobs for trees, they are all illusions, yet it would be hard to miss the meaning and the presence of the infinite Australian outback. When: 16 - 29 November 2012, 10 am - 4 pm |
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FLORA: The Art and Science of the PlantFLORA: The Art and Science of the Plant is an exhibition of botanical art and botanical illustration in a variety of mediums, showcasing the talents of the members of the Botanical Art Society of Australia. The works celebrate a passion for flora and the exacting skill, close observation and detail of botanical art in the contemporary context. Featuring the work of members of the Botanical Art Society of Australia, including renowned botanical artists and illustrators such as Sharon Field, Tanya Hoolihan and Julie Nettleton, and international artists Pria Graves and Hillary Parker. Framed works on display vary in size from large paintings to compact miniatures. Unframed original works, high-quality prints and cards will also be available. When: Saturday 8 - Tuesday 18 September, 10 am - 4 pm |
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