Garden: renewal of spirit - New paintings and prints

Exhibition runs 15 September to 26 September 2009
Opening 17 September 6 pm. All welcome.

For Canberra-based artist AG Stokes the humble backyard garden is a place of great inspiration. She is interested in the way landscape, even on the scale of the suburban backyard, can convey mood and act as a metaphor for thought and action. It is from these starting points that Stokes has developed the paintings and prints currently on exhibition in Garden: Renewal of Spirit at Megalo Print Studio + Gallery in Watson.

Celebrating the continued, if embattled, existence of the suburban garden, Stokes uses her paintings and prints to explore the backyard as a microcosmic world, with shadows as well as light.  She depicts a world where the gardener is both creator and custodian, and where every Spring heralds fresh beginnings. Stokes’ gardens are places of solitude and reflection, but also conviviality, rejoicings, and discoveries – she see the garden as that which both mirrors and moulds her life and aspirations.

This exhibition comprises mainly small works where the idea of an enclosed space is conveyed through a blend of representation and abstraction within a square format. Winding lines and circular forms exemplify the creativity, hope and energy of the gardener-painter.
Both oil paintings and prints derive from Stokes’ intimate knowledge of her garden and surrounds in Turner. The lithographs and solar plate etchings were made during a residency at Megalo Print Studio which Stokes was awarded in 2009.

Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am to 5.00pm