Singleton Arts + Cultural Centre Exhibitions

Explore a vibrant showcase of creativity at Singleton Arts + Cultural Centre with four upcoming exhibitions that promise to captivate and inspire. Each exhibition offers a unique perspective and experience. Exhibitions on show August 24 2024 – November 3 2024

Opening Event: Fri 23 Aug | 6pm

Yuungla Bangay
Nicole Chaffey

Main Gallery 1

yuungla bangay (long ago today) is a survey of an art making practice spanning fifteen years. Nicole Chaffey, a Newcastle-based artist, began her formal education at Newcastle Art School (TAFE) in 2006, continued at the School of Creative Arts at Newcastle University, and completed her postgraduate studies at Wollotuka in 2015. As a Biripi woman, much of Chaffey’s practice is intrinsically linked with identity, Country, and cultural practice. Her postgraduate research (2012 - 2015) reflected on inheritance and relationship; ties between her ancestral Biripi Country and her grandfather, while her most recent work revisits familial narratives, diving into the dark distant pasts of ancestors' misdeeds and resilience. Collectively, yuungla bangay charts the course through which Chaffey has cultivated a unique visual language and a distinctive approach to colour and form revealing the essence of lived experience and a love for landscape.

Simple Wonders
Paintings from the collection of Andrew Johns

Main Gallery 2

This exhibition brings together a selection of delightful works from the private collection of local art enthusiast Andrew Johns. Quirky creatures and whimsical stories are embedded within colourful landscapes, where close attention is required to discover their worlds of minute details. The artworks on exhibition reflect a range of different techniques, materials and styles, from both emerging and established artists from a collection that is over 40 years in the making. Each artist brings their own distinctive perspective to life, with an overall focus on the tradition of Naïve landscape painting.

Shield Designs
Jon Field

Corridor Gallery

The traditional designs of Wanaruah, Wonnarua shields (Maripay / Kurayil) are playfully reworked in Shield Designs by Jon Field. His contemporary experiments in form and design combine traditional Indigenous materials, such as ochres, timber and feathers, with western materials like oil paint and canvas. This exhibition combines two bodies of work from 2022 and 2024, offering an imaginative response to the tradition of shield art. Jon Field is a Wanaruah, Wonnarua artist living and working on Darug land (Claremont Meadows). His artworks span many genres, from traditional Aboriginal works to portraits of opera singers. Jon Field has been an exhibiting Member of The Royal Art Society of NSW since 1988.

Small Paintings in a Large Valley
Cheryl Heath

Studio 1

Moving from Sydney to Singleton, it’s easy to notice differences. Replacing frenzy, there are huge skies, fluffy cattle and crops. Vineyards are lush and prevalent, and dead trees lyrical. A comforting sense of order prevails. The ever-present mountains are varied. Perfectly folded hills contrast with rugged sandstone cliffs. These images lead to a sense of peace and order. All my paintings reflect my enjoyment of colour, varied surfaces, and different marks. They are created from a variety of media. I like to combine techniques in the same painting, and if I’m lucky they work.

Image Credit

Jon Field, 2023. Image © Jon Field

Nicole Chaffey, An Embankment of Formidable Character, 2023. Oil on composite aluminium. 124 x 164 cm. Image © Nicole Chaffey

ANNE MARIE GRAHAM, AT CAIRNS BOTANIC GARDENS, 201. Oil on linen. 134 x 104.5 cm. Image © Anne Marie Graham

JOHANNA HILDERBRANDT, THE BOY AND THE PARROTS, 1983. Oil on glass. 17 x 12 cm. Image © Johanna Hilderbrandt

JON FIELD, SHIELD DESIGN NO. 50, 2022. Sfumato oil and ochres on plywood. 40.5 x 23.5 cm. Image © Jon Field

CHERYL HEATH, A QUIET RIVER, 2023. Arches watercolour paper, watercolour paint and pencil. 47 x 59.5 cm. Image © Cheryl Heath