In only four weeks, my exhibition STILL at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery, Bathurst  will be underway.  This exhibition opens Friday 24 February at 6pm, and is only my second solo show, so please come along if it is your thing or if you are just a little curious.  It will then run for two weeks. If you would like an official invitation please do not hesitate to request this through my contact form on my website:

http://www.nicmasonartist.com/contact.html. - link below

I have not been still in creating works for this exhibition although there is a decidedly still quality to many of the works – painted in the genre of still life.  There are many an animal skull, doll (or two – like the ones on the way in the studio shot here) and the red bag that has not left my side. These objects have appeared throughout my works and were present in many of my narrative works of my last 2016 solo show WILD in Cowra Regional Art Gallery.  They have been the focus of my post graduate studies in painting at the Australian National University.  For these studies and for the works in the lead up to this exhibition, I have been contemplating issues of environmental loss and hope as well as how the placement of objects can build narrative and hopefully illicit questions.

So what’s in the bag for 2017 for my art life.  No doubt I’ll be travelling with my red bag.  It seems to be a stayer and finds its way into my work where ever I may be and whatever I may be doing.  This one was painted as part of my post graduate studies in Painting at The Australian National University.  As my return to study was terrific, I’ll be back for some more challenges at ANU in the first half of 2017.  Then, the plan is to head overseas to live and work for six months with the whole family.  A cultural exchange is on the menu – we’re heading to France.  I am hoping it is a good experience for us all and that by lapping up just a little of the cultural spread of this place whilst creating there, my practice will grow further and I will be in a more informed position to weave universal themes of environmental loss and hope into my work. But before all that, it’s just head down for me.  I’ve got some commission that I have said yes to so long ago.  They are at the forefront of my lobes and I am hoping that I can birth them soon. I am also madly painting for my upcoming exhibition at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery planned for the end of February and start of March.  You are invited. The opening night is 24 February 2017. Happy New Year and hope to see you there!