FIONA BARRETT-CLARK

Fiona Barrett-Clark is an emerging painter creating distinctively Australian, contemporary landscape paintings, which capture the ever-changing mood of the sky, sea and land, in an attempt to awaken people to the magnificence that passes us by every day. Her paintings reflect the beauty of an uncomplicated, understated, Australian landscape, void of people, but not always human presence. In particular her focus is often on the sky, its kaleidoscope of colours, the clouds formations and the transformative effect it has on the land and sea. She describes dusk as a time as when ‘everything is exhaling’. “The sky and the clouds run through every colour they have; blue, white, yellow, orange, pink, lavender, indigo and then to black. These colours are heightened against everything else that is beginning to lose detail into the shadows. Telegraph poles and house roofs become graphic shapes. Nature meets the urban environment and they enhance one another, and it is all so fleeting”. Fiona has been featured in publications including the Sydney Morning Herald and House and Garden. Most recently Fiona was featured in ‘A Painted Landscape’ by Amber Creswell Bell, published by Thames & Hudson. 'IT GOT DARK SO QUICKLY' Exhibition Video Walkthrough: Watch on IGTV

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As I go about the usual nightly routine of making and eating dinner, doing housework, the TV droning in the background, through the large windows at the back of my house, I am able to watch the sky slowly transform from day to night. I am mesmerised by this time of the day, both the physical beauty and the metaphoric exhale which symbolises the days end. Everything winding down, the darkness creeping in and everything seems less urgent. The colour of the sky deepens, yet is still backlit by the descending sun, the last rays of light catching the tips of clouds. It can be incredibly subtle and at other times, sublimely intense. The juxtaposition of this against the opaque black silhouettes of the suburbs, which like a frame, completes the image. The changing sky floats silently overhead, a beauty we rarely notice.

2019 Hawkesbury Art Prize - Finalist 2017 Little Things Art Prize - Finalist 2017 Hunters Hill Art Prize - Winner Smaller Works Prize 2016 Parramatta Art Prize - Finalist 2016 St George Art Prize - Finalist 2016 Little Things Art Prize - Finalist 2016 Belle Arti Art Prize - Finalist 2016 Hunters Hill Art Prize - Finalist 2015 Hawkesbury Art Prize - Finalist (Commended) 2011 Hunters Hill Art Prize - Finalist 2008 Glover Prize

Solo and Major Exhibitions 2022 Last Light,, Saint Cloche, Paddington 2021 Nightfall, Saint Cloche, Paddington 2020 It got dark so quickly, Saint Cloche, Paddington 2019 Quietly into the Night, Saint Cloche, Paddington 2018 Ways of Seeing Landscape I, Purple Noon Gallery, Freemans Reach 2018 Dungog Contemporary, Dungog 2017 The Views That Pass Us, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange 2010 By the Water, Breathing Colours, Balmain 2009 Passaging Through, Breathing Colours, Balmain 1999 Clouds, Level Gallery, Newtown Group Shows 2019 Treestories, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange 2019 Dusk Til Dawn, Saint Cloche, Paddington 2018 ‘A Painted Landscape’ Book Launch and Exhibition, Curated by Amber Creswell-Bell 2018 The Penny Farthing Collective Exhibition, Penny Farthing Design House, East Balmain 2018 Just A Square, Darling Milling Studio Gallery, Mittagong 2018 Blue, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange 2018 Opening Exhibition, Darling Milling Studio Gallery, Mittagong 2018 The Artful Mum, Penny Farthing Design House, East Balmain 2018 Out of The Blue, Eramboo Artist Environment, Terrey Hills 2018 8x10 Show, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange 2017 Lindfield Art Show - Feature artist 2017 8x10 Show, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange 2016 Christmas Show, Breathing Colours, Balmain 2016 The Festive Fair, Purple Noon Gallery, Freemans Reach 2016 Group Show, Breathing Colours, Balmain 2015 The Desert Heart, Breathing Colours, Balmain 2010 A Little Bit of Summer, Breathing Colours, Balmain 2009 A Little Bit of Red, Breathing Colours, Balmain 2003 Undercurrents - A River Story, Parramatta Heritage Centre 2003-2004 Transfield Travelling Exhibition 2000 Art International 2000 1999 Group Show Level Gallery, Newtown Books 2018 A Painted Landscape, by Amber Creswell-Bell 2018 The Artful Mum, by Rachel Moodie