Current Exhibition: 'Cockatoo In Time' By Jacqueline Lamb - 5 to 16 May

Our current exhibition is a collection of encaustic works inspired by Sydney’s Cockatoo Island:

"Upon my arrival on Cockatoo Island, at first glance it was just another tired island with an interesting history. On closer view I saw the strange metallic guardians, and sentinels of long ago, some reaching up to the sky to perhaps ward off an attack, others buckled over in defeat, all inert and lifeless as if someone just pulled the plug and walked away.

An island with as many lives as a cat: a Penitentiary; an Industrial School for Girls; a World War II Naval Dry Dock to name only a few. The only survivors of those days are rusting cranes, cogs, decrepit working sheds and discarded machinery, some having lived through more than one island life, all having their own interesting stories to tell.

I chose encaustic (beeswax) and oil as my preferred mediums. Wax, like the machinery is inert until you reactivate it, where it once again comes alive to do our bidding. Melted wax was poured onto boards or on top of photgraphs I had taken of the island. Like the photographs under the wax, so too is the history of the island buried; an undercurrent of events now hushed by time."

Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Jacqueline Lamb began painting at an early age. She has studied at various institutions in both Melbourne and Sydney as well as attending many private classes with local artists. A regular participant in group exhibitions and art prizes throughout New South Wales, Jacqueline was recently awarded “Viewers Choice” at the 2008 Lane Cove Art Awards.