Skip to main content

Revisit Greenworld online

Take time out to immerse yourself in nature at our 2020 major exhibition, Greenworld.

In Bayside Gallery's exhibition, artists explore the relationship between an individual and their surroundings and the role nature plays in human consciousness

 

A brightly coloured painting of a floral landscape

Detail of James Morrison, Magasker Valley 2018, oil on canvas, 51 x 42 cm. Private collection, Melbourne 

Welcome to Greenworld

The exhibition Greenworld comes at a time when, as city dwellers are in lockdown, our appreciation for the green and open spaces of our parks, creeks and rivers, and the shoreline of the bay, has strengthened.

Our access to these pockets of nature close to home have become more meaningful and life affirming for people than ever before. Baysiders have an incredible array of places to escape to, even for a moment.

This exhibition reflects on the power of nature to offer relief, sustenance and inspiration during these times of intense interiority.

Painting, photography, collage and sculptural works by renowned artists provide moments of reflection on nature as a restorative force in our lives.

Artists share their connection to the earth, the sky, nature’s lush foliage, its crystallised minerals and its medicinal provisions; celebrating the natural world’s capacity to nurture both physically and spiritually.

Download the Greenworld catalogue

Virtual tour of Greenworld


Watch the unboxing of Greenworld


Healing Nature panel


Greenworld puzzle

Take a break by putting together our online jigsaw puzzle of one of James Morrison's feature pieces.

Online jigsaw puzzle

 

The artists

Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler

Five suspended circular wreaths made from green organic matter resembling long grass, aligned to create a cylinder.

Installation view of Wona Bae and Charlie Lawlor, Resonance 2019, organic matter, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artists.

Artists Wona Bae (South Korea) and Charlie Lawler (Australia) are a collaborative duo, known internationally for their installations and sculptures that navigate the visceral and symbiotic connections between people and nature. Their works deconstruct and distort familiar natural forms and present new landscapes to be considered and explored.

Bae and Lawler present the natural world as active and central in an era of polarisation, inequality, inaction and apathy. Their work combines installation, sculpture, sound, two-dimensional artworks, and photographs documenting ephemeral interventions. Notable recent accomplishments include the exhibition of ‘En Route’ their first major public museum presentation at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2019/2020. The museum also holds their work in its permanent collection. The pair were winners of the Yering Gallery Award at the 2019 Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition and Award.

In Conversation with Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler

If you missed the online discussion with Bayside Gallery Curator, Joanna Bosse and artists Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler last week you can view it below.

 

Naomi Eller

Collage of painted, drawn and photographed elements that resemble branches, stones, twigs and leaves.

Installation view of Naomi Eller, Imprints of memory 2015, paper collage, 76.5 x 57.5 cm each, series of 5. Courtesy the artist 

Melbourne-based artist Naomi Eller works primarily with clay and collage. Eller’s work is inspired by nature, myth, and the human condition. Through her practice Eller seeks to translate complex emotional states into visual forms. In her most recent work, the artist pieces together objects which have been handmade, found and adapted to produce a body of work which is psychologically transformational.

Several of her works are held in Australian state and national collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria and the James Mollison Collection.

 

Nicole Foreshew

Interior photograph of a series of photographs of specimens in white frames on a white wall

Installation view of Nicole Foreshew, Unburden 2015, pigment print on paper, ed. of 5, 40.6 x 58.4 cm each. Courtesy the artist.

Nicole Foreshew is an artist, curator, and writer from the Wiradjuri Nation in central west New South Wales. As a multi-disciplinary artist who works in photography, video, sculpture, and textiles, Foreshew’s practice explores the significant relationship between cultural identity and connection to the land. Through her practice, Foreshew seeks to document the transformation of the land and emphasises the often invisible and subtle changes occurring to earth through human intervention.

Her works are held in several state and regional galleries across Australia including the Murray Art Museum, Albury; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; and National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

 

Teelah George

Interior photograph of an art exhibition featuring colourful textiles hanging from white walls

Installation view of Greenworld featuring works by Teelah George.

Perth born, Melbourne-based artist Teelah George works in a diverse range of mediums and is best known for her densely embroidered fabric ‘paintings’. George draws on a range of material culture including both text and visual imagery to engage in a form of storytelling that embodies expansive concepts like time and sensation.

Teelah George is represented in the collections of Artbank, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; University of Western Australia, Perth; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, WA; the City of Joondalup Collection, WA; and Monash University, Melbourne.

 

Joiwind Lowe

Fabric artworks hanging from the ceiling

Installation view of Joiwind Lowe, My four gardens: Demeter 2020, photo printed fabric, scent, 4 components: 130 x 250 cm each, Courtesy the artist.

Melbourne-based American artist Joiwind Lowe is a multi-disciplinary artist who currently works in photography. Her photo printed fabric installation commissioned for Greenworld traces her engagement with the local environment of her home here in Bayside. The work charts Lowe’s journey as she traverses the parklands and the beach during a time of intense inner reflection due to the impacts of Covid-19. Lowe’s practice centres on capturing the poetry and stillness of the everyday and creating subtle injections of intimacy into chaotic public spaces.

Lowe holds a Bachelor of Spatial Arts from San Jose State University, California, and Masters of Art in Public Space, from RMIT University. She is a practicing Doctor of Oriental Medicine, which she conceives of in terms of ‘interior sculpture’. 

 

James Morrison

Interior photograph of a series of colourful paintings on a white wall

Installation view of Greenworld featuring works by James Morrison.

James Morrison is a multi-disciplinary artist who largely works in the medium of painting. Born in Papua New Guinea, Morrison relocated to Melbourne with his family at the age of thirteen.

Trained as a florist, Morrison’s work is largely inspired by the natural world and in particular his own childhood growing up in Papua New Guinea. Well known for his use of rich, often iridescent, colour and fantastical imagery that is reminiscent of a children’s storybook, the artist refers to his work as blurring the lines between ‘myth and reality’.

Morrison holds a Postgraduate diploma in Fine Art from Victorian College of the Arts. His work is held in a number of collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Monash University Art Collection, Melbourne; and TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria.

 

Betty Muffler

Black and white painting of linear marks and patterns.

Betty Muffler, Ngangkari Ngura 2019, acrylic on linen, 152 x 198 cm. Courtesy the artist, RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs, and Iwantja Arts, South Australia.

Betty Muffler is a Pitjantjatjara artist who works largely in the medium of painting. She is a senior cultural woman and Ngangkari (traditional healer) in Indulkana Community on the Anangu Pitjantatjara Yankunytjara (APY) Lands in remote north-west South Australia. Growing up on Ernabella mission, she was taught Ngangkari (healing) from her aunties. Muffler draws on both spiritual and historical themes to produce large monochromatic works in black and white that incorporate both abstract pictographs and surface designs to depict her connection to land. The artist describes her practice in the following terms: ‘when I am painting, I am touching the canvas and I am feeling good energy – it is connecting with my spirit and all of these feelings become part of my painting.’

Alongside her practice as an artist, Betty Muffler works as a traditional healer with NPY Women’s Council and medical practitioners.

Do you want to know what's on in Bayside?

Subscribe to the Bayside Arts e-newsletter and you'll receive the latest news, public program information and invites to exhibition openings. 

Subscribe