Trilogy

Artists: Sally Berridge, Malini Lewis, Irena Kaczmarek

An exhibition in three parts: by three local artists.

An exhibition in three parts: works on paper and canvas by three local artists.

Sally Berridge’s still lifes, portraits and abstracts in watercolour; Malini Lewis’s tangle of iris prints and Irena Kaczmarek’s forested landscape paintings of Maldon, the Grampians and Bialowieza Forest, Poland.

Malini Lewis

Most of my prints for this exhibition are inspired by plant and flower forms, and made with a trio of mediums, probably cyanotype, watercolour and relief print. 

One of my favourite things in life is options though, and I have definitely exercised my right to stray from what I have only just written; in fact, that is my art practice in a nutshell. I work in that space between the well-known and the what-if, and thrive on risk, change and the unexpected. And chance. And I went to the florist to see if they had any irises maybe and there were irises and there was a bunch of 11 with really long stems for $20 and you are looking at what happened after that.

Sally Berridge

My body of work explores many facets of watercolour painting, from the traditional to the contemporary, including the effects of differing paints, papers, and styles of painting on the ability of water to express its natural qualities. including that of ice. My papers include traditional hot pressed, smooth surfaces such as Arches, Bockingford and Saunders Waterford, and mineral paper, a non-absorbent, bright white vellum made from calcium carbonate in Japan. Paints include the traditional English Winsor and Newton, the American paints of Daniel Smith, Japanese Holbein paints, the Italian paints of A. Gallo, made in Assisi, and the Canadian indigenous Beam Paints. They differ in their colour, granulation and spreading properties.

My artistic influences include J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851), the great innovative English water colourist; Mao Lizi, a founding member of China's pioneer contemporary art group known as the Stars; Thomas Girtin (particularly his use of reserved white); and Charles Rennie Mackintosh who used landscape as design. My main theoretical influence is the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, particularly his book Water and Dreams. I am interested in the physical properties of water: ubiquitous in nature and essential to living bodies, it is invisible except through reflection of light, through acting as a mirror, or the addition of pigment. The watercolours we see on paper are the result of water leaving its traces through the addition of pigments and subsequent evaporation. Water is in flux, it always flows and always falls.

Irena Kaczmarek – Where the Leaves Fall

Grampians and Maldon. The work evokes a romantic view of Australia’s forest landscape. My family immigrated from Poland and the brightness and colour of Australian landscape was a shock to my parents. This work is my depiction of elements of living in the Central Victorian landscape. The work glows with a sense of warmth and comfort, which is somehow surreal and provides an almost false sense of security. I wanted the foreground to be magical with almost surreal colour and soft light. My work asks “Is this real? Can we be secure?”

Bialowieza Forest, Poland. Depicts my visit in 2024 to Poland’s World Heritage Bialowieza Forest. An ancient remnant of old Europe as it was. The emotional impact of the forest emanates from the works. Endless birch, ancient trees, damp, colourful fungi. A softer, darker East European light. People in the works disappear into the environment.

About the Artists

Sally Berridge

I originally trained in science and agriculture and spent many years as a research scientist. Then that career ended, and I followed my heart to art school, where it always wanted to be. Since then, I have completed numerous art courses while I have developed my art practice. I decided to specialise in watercolours because I love the medium; I love it that we humans are mostly made of water, so watercolours echo in our veins; I love the way water can reveal its currents through pigment and then becomes static as it evaporates.

Instagram @sally_berridge_watercolour

Malini Lewis

After returning to Australia in 2011 after a very, very long time away, I completed Art Pathways in Castlemaine in 2012 and then disappeared into 6 years of full-time art education in Melbourne. I completed an Honours degree in contemporary visual art (printmaking) at RMIT in 2018, and have lived and practiced full-time in Castlemaine since then. I am a member of Goldfields Printmakers, Firestation Print Studio, Print Council of Australia and Newstead Arts Hub

Instagram @malinilewis

Irena Kaczmarek

I am a visual artist and I draw on the brilliance, colour and light of the Australian bush for inspiration. I lived in or near the forest in Daylesford/Hepburn region for 32 years. I now live close to the forest in Maldon. After an early start in poster art, I returned to painting 15 years ago. Studying under several acrylic and oil artists, I have developed an eclectic, expressive style of painting that is instinctual. More recently, working out of my studio at my home in Maldon, I also incorporate ink and sometimes collage to produce loose and interesting figurative, landscape and still life works. My work was on display at the Manet Gallery in Maldon Victoria for two years.

Instagram @irena_maldon