Currently showing in our Phillip Street Gallery is Pure Gold by John Maitland. The opening night of the exhibition took place on Wednesday and was a great success with many of his collectors arriving early to find a favourite and stake their claim. These new paintings must be seen. A superb body of work that incorporates both depth and simplicity, beautiful themes and a great mastery of colour.

Australian Entertainer and Artist Rolf Harris is in town for a series of performances at The Sydney Opera House. He is on a very busy schedule so we were delighted that he found the time to come along and view the work.

Gallery Director Maria Aitken and Rolf Harris with Dolores & John Maitland

Country Scapes 2008

On display at 17 Bligh Street Sydney is the Country Energy Country Scapes Exhibition. A showing of all finalists of this years landscape prize. A great exhibition showing how much variety there can be in the portrayal of the Australian landscape.

2008 winner

Gail English of Crescent Head on the NSW mid north coast has been announced as this year’s winner of Countryscapes 2008 for her work Last Years Crops.

Youth Encouragement Award
Country Energy presents a Youth Encouragement Award each year as part of Countryscapes.
The winner of the 2008 $5,000 Youth Encouragement Award is 13 year old Antonia Crowe of Port Macquarie for her work Regrowth (Spring).

Highly Commended finalists
The following artists were highly commended finalists:
Uplift - Angus Nivison of Walcha
Seven Mile Sky - Angus McDonald of Lennox Head

Employees’ Choice Award
Wendy Martin from Broken Hill collected the Country Energy Employees' Choice Award for her work Out of the Blue. Around 600 employees voted this year with Wendy's painting winning the most support.