GROUP SHOW : Abstract Artists - Still Awake!
Exhibition dates. 30 June - 12 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 1 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Presented by Creative Space Hawthorn, an untutored abstract art group based at the Hawthorn Artist Society
In this latest group exhibition “Abstract Artists- Still Awake!” sixteen Melbourne-based artists come together to showcase their most recent creative efforts.
We want to share with our audience the abundance of options that are available to all of us to explore our internal and external worlds through our art practice and trust that you will find a wide and lively range of responses within our group to this challenge.
Our world is one where emotion, gesture, form, and colour take centre stage. We celebrate both creativity and expression and hope that our efforts will resonate with gallery visitors.
Artists
Alex Bridge • Amanda Lugg • Cathryn Perazzo • Christine Sender • Devyani Sadalkar • Doc Wight • Fiona Wright • Irene Henning • Kathy Best • Ken Wight • Lynne Kells • Nathan Moshinsky • Paula Reade • Penny Darling • Susan Tait • Traecey Bremner
Alex Bridge
Light, energy, emotion - Alex Bridge is an abstract artist living and practising on Naarm/Melbourne. Her work centres on visual perception and visual sensation. Nature inspired organic shapes and contrasts of colour and texture explore themes of energy and place. Brushstrokes are left raw and immediate, recording the artist's presence in the work.
Wide skies and gnarly textures, reflective light and deep shadows. This body of work explores the energy and experiences of nature. Broad brushstrokes, differing textures and considered colours describe early light to dusk, soft grasses to charred wood. Minimal forms invite a collaboration with the viewer to complete a mood or experience of their own.
Amanda Lugg
This series of pastel coloured works have evolved from a need to challenge myself by moving away from a bold, strong palette. By using the softer palette I am hoping to develop a more subtle feeling within the painting.
I am also addressing within these works, the relationship between angular shapes and rounded shapes. In using the soft colours the clash of these shapes is muted, and so the work demands some shapes to be in a bolder colour. The deeper statement shapes catch the viewers eye and encourage closer examination of the more gently coloured shapes. Overall the aim is to be harmonious and intriguing. In deep contrast, the larger piece is a spring explosion in all its glory. It is not about subtlety, but rather joy and beauty to be easily accessed.
Cathryn Perazzo
Cathryn Perazzo creates abstract paintings that are intuitive, expressive, and deeply personal. Working with layered textures and fluid colour, her practice explores emotion, memory, and the energy of lived experience. Her works move between calm and intensity, allowing forms to emerge naturally through process and experimentation. Through abstraction, she invites viewers to slow down, reflect, and connect with the subtle moods and sensations held within each painting. She enjoys re-working found canvasses to inspire new directions, and at times dovetailing ideas from her poetry writing into her abstract artmaking.
Christine Sender
My work explores abstract interpretations of the vibrant, energetic atmosphere of gathering places squares, cafés, streets, and distant or imagined locations. At times, I am equally drawn to the expressive energy found in nature, seeking to translate these sensations into visual form.
Working in a style often described as lyrical abstraction, I use warm, sensual colour and layered collage to build rich, immersive surfaces. These layers invite the viewer into a personal and intuitive visual experience. Collage plays a central role in my practice, combining found and handmade materials. Some of these are created using a gel plate, contributing texture and complexity. Loose, gestural mark-making with a variety of tools enhances a sense of movement and vitality, while areas of strong contrast introduce moments of drama and focus. Through this process, I aim to intrigue and engage the viewer, evoking curiosity and an emotional resonance that connects with their own memories and experiences.
I am part of a studio community at Creative Space Hawthorn, where an open and supportive environment encourages experimentation and the ongoing development of each artist’s unique voice.
Devyani Sadalkar
This work comes from feeling. Painting becomes a way to find freedom, away from fear, failure, and self-doubt. The process is rooted in play, following what feels instinctively right. Nature is a strong influence. Its colours do not follow rules, yet they exist in harmony. Unlikely combinations sit side by side with ease, holding a quiet boldness. This work learns to dare in a similar way.
The approach is intuitive. It often begins with simple marks, pencil, pastel, or ink and gradually builds. There is no fixed plan, only a response to what emerges. Materials such as acrylics and inks are used freely, guided by the moment. In a world that can feel structured and controlled, this work is an act of letting go. It creates space to breathe, to loosen, and to experience a sense of freedom.
Doc Wight
During my working life in Adelaide I became enamoured with the colourful works of Sydney artist Syd Ball and I acquired two of them. After looking at them for 25 years I was inspired to try abstract art in my retirement and have found it great fun and a most absorbing hobby. Abstract art opened the world of colour and playfulness to me, and finding beauty in all sorts of splashes, dots and squiggles. Sometimes I paint absurd forms of flowers and pots, but have been inspired by Jackson Pollock and his colleagues. Hope you find something of interest in my work.
Fiona Wright
Fiona Wright is an Australian contemporary artist, based in the country town of Marysville, Victoria. Working in both Acrylics and watercolour on panel board and paper, Fiona’s style is a variation of expressionism and gestural abstraction.
Her work explores and represents an intuitive journey of evolvement and emotion using many layers of paint. The process of using opaque acrylics against thin transparent layers creates a history of colour, shape and texture. Often are include is the use of permanent graphite pencil, ink or scribing back into the layers. Fiona creates to enjoy the excitement of exploration, to interpret feelings and to get lost in the peaceful flow that comes with a focused art practice.
Irene Henning
I am a self-taught artist based in Melbourne. I regularly exhibit in group exhibitions, galleries and shows and am a member of the Hawthorn Art Society and Melbourne and Victorian Artists’ Collective (MAVA). I originally spent years as a professional in the workforce where joy was hard to find but I always had a passion for art. Once I took a different path in life, I was finally able to do something that brings me huge fulfilment : drawing and painting.
I work with acrylic paints and mixed media. I am inspired by the freedom and experimentation of abstract art. Colour is my love and passion and is probably my first consideration when doing a piece. It can be vibrant or muted or in between, it doesn’t matter which, as long as it lights up something in me. I build up rich layers and texture, with the aim of adding meaning, mystery and depth. Bold marks can be my high five - adding vibrancy and movement, energy, and power, and bringing a touch of joy to the painting. When the piece is finally finished, I truly hope it stirs something in the viewer, that they share my vision and feelings too.
Kathy Best
"I see the world and I paint it" Kathy Best
Kathy creates bold, expressive acrylic abstracts and contemporary paintings based on observation of the world around her. She sometimes paints loosely from reference photos or memory. Other times she lets the paint and marks on the canvas guide her. Kathy’s works explore colour relationships, movement, shapes and layers. Kathy has been painting consistently since 2008 and in 2023 completed a Diploma in Visual Arts.
“Take a look, take a 2nd look and take a longer look – I love putting my work out there.”
Ken Wight
I’m late into art but immediately found that the creative challenge Abstract Expression offered was highly stimulating and satisfying. Over the years I have felt my visual brain become way more engaged and I am constantly rewarded by the little details around me that I previously overlooked. I also love hunting around for different materials in op shops and hard rubbish!
Lynne Kells
My practice uses abstraction to express emotional states that resist attempts at language, shaped in part by living with MS. Working in acrylic and mixed media, I explore colour, texture, and layering through an intuitive, process-led approach, balancing control and spontaneity.
Being nonrepresentational, the paintings remain open inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and find their own connection within the movement, energy, texture and atmosphere of the work. Recent works, created during a period of personal transition, feature dynamic, maze-like structures and layered surfaces reflecting ideas of direction, environment, and the navigation of both physical and emotional space.
Nathan Moshinsky
The practice of abstract painting has given me the opportunity to express myself. I enjoy experimenting with different combinations of mediums.
In my work I seek to express a balance between spontaneity and order. Sometimes it takes me a long time before I consider that a painting is finished. Sometimes I feel that I could rework a painting indefinitely. However, there is a sense of freedom and discovery which I derive from the creative process. I would like to convey my enjoyment to the viewer.
The use of colour is very important to me. Rather than illustrating a subject, I let colour relationships generate emotional resonance. Also, I try to find a variety of tones, marks and textures, to make a painting more absorbing and interesting. I do not follow rules or formulas and try to rely on my intuition to guide me. I use layers to build up a painting, and after a while an inner conversation between the painting and myself develops, and this guides me in the progress of my work.
Paula Reade
Originally from France and partly self taught, Paula, with thirty years experience in visual art is an artist living and practicing in Narmm Melbourne.
Paula’s work delves in between representational and instinctual abstraction, using acrylic as her main medium. She's a keen observer of social situations which she deconstructs in her daily practice to achieve a more symbolic outcome. Abstraction comes in a natural way with total instinct with large brush strokes and bright hues.
Penny Darling
My artwork is all about the experience of energy. I use vivid colour and rhythm to connect with people on a purely emotional level, aiming to inspire a sense of optimism and resilience. My studio practice is centred on printmaking, watercolour painting, and recently, experimenting with light boxes. I love the interplay between structure and spontaneous outcomes—especially watching how water, pigment, and ink interact on the page to create layers that feel alive and pulsating.
Susan Tait
Susan Tait is a Naarm/Melbourne born artist and painter whose work centres around gesture and materiality, creating expressive reflections on colour and form. Her early fascination with textile design is evident in her work through the exploration of highly visceral textural layering. Deeply inspired by the raw, harsh beauty of the Australian landscape, Susan uses acrylic paint, oil stick and pencil to create bold and tactile works. Occasionally, fabrics and waxed cotton stitches are also added to further build up the surface. As much about what was covered, as what was left exposed, Susan’s canvases are often painted over many times until very few of the early strokes are visible. This lends an evocative depth to the works achieving a sense of mystery and of weathered, ancient timelessness as Susan continues to experiment, to layer, and interpret the landscape around her.
Traecey Bremner
As an artist I have a natural bias to experience the world through image. Non figurative image presents an opportunity to invent, then push and pull the material until I reach a pleasing outcome. A language of material, shape and surface. Concurrently rich and humble, engineered for strength. It contains and transports; fold, crush or repurpose?
