Bio
I am a mid-career visual artist. I grew up on Garigal land in Sydney and moved to nipaluna/ Hobart in my early twenties, where my arts practice has been formed over the past two decades.
I attained a Diploma of Fine Art from the National Art School, Gadi/ Sydney in 1995, a Bachelor of Fine Art at the University of Tasmania, nipaluna/Hobart in 1999, and a Master of Fine Art from the same institution in 2005. My work is in public and private collections in Australia and abroad. I am represented by Bett Gallery, nipaluna/Hobart .
As a landscape artist and European settler descendant living on the lands of lutruwita, my relationship to place is always subject to re-examination. My being is bound to consciousness of my ancestral links to the colonial past and present. I ask: How might I sit with the complexity of this experience? How might I create art that generates ontological ambiguity? How might this art 'breathe' with these lands, waters and skies, to invite life-affirming, creative connections?
My large painted abstractions offer portals to an atmospheric realm, wherein material and immaterial presences shift and coalesce. The inky washes and earthy sediments on the surface of the page are ghosts of an embodied existential process, wherein I make meaning of my experiences in and with place.
Small artforms are my resource to think and feel with place at a hand-held scale. Herein, matter and meaning coalesce as subtle pictorial worlds emerge and recede in a story of uncertain becoming. I am compelled by a sense that this flow of imagery is a mythopoeic experience belonging within a vast collective memory.
Residencies amid remote lands of lutruwita and semi-desert terrain of NSW have provided the essential immersive engagement with place and solitude my practice requires. These experiences have enabled a state of deep listening to evolve and connect into my imagination and thought. I have come to understand my place-relationships as ever-shifting and shaped by the many places I carry with me. Residencies I have undertaken include:
2020 Nationally awarded: BRUNY20 Arts Fellowship Residency: Lunawanna-alonnah/Bruny Island, Bruny Island, TAS
2016 Arts Tasmania Dombrovskis Parks and Wildlife Residency: Warloundigerler/Cradle Mountain, TAS
2013 Broken Hill Art Exchange Residency: Wilyakali Country, Broken Hill, NSW
2011 Landscape Art Research Queenstown (LARK) : milaythina ngayapi-mana/ Queenstown, TAS
2010 Arts Tasmania Dombrovskis Parks and Wildlife Residency: leeawulena/Lake St Clair, Central Highlands, TAS
2006 Arts Tasmania Natural and Cultural Residency: wukaluwikiwayna/Maria Island, East Coast, TAS
Most all solo and group exhibitions I have participated in over this time have featured work evolving from these residencies (see archive on this website).
Some key awards and achievements include:
2022 Winner: tidal.22, City of Devonport Tasmanian Art Award, TAS
Major Acquisitive $20.000 Prize
Judges: Raymond Arnold, Ashley Bird and Michelle Boyde
Speaking on behalf of the judges’ Ashley Bird (Senior Curator Visual Art and Design, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery) said: “What makes Sara Maher’s work a worthy winner of tidal.22 is its power. The work draws you into an emotional and liminal space – a location of the mind as well as the surface of something calm and wild in equal measure. The work is also relevant and sensitive to current Tasmanian experience, speaking to non-indigenous people’s re-calibration of personal relationship to this place. The artist is successful in viscerally capturing a sense of the ever-changing, tidal sea – responding strongly to the set theme.”
2018 Highly Commended: Hutchins Australian Contemporary Art Prize, TAS
Judges: Pat Brassington, Edward Colless and Dr Peter Hill
2010 Shotgun 10, Contemporary Art Tasmania (CAT), Hobart, TAS
Shotgun is a Contemporary Art Tasmania artist development program, wherein CAT, Detached Cultural Organisation and Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) have partnered to foster an awarded opportunity that supports selected Tasmanian artist/s through a customised and intensive program of high-level industry access, critical engagement and new work.
2007 First Prize: Salamanca Collection Islington Art Prize, The Salamanca Collection, TAS
For a painted interpretation of a historic site in lutruwita/Tasmania
Recent exhibitions include:
2023 Chrysalid, Bett Gallery, nipaluna/Hobart, (solo)
2022 Tidal.22, City of Devonport Art Award, Devonport Regional Gallery, paranaple/ Devonport, TAS (group)
Ancestral Presence, with Luana Towney (palawa/wiradjuri artist), through the CULTIVATE program, connecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists,
LongHouse, nipaluna/Hobart, TAS (collaborative)
2021 In (and out of) the Grey, Bett Gallery, nipaluna/Hobart, TAS (solo)
Un/Touched Wilderness, Devonport Regional Gallery, paranaple/ Devonport, TAS (group)
2018 Bay of Fires Art Prize, kunnarra kuna land/ St Helens, TAS (group)
Biennale of Australian Art, Where time folds endlessly, installation with sound artist Nigel Farley,
wadawurrung and dja dja wurrung lands/ Ballarat, Victoria, 2018
2017 Arts in Parks, 146 Artspace, Arts Tasmania, nipaluna/Hobart, TAS (group)
CV
Sara Maher 1974
Born in Sydney, lives and works in nipaluna/Hobart, lutruwita/Tasmania
Education:
2005 University of Tasmania, Hobart: Master of Fine Art and Design (printmaking and painting)
1999 University of Tasmania, Hobart: Bachelor of Fine Art (painting, drawing and printmaking)
1995 National Art School, Darlinghurst, Sydney: Diploma of Fine Art (painting and drawing)
Solo Exhibitions:
2023 Chrysalid, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2021 In (and out of) the Grey, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2016 Of the half-light, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2014 How We Disappear..., Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2013 Echoic Memory, Catherine Asquith Gallery, Collingwood, Melbourne, Vic
2012 Night Air, Catherine Asquith Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2011 Memories of Space,146 Artspace, Arts Tasmania, Hobart, Tas
2011 Inland, Landscape Art Research Queenstown (LARQ), Tas
2008 Passage, Moonah Arts Centre, Hobart, Tas
2007 Impossible Boundaries: As part of the Ten Days on The Island Festival, Maria Island, Tas
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2022 First prize: Tidal.22, City of Devonport Art Award, Devonport Regional Gallery, Tas
2022 Water[shed], Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2022 Ancestral Presence: LongHouse, Hobart, Tas
(In collaboration with Palawa/Wiradjuri visual artist Luana Towney)
As part of the CULTIVATE program, connecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists
2021 Un/Touched Wilderness: Devonport Regional Gallery, Tas
2018 Where time folds endlessly: As part of the Biennale of Australian Art Festival, George Farmer Building, Eureka, Ballarat, Vic
(Sound/image installation, in collaboration with sound artist Nigel Farley)
2018 Bay of Fires Art Prize: Tidal Waters Resort, St Helens, Tas
2018 Highly Commended: Hutchins Australian Contemporary Art Prize, Hobart, Tas
2017 Sydney Contemporary: Carriageworks, Eveleigh, Sydney, NSW
2017 Arts in Parks: 146 Artspace, Arts Tasmania, Hobart, Tas
2016 Arts in Parks: The Unconformity Festival, Lake St Clair Visitors Centre, Central Highlands, Tas
2014 Biophilia: Beaver Galleries, Canberra, ACT
2014 Tidal.14: City of Devonport Art Award, Devonport Regional Art Gallery, Tas
2014 Burnie Print Prize: Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie, Tas
2014 Where the shadow falls: As part of the Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival, Lake Margaret Power Station, West Coast, Tas
(Sound/image installation, in collaboration with sound artist Nigel Farley)
2014 Wrest Point Art Award: Hobart, Tas
2013 Burnie Print Prize: Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie, Tas
2013 Wrest Point Art Award: Hobart, Tas
2012 Surface: The Depot Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2012 Chance: Saw tooth (ARI), Launceston, Tas
2011 Out of Site: Contemporary Art Tasmania (CAT), Hobart, Tas
(Sound/image installation, in collaboration with sound artist Nigel Farley)
2011 Works on paper: Catherine Asquith Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2011 Wrest Point Art Award: Hobart, Tas 2010 Figure in the ground, 146 Artspace, ArtsTasmania, Hobart, Tas
2010 Shotgun10: Contemporary Art Tasmania, Hobart, Tas
(partnership project between Contemporary Art Tasmania, Detached and Mona: providing a platform for selected Tasmanian artists
2010 Hoo: 6A (ARI), Hobart, Tas
2009 City of Hobart Art Prize: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2007 First Prize: Salamanca Collection Islington Art Prize: Salamanca Collection, Hobart, Tas
Awards, Grants and Residencies:
2022 First prize: Tidal.22, City of Devonport Art Award, Devonport Regional Gallery, Tas
2020 Nationally awarded: BRUNY20 Arts Fellowship and residency (Lunawanna-alonnah/Bruny Island), Bruny Island Foundation for the Arts
2018 Highly Commended: Hutchins Australian Contemporary Art Prize, Hobart, Tas
2016 Arts Tasmania Dombrovskis Parks and Wildlife Residency: Warloundigerler/Cradle Mountain, Central highlands, Tas
2013 Broken Hill Art Exchange Residency: Wilyakali/Broken Hill, NSW
2011 Extended period of research: The Bank (care of LARQ, Landscape Art Research Queenstown), milaythina ngayapi-mana/Queenstown, Tas
2010 Arts Tasmania Dombrovskis Parks and Wildlife Residency: leeawulena/Lake St Clair, Central Highlands,Tas
2010 Shotgun 10, Contemporary Art Tasmania (CAT), Hobart, Tas
(partnership project between Contemporary Art Tasmania, Detached and MONA, providing a platform for promising early career Tasmanian artists)
2007 First Prize: Salamanca Collection Islington Art Prize, The Salamanca Collection, Hobart, Tas
2006 Arts Tasmania Natural and Cultural Residency: wukaluwikiwayna/Maria Island, East Coast, Tas
Public collections: Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport, Tas
Private Collections: Australia, International
Reviews, essays (publications):
Burke, Eliza, Catalogue essay: Sara Maher ‘Working with consciousness - In (and out of) the Grey, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas 2021
Meikus,Tiarney, Art Guide Australia preview: Capturing the layered landscape - In (and out of) the Grey, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas 2021
Llewellyn, Jane, Art Collector (issue 78): What Next: Introducing artists who collectors should know about, 2016
Deeth, Jane, Artlink (issue 35:1): review, (Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival), 2014
Kerry-Anne Cousins, Canberra Times, Inspired by nature: 'Biophilia' review, Beaver Galleries, Canberra, 2014
Cotterell, Scot, Artlink (issue 31): review, Out of Site, 2011
LARQ (Landscape Art Research Queenstown), Rendering Super/Natural anxiety : Annual program page, Inland, Tasmania 2011
Jancic, Bilijana, Contemporary Art Tasmania/ Detached/Mona: Shotgun Catalogue essay: Breathing Infinity, 2010
Kelly, Sean, Catalogue essay: Memories of Space, 146 Arts, Arts Tasmania, 2010
Stewart, Jane, Artlink (issue 29:1): review of Passage, Moonah Arts Centre, Hobart 2008
Websites and links:
Artist's website:
https: www.out-of-field.net
Representing Gallery:
www.bettgallery.com.au