With an interest in 'Collective Unconscious' Nagel aims to explore the human condition, and our impact on the natural world / This figure embodies human and animal traits with semi-autobiographical references to investigate concepts relating to identity and home / Nagel focuses on the extinct, the pest, the endangered and the introduced as a way to reveal her concerns of humanity as creator and destroyer / In this sculpture a koala headed figure is in the pose of the martyr St. Sebastion / With no arms, there is an inability to protest or fight. This work is by a local contemporary artist and encompasses contemporary themes / This work was a finalist in the Nillumbik Prize 2012.Ceramic - sculpture human and animal like (koala) armless figure depicted standing in a similiar stance to that of a classical sculpture / Blue and white body with a yellow face / Made from porcelain with oxide, clear glaze and undergaze.nagel, sculpture, porcelain, animal, ceramic, classical

Pamela Irving (born 1960) is a prominent Australian visual artist specialising in bronze, ceramic and mosaic sculptures as well as printmaking and copper etchings. Irving's early art was influenced by artists including Arthur Boyd, John Brack, Noel Connihan, Mirka Mora, Sidney Nolan and John Perceval. In recent years, Irving has been influenced ″by the honest and direct expressiveness of ‘outsider art’ (the art of self-taught or ‘naive artists’) and the craft of ‘memoryware’″ Significantly, this interest grew following Irving's visit to Nek Chand's Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India.Green Wedge Larry - dog sculpture reminiscent of the iconic Larry LaTrobe located at Melbourne City Square. The dog is constructed from Italian Bisazza glass tiles, using a Mapei adhesive system. The theme for his 'coat' is the flora from the local surrounds of Nillumbik, drawing from the 'Live Local Plant Local' Nillumbik plant directory.green wedge, larry, dog, sculpture, mosaic, indigenous flora, irving

Kate Hudson's highly patterned and decorative prints reflect her love of Australian birds and flowers from her immediate environment, as well as oriental art and her training in textile design. Her work is influenced by the Australian artist (printmaker) Margaret Preston and the vases depicted in her prints are based on the ceramic works of her husband Stephen Hudson. The wattle depicted is the Acacia Terminalis (Sunshine Wattle), a shrub or small tree that grows to six meters in height. It’s an Australian native commonly found in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.A reduction coloured lino print. A ceramic vase with a black and white target print at its' centre holds a bunch of Acacia Terminalis (Sunshine Wattle). The vase rests on an orange table cloth decorated in white stylised flowers. The background is light pink. Hand written in pencil: low left '8/26'; bottom centre ' Wattle and Circle Vase'; low right 'Kate Hudson' hudson, linocut print, sunshine wattle, acacia terminalis, still life, margaret preston, ceramics, textiles, orient

The 'Black Saturday' bushfires were a series of bushfires that ignited across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009. It was Australia's worst ever natural disaster. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire-weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire: 173 people died and 414 were injured as a result of the fires. For most women being part of the Lasting Memories Mosaic Group was a way of reconnecting to the area, friends and neighbours. As the months went by, the idea of creating a gift to the community together was born. The women wanted to artistically express their memories of what they had experienced. Creating a mosaic seat in the heart of St Andrews allowed the group to be 'in control' of building something from the ground up - a symbol of hope, recovery and renewal. All of their experiences and memories have been included into the seat design, which makes it so special. This mosaic seat is proudly positioned outside the St Andrews Hall, which is also the site for the St Andrews market held every Saturday throughout the year.The Lasting Memories Mosaic group began this piece just after the Black Saturday fires in 2009. After the horrific fires ravaged through St Andrews and the surrounding areas, a group of bushfire affected ladies bravely came back to St Andrews to begin their healing in an artistic way. Each woman created something beautiful and meaningful, using remnants of crockery, glass, tiles and bricks salvaged from their own properties. This artworks identifies who they are and tells their personal 'life journey' and family heritage and memories of what they had experienced before, during and beyond Black Saturday. It is also an expression of their love for the St. Andrews area and the nature and people within it. A large concrete seat in the style of an organic chaise lounge covered in mosaic (broken tiles, glass, crockery and ceramics of all shapes and colour). The pieces have been placed to form pictures, words and patterns that tell and recount stories and memories of reflection, hope and love of a group of people who experienced the Black Saturday bushfires. (Click on links to view details of the seat) black saturday, mosaic, art, lasting memories, st andrews, tiles, glass, fire, concrete, cement, chris reade, ekphrasis2017

The (logging) truck carries a representation of John Glover’s painted landscapes, which Cox has painted on a solid block of wood. John Glover is one of Australia’s most celebrated colonial landscape painters. Born in England, he was a highly successful water-colourist and painter of landscapes in the tradition of French artist Claude Lorrain. Arriving in Australia in 1831, Glover adapted his picturesque style and luminous technique to his new surrounds, creating naturalistic and atmospheric paintings of Australian nature, settler life, and Aboriginal culture. Working out of doors, Glover developed an understanding of the unfamiliar Australian landscape, especially the twisting forms of native eucalyptus trees. His direct experience of nature, as both pioneer settler and painter, resulted in a new approach using a subtle palette of olive greens, ochres, misty greys and intense blues, and layered glazes of mauve, grey and gold, to portray Australian light and atmosphere. Dale Cox continues the ongoing preoccupation and tradition of landscape painting in the Nillumbik area and our impact on the environment in a contemporary way. The truck creates a playful nexus between painting (representational landscape) and sculpture, purposely bluring boundaries across these traditionally distinct disciplines. ‘Ghost’ seeks to convey the idea that when we remove something significant from a location, like the landscape itself, the remaining ‘place’ changes to become a new ‘place’. This may seem self-evident until we think more deeply about location and landscape. The white truck is a ghost, an ethereal, transient being that spirits away an entire place, forever removed from itself, and forever changed. Logging wild trees can never be like harvesting a ‘crop’. Logging removes a landscape, and changes a place forever. The ‘packaging’ of this painted landscape highlights the anomaly between commodity and our environment. Dale Cox was a local artist and this work was highly commended at the 2012 Nillumbik Prize. White plastic toy (logging) truck with a landscape painting on a wooden block. The landscape painting is reminiscent of paintings by colonial artist John Glover. N/Alandscape, truck, sculpture, environment, john glover, colonial, painting, ghost, nillumbik prize

This artwork is part of 69Fifteen, the book published in 2013 celebrating 69 Smith Street Gallery’s 15th year in operation as an artist-run space.Colour digital print of a dead mouse. Image is a cropped detail of the animal's hind legs and tail.aneta bozic, 69 smith street gallery, artist-run initiative, artist-run space, melbourne art galleries, photography, colour photography, animal photography, death in art, www.anetabozic.com

This artwork is part of 69Fifteen, the book published in 2013 celebrating 69 Smith Street Gallery’s 15th year in operation as an artist-run space.Painted using acrylics, ink and charcoal on canvas. This abstract image features what looks like two figures merged into one against a red background with sprays of black paint. liza posar, 69 smith street gallery, artist-run initiative, artist-run space, melbourne art galleries, painting, graffiti

This artwork is part of 69Fifteen, the book published in 2013 celebrating 69 Smith Street Gallery’s 15th year in operation as an artist-run space.Acrylic on canvas. Stylistic depiction of mountains in blue tones, set under a golden sky.amy mills, 69 smith street gallery, artist-run initiative, artist-run space, melbourne art galleries, painting, www.amymills.com.au

Recycled paper shopping bags and wrappings on cardboard construction