TREE-O Gallery in Raleigh is hosting two Featured Artists collections for its 13th Showcase exhibition with opening night to be held on Saturday 3 June, 4pm – 6pm.

Doubling up as Tree-o Gallery’s 4th birthday, the trio behind Tree-o, founders Bim Morton, Trevor Oliver-King/Kingfisher Audio and Sarah Andersen, extend an invitation to the community to come along and celebrate the artists, entrepreneurialism and enjoy a beautiful new setting in the space.

Advertise with News of The Area today.
It’s worth it for your business.
Message us.
Phone us – (02) 4981 8882.
Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au

“Two overly accomplished artists are taking control of the 13th Showcase at Tree-o Gallery.

“Jeremy Barrett, with his 60 years of painting experience, will flood the walls with colour, and Emma Louise Davies’ beautiful sculptures will occupy the three-D space,” Bim Morton told NOTA.

“Fire pits will warm the guests and Tree-o’s timber work will be enhanced by the new collection of beautiful artist works.”

Emma Louise Davies is the artist who created ‘Cruising’, a playable concrete sculpture for Coffs Harbour Jetty4Shores Project in 2018, which stands close to Coffs Yacht Club.

For her Tree-o show, Emma shares bronze cast and timber sculptures and drawings.

“The work explores my interest in the interconnectedness between humans, animals and plants,” Emma told NOTA.

“I have made bronze sculptures of a lyrebird and a platypus; both reclusive animals that I feel very lucky to see from time to time around my home within Gumbaynggirr land in the Orara Valley.

“The works have been made using the lost wax method.

“I sculpted the pieces using wax embedded with plant materials derived directly from their rainforest habitat,” she said.

For some other works in the exhibition, she utilised the imagery of her garden plant shadows falling on her house.

“Watching these shadows evokes in me a sense of the passing of time, since the shadows move and change according to the time of day, seasons and other natural systems.

“This, in turn, makes me concerned about how our environment will continue to degrade in the future if our current human-centric view of the world does not change.”

Jeremy Barrett’s formal training started at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in the early ‘60s, before undertaking further training in London and Europe in the mid-60s.

Jeremy and his wife Sue lived in Valla Beach for some years until recent circumstances caused them to relocate to Canberra.

Most of the works on show were painted during their time in lovely Valla Beach.

“For me, the process of making an artwork begins either prompted by an earlier line drawing, or more randomly, just with a line, a patch of colour or texture,” Jeremy told NOTA.

“From then on, I make intuitive decisions of the ‘what next’ kind, until a structure takes form, and then is refined and brought to a satisfactory resolution.

“It doesn’t always come off, but it’s my way of working,” he said.

Under the same roof, adjacent to the Gallery is the Tree-o workshop where the resident founders work and will be showing their latest pieces, a variety of quality Australian hardwood furniture.

Opening night is the last Saturday Tree-o will open at the weekend at least for the Winter 2023 period.

To book a special/group viewing on a Saturday, email or call during opening hours, 10am-4pm weekdays.

The 13th Showcase runs until September 2023.

By Andrea FERRARI