Esteemed Australian artist Mary Tonkin is the focus of an exhibition at Australian Galleries Sydney titled ‘Between the Dams’, where her immersive portrayal of the Australian bush will be celebrated for its originality, detail and exuberance.
Tonkin gathers inspiration from her family’s farm estate at Kalorama, Melbourne whose expansive grounds surrounded by the Dandenong Ranges National Park are home to many of the treasures of the natural Australian landscape.
The artist’s latest body of work is a continuation from her previous paintings that use a combination of beautiful earthly tones to capture this sporadic landscape. Tonkin has employed sculptural elements within her works, such as With the fallen regnans, Kalorama (2017), which collages clay replicas of found natural objects, to give a sense of depth and imbue her mostly two-dimensional works with a lively and unexpected difference.

Mary Tonkin, With the fallen regnans, Kalorama, 2017, terracotta paper clay and underglaze, 25 x 154 x 10cm. Courtesy the artist and Australian Galleries, Melbourne and Sydney
This is an unusual tact for the artist who was recognised with the prestigious Dobel Prize for Drawing in 2002 and has since strengthened her reputation as being amongst the best Australian landscape artists, mainly due to her intensely intricate drawings and paintings. This skillset is still present today, where recent works such as Lyre, Kalorama (2017) demonstrate her ability to transform a landscape through her beautifully rough line work. Tonkin’s capacity to offer a fresh and insightful look at nature comes from her organic artistic process that stems from her intense feeling of belonging that is attached to her homeland of the bush.

Mary Tonkin, Lyre, Kalorama, 2017, oil on linen, 97 x 317cm. Courtesy the artist and Australian Galleries, Melbourne and Sydney
Tonkin’s exhibiting works are harmonious with one another through her deliberate and detailed representation of the natural environment, which allows her to make comments on the human reaction of marvel and awe that arises when one finds themselves isolated in the bush. Tonkin finds that a place of such organic beauty and mystery helps her make “sense of perceptions and internal emotional states as they arise”. Therefore, her works are not just aesthetic but attempt to harness the intense and mystical powers of the individuals connection to the natural landscape – which is a strong theme represented in Australian culture and art.
Tonkin’s work not only contributes to this canon, but also helps further it by using different mediums, like clay or paint, to explore and represent similar environments. This practice helps the artist to create a more cohesive and strong vision of the impact that the landscape and humans can have on one another.
Australian Galleries
22 August to 10 September, 2017
Sydney