Archibald Prize-winning artist Nicholas Harding will be living and working at Tweed Regional Gallery’s Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence (AIR) Studio this month.
From tomorrow (Friday) till 29 October, Harding, who is usually based in Sydney, will work ‘live’ from the Friend’s Gallery exhibition space during his stay to create a large-scale composition relating to the landscape of the northern rivers region.
Gallery director Susi Muddiman said Harding’s ‘spectacular ink on paper drawings involved working back into the structure of the paper by wetting the surface, then peeling off and gouging out layers of paper’.
‘We are delighted to host Nicholas in the Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio, and I am certain visitors will be captivated by the sheer size of the work, as well as the physicality of the process involved in creating it,’ Ms Muddiman said.
‘On this occasion, visitors will be provided with a rare opportunity to meet the artist and observe him creating an artwork in the gallery, and they can return over the course of his three-week residency to see how he resolves the work.
‘Nicholas will be taking inspiration from our local landscape, so it is a wonderful opportunity to see familiar things filtered through a creative mind.
‘Nicholas is such an engaging artist and he loves a chat, so I’m sure many visitors will have the chance to ask him about the work he is creating in-situ and his artistic practice.’
Harding won the Dobell Drawing Prize and the Archibald Prize in 2001 and has been a regular exhibitor in the Wynne, Sulman, Dobell and Archibald Prizes since 1994.
An exhibition resulting from his residency, entitled Carving Light and Landscape, will remain on display in the Friends Gallery until 13 December.
Activities and events
Nicholas Harding: The Artist at Work, Friday 9, Sunday 11, Friday 16, Sunday 18 and Sunday 25 October 10.30am-12.30pm each day (DST), free with no bookings required.
(Watch the artist as he draws ‘live’ in the Friends Gallery exhibition space at Tweed Regional Gallery. Drop in and meet him as he works on a large-scale, ink on paper, landscape drawing. Ask questions or simply watch his drawing style and see his artwork evolve.+
Artist Talk: Carving Light and Landscape, Sunday 25 October, 2pm (DST), free with no bookings required.
Join Harding for an exhibition floor talk of Carving Light and Landscape – the result of a residency in the gallery’s on-site, live-in artist in residence studio.
