Summer Exhibitions: Memory, Pattern and the Sea

The end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 has been a concentrated season of exhibiting - four shows across Brisbane and Melbourne, each with a different theme, but all connected by the same thread in my practice: pattern as experience, and abstraction as a way of translating perception.

From woven works built from earlier imagery, to abstract seascapes made from circles and movement, to a paper-based pattern study, this run of exhibitions has felt like a snapshot of where my work is sitting right now and where it’s heading.

TENFOLD — Side Gallery, Brisbane (December)

To close out the year, I was part of Side Gallery’s end of year show TENFOLD, exploring the theme Nostalgia.

For this exhibition I created three woven works, each one drawing from imagery I developed in my earlier envelope lining pieces. Returning to those motifs through weaving felt like revisiting an old language  familiar, but changed. These pieces were small, but intricately made, and they marked a shift in how I’m thinking about time and detail.

Small Works Art Prize 2026 — Melbourne (January)

January brought an important milestone: my first showing in Melbourne.

My woven artwork Field Study was selected for the Small Works Art Prize 2026 at Brunswick Street Gallery. It feels long overdue to finally exhibit in Melbourne, and I hope it will be the first of many shows to come.

Field Study sits at the intersection of painting, mark making, and construction. The woven surface is built from cut and reassembled paper, but it’s also layered with painted pattern and hand drawn marks, creating a sense of rhythm that moves between image and object. It’s a slow kind of making. Tactile, detailed, and deliberately repetitive - and I love that it invites viewers to come closer and spend time with it.

ESCAPE — The Brisbane Gallery (February)

In February, I exhibited in ESCAPE, held at the newly opened The Brisbane Gallery in Taringa. The exhibition explores landscapes and seascapes, bringing together contemporary artists responding to place and environment. For this show I exhibited two abstract paintings, both responding to the sea, not through literal depiction, but through rhythm, movement, and atmosphere.

At the opening I overheard a comment that stayed with me. Someone paused in front of the works and said:

“Glorious, aren’t they… like looking at the seaside without obviously looking at the seaside.”

That single sentence captured exactly what I hope the work does.

Independent Visions Art Prize — Studio on Brunswick (February)

Also in February, I was honoured to be selected as a finalist in the Independent Visions Art Prize at Studio on Brunswick. For this prize I exhibited a pattern study on paper, a work that sits closer to drawing and mark making, and reflects the foundation beneath much of my practice.

Pattern studies are often where I test ideas before they become something larger: the beginnings of a painting, the rhythm behind a weaving, or the structure that eventually becomes a full series. 

Having these exhibitions so close together over summer has been a useful snapshot of where my work is heading. Across weaving, painting and paper studies, I can see the same core ideas repeating - pattern, sensory experience and the slow build of detail. Even when the outcomes look different, the visual language is consistent.

It’s been a rewarding start to the year, and I’m looking forward to sharing more exhibitions and new work as the months unfold.