The Osmosis Artists have chosen to work with Sullivans Cove in Hobart this year. Our exhibition will be from 8 – 21 of October in the Long Gallery in Salamanca Arts Centre. SAC are celebrating their 35th year so our work will embrace the famous Salamanca area that borders one side of the cove. The wharf area is still a port for fishing boats and is used by people trying their luck at fishing form the dockside. The third side is framed by the University of Tasmania and the docking site for many visiting vessels to Hobart.

This year we will be meeting on a monthly basis to enhance the values of working with such a great group of professional female artists. Stayed tuned for updates as we work through the next 8 months.

An overnight stay at Bronte Park began the Lake St Clair visit for 5 Osmosis artist this weekend. The day finished with warm sunshine and began the same the next day, but rapidly dissolved into the unpredictable highland weather as wind and rain dampened the lake visitors.

The darkened sky turned the lake equally dark and reminded us of its great depth. The squalls passed over with gathering frequency and eventually we all gathered by the fire in the visitors centre to dry off.

Despite the chill we all had a good day gathering our thoughts for our work to be shown in the Osmosis 2011 Exhibition.

Lake St Clair is framed by rainforest and montane species of flora that offer a walker a beautiful experience. The Persoonia gunni was in flower in February offering a wonderful scent from its waxy flowers. Endemic to Tasmania, the shrub was nestled among tall banksia shrubs and eucalyptus trees.

We are in the final days of developing work for Osmosis 2010 and with our final exhibitors list announced we have printed our invitation. So if you happen to be in Hobart between the 19th and the 26th of October then the Long Gallery is the place to be! Queenstown on Tasmania’s west coast was is our focus for the show and our artists have experienced a range of weather conditions from extreme heat and fires with heavy smoke to freezing winds and dense snowfalls. This promises to be an interetsing collection of work.

Opening night is on the 22 when you can meet the artists, Deborah Asmather, Kitty Taylor, Annette van Betlehem, Diane Foster, Ros Meeker, Kaye Green, Lotte Kronborg, Janelle Mendham, Margot Welsh, Fiona Fraser, Catherine Chick, Lee Vanderslink, Leonie Oakes, Linden Langdon, Nicky Adams and Catherine Morse.

The first visit to Queenstown had plenty of drama and contrasts for the artists involved in this years exhibition to contemplate. There were a number of bushfires in areas around Queenstown which enveloped the surrounding ranges with a veil of smoke. It was quite hot too, so the march flies and mosquitoes had fun annoying the artists hands as they worked and dive bombing the pages of journals and canvases. On the final day wild winds whipped through the town tearing of part of the roof of the recently restored Paragon Theatre and dashing the iron sheets about the street.

Through it all though everyone gathered plenty of research information and imagery to work with and plans for the next trip are already brewing. We visited the Larq Gallery run by Raymond Arnold where photographer Brett Martin had an exhibition of images of Queeenstown that only a person who had spent a lot of time working there would have been able to develop, capturing the mood of the town beautifully. Detail from his catalogue below:

The exhibition runs until the 20th of February and the Larq Gallery is located at 8 Hunter Street, Queenstown.