The Moree Gallery’s new exhibition opens Friday, May 5
WITH her work highly regarded among cultural enthusiasts Australia-wide, The Moree Gallery’s upcoming exhibition of acclaimed artist Annie Herron is a major coup for the local art scene.
This is Annie’s first showing at The Moree Gallery, however many art lovers in the region would be familiar with her work thanks to her highly-coveted Art Classes with Annie Herron, held in the Blue Mountains.
“I have had many art enthusiasts visit from the North West over the years and it’s wonderful to see so many passionate, talented people living out in rural Australia,” Annie said.
It was in fact at one of Annie’s art retreats, held on her picturesque Rydal farm, that she and Gig Moses of The Moree Gallery first crossed paths. 
Having attended one of Annie’s classes some years ago, Gig was immediately drawn to her talent.
“It’s taken a couple of years to get our diaries in sync but I am absolutely thrilled to be exhibiting Annie’s paintings at The Moree Gallery,” Gig said.
“To have an artist of this calibre is wonderful for Moree, and our whole region.
“Annie featured in the recent Australian Country Style Magazine art edition and her daughter Sophie Hansen – a writer, blogger and deer producer from Orange – was last year’s Australian Rural Woman of the Year for championing local farmers through social media,” Gig explained.
“Annie has a huge profile and we are so grateful to her for showcasing her latest pieces here in rural Australia.”
Annie explains that her latest body of work experiments with interior-exterior still-life scenes that are colourful and bold.
“I’m enjoying a current fascination with windows; many of my new paintings are of interiors looking out into the world beyond,” she said.
NSW Central West sisters Andrena Smith and Roshelle McKillop will also show their unique works at the upcoming exhibition.
Inspired by her own personal frustration of wire litter, shared no doubt by scores of local graziers, Nyngan’s Andrena has converted a pet hate into tangible artworks of beauty and creativity.
“With my children now left home I am now my husband’s Jillaroo on our sheep grazing property and am still silly enough to muster on a two-wheeler,” Andrena said.
“I often get terribly caught up in wire and I simply hate waste, which is where the idea for my sculptural art began.”
As her skills developed, scrap wire evolved into animals and abstract sculptures and Andrena now incorporates ceramics, glass, copper, aluminium and netting into her large-scale works.
“I concentrate on wire-work as it’s easy to throw into the back of the ute, and I think the rustic finish is in keeping with our rural landscape,” she said.
Predominantly garden art, each piece is hand-made, with no two sculptures the same.
“My work is imperfect and totally individual and the beauty of garden art is that it provides a totally unique focal point in the garden, and one that doesn’t require water or maintenance which is a bonus,” she said.
The Moree Gallery will present Annie Herron and Andrena Smith and Roshelle McKillop Garden Sculptures from Friday, May 5 until June 2, with sculptures available May 5 and 6 only.
Words: Georgina Poole
For more info go to www.moreegallery.com.au