The recent bushfires, and now Covid-19, have brought a major impact to the South East. From the ashes of the fires that destroyed so much of our region there has also come warmth, generosity and a collective community spirit that comes from so many sharing the same traumas and emotions.
Denise Straty was one of the many recovery personnel called into the region after the fires. She saw for herself the impact and she learnt of the lives of those affected.
By way of a meeting with Amanda, of Amanda's at Mogo, Denise learnt of the impact to the many South East artists and of their responses by way of art to the bushfires.
Wanting to do what she could for those she met she returned to Sydney with an idea. To hold an ‘Out of the Ashes’ exhibition next month at The Wellington Gallery – a stunningly chic warehouse space in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Waterloo.
Gallery owners Mark and Ray had generously offered the use of their exquisite venue and kindly waived any commission so that the full proceeds of each art sale would flow through to the participating South Coast artists.
Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, they have had to put the dream of a physical exhibition on hold for the moment, but the good news is they’ve created the exhibition as a Facebook e-gallery where they invite visitors to read artists’ posts describing their individual tales of survival during the unprecedented deadly fire season and view their spectacular artworks.
The artists profiled in this Beagle series is John Sharman
John Sharman is an award winning artist and has worked as a full-time exhibiting artist since 1980 painting landscapes and seascapes on location. John lost his home and studio along with close to 1000 paintings in the New Years Eve fires.
John has lived on the south coast most of his adult life, the last 28 years being in Mogo. Mogo is a small goldrush town with a population of about 300, in recent years it has attracted tourists for its arts and crafts and heritage buildings - sadly much of the town was destroyed when the fires tore through it.
John was a compulsive drawer from childhood. He pursued drawing and painting after hours and slowly developed his perceptions and abilities and has been a full time professional artist since 1980.
John has had over 45 solo exhibitions since 1980 in Sydney, Canberra and regional galleries. As well as countless group exhibitions with other artists. His success in regional art awards finds his work in many municipal, corporate and private collections in Australia and internationally.
'Pink Tipper' (displayed) was from a series painted a few years ago of his grandsons toys. The exhibition held locally was called 'Oscars toys'.
73cm x 65cm framed, painted in oil. $900
