About Wendy

banner  studio fragments and portrait - Copy

Wendy Stokes practice is driven and filtered through her experiences of the natural environment; making images which allow for moments of pause and a celebration of spirit. Her work shifts between painting,drawing and printmaking disciplines where one informs the other.

Stokes lives by the ocean and draws from her deep connection to this landscape and those connected to personal histories. Her works purposefully wrestle with ambiguous ground; between the Romantic lineage of landscape representation and Modernist Abstraction, while also challenging contemporary notions between drawing and painting. [1]

Playing with notions of space, Stokes fuses ambiguous islands of floating colour and lyrical markmaking, punctuated by contradictions and triggers pulled directly from landscape. The works present as residues of lived encounter; documentations to sensorial grabbing's as one moves through a landscape; while drawing from the archaeology of memory.

They are works which resonate with collective meaning, connecting to sites of private territory, experienced terrains; inviting the viewer to embark on an immersive encounter into landscapes which universally bind us; connecting  experiences from the recesses of memory- the mutable edges of ocean and gardens from childhood.

[1]Through a reflective process of journey and return Stokes has maintained a sustained engagement with Claude Monet's Nymphéas suite; exploring it as a collective image and vessel to memory. Late in 2010 Stokes visited Paris and returned in 2014 as part of an Internationale des Arts Cite Residency which included extended access to Monet's garden in Giverny, (courtesy Fondation Claude Monet); and field research in the coastal terrain of Étretat, Normandy.

CV

Visual Arts Practice: Painting, Drawing, Printmaking

Resides and works Mid North Coast NSW, Australia

Education

2016

MFA Research UNSW Art and Design

2014

Cite International des Arts, Paris, UNSW Studio residency

1985

Graduate Diploma Visual Art, Sydney College of the Arts

1980

Diploma in Art, Newcastle College of Advanced Education, Newcastle

1980

member Sydney Printmakers to present

1999-2015

1992

Teacher North Coast Institute TAFE in painting, drawing, printmaking

Guest artist Hampton Editions,Long Island, New York

Solo Exhibitions

2022

BMGart; Flower in the Wind-Notations of Memory; Adelaide

2021

Blended Geographies / Parallel Landscapes as part of the #LIVEWITHART series curated by    Catherine Asquith Art Advisory, exhibited VMG, Melbourne

2019

Glasshouse Port Macquarie Regional Gallery; Within and Between Walking in the space of Landscape; Port Macquarie,NSW

2017

Maitland Regional Art Gallery; Walking through the space of landscape; Maitland, NSW

2016

Grafton Regional Gallery; Retracing Memory; Grafton, NSW

2015

Tamworth Regional Gallery; In Conversation: The Nymphéas, Tamworth NSW

2014

BMG art, Adelaide, S.A
Cite des Arts, Open studio, Drawing as site, Paris, France
Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Drawing as site, Paris and Giverny, Coffs Harbour NSW

2012

Catherine Asquith Gallery, Mark and Place – the Space Between; Melbourne
Walcha Gallery of Art, Walcha, NSW

2011

Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, A Silent Conversation, Coffs Harbour

2010

BMG art, Aspects of Transience, Adelaide, South Australia
Catherine Asquith Gallery Resilience, Melbourne
Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie Layered Reference, Friends of the Gallery print commission

2009

Catherine Asquith Gallery, Interplay, Melbourne
Tamworth Regional Gallery, Transience, Tamworth

2008

Catherine Asquith Gallery, New Territory Melbourne

2005

Sydney art Darlington, Sydney, Marked in Time

2003

BMG art, Adelaide South Australia

2002

Robin Gibson Gallery, Layers of Association, Sydney

2001

Flinders Lane Gallery, Encased in Memory, Melbourne
Galerie Gora, Montreal, Canada

1998

Axia Modern Art, Melbourne

1997

Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Crawford Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney

1995

BMG art, New York Series Adelaide, South Australia

1994

Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne

1993

Manning Regional Gallery, Estuary Series Taree, NSW
Bridge Street Gallery, Sydney New York Mono prints and Paintings

1992

Guest artist Hampton Editions, Long Island, New York

1991

BMG art, Adelaide, South Australia
Bridge Street Gallery, Sydney
Editions Galleries, South Melbourne

1989

Editions Galleries, South Melbourne

1987

BMG art, Woollahra, Sydney

1985

Editions Galleries, South Melbourne
Painters Gallery, East Sydn

Invitational and Selected Award Exhibitions

2023

Sydney Contemporary SCAF23; Michelle Perry Fine Arts

Origin-the place where something begins: Sydney Printmakers; The Glasshouse Regional Gallery,Port Macquarie

2022

Paper, Michelle Perry Fine Arts, Chippendale, NSW

2021

To the Edges: 60 Years of Sydney Printmakers, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Manly NSW

2020

Sydney Printmakers 2020, May Space, Waterloo, Sydney
In the Shade II, Sydney Printmakers, Lane Cove Community Gallery, Lane Cove
In the Shade II, Glasshouse Port Macquarie Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie

2019

Borderless-Sydney Printmakers, Megalo Print Studio and Gallery, Canberra
A Poetry of Ideas, Art Space on The Concourse, Chatswood

2018

Douro Print Biennial, Douro, Portugal
Sydney Printmakers 2018 – Members Exhibition, Artsite Gallery, Camperdown

2017

Partners in Print, Sydney Printmakers Kickarts Contemporary Arts, Cairns
6x6 Metropolis Gallery, Geelong
Global Print, Douro, Portugal

2016

Printed in Australia, Spot 81, Chippendale
Fusion, Gallery Collection, Port Macquarie Regional Gallery at Glasshouse
Sydney Printmakers, Art Vault Mildura, Vic
Sydney Printmakers 55 Years, Artsite Gallery, Camperdown, NSW

2014

Boundless & Borderless: A Print Portfolio Exchange between Open Studio, Canada & Sydney Printmakers, Australia, Touring Exhibition in Taiwan
Antipodes, Northart Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand and Pine Street Gallery, Chippendale

2013

Air, Light, Space-Contemporary Abstraction, Angus Nivison, Wendy Stokes, Michael Cusack Port Macquarie Regional Gallery
25x25 Contemporary Japanese and Australian Printmaking, Japan Foundation, Sydney
Boundless and Borderless Canada exchange exhibition, Open Studios, Pine Street Studio, Sydney

2012

Finalist JADA, Grafton Regional Gallery, Grafton touring exhibition
Sydney Printmakers Moree Plains, Maitland, Cowra, Wagga Wagga Regional Galleries
Surface Catherine Asquith Gallery at Depot Gallery Danks St, Waterloo
Finalist EMSLA, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery

2011

Finalist Fleurieu Water Prize, South Australia
EMSLA Award, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery
View Points Approach to Landscape, Catherine Asquith Gallery , Melbourne
Hot off the Press, 50 years Sydney Printmakers, Manly Regional Museum and Art Gallery
Reflections, Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie
JADA Touring show
EMSLA Touring show, Muswellbrook, Taree Regional Galleries, NERAM.
Walcha Gallery of Art, Walcha
Invitation Print Portfolio, Grafton Regional Gallery
Sydney Printmakers 50th Anniversary show Manly Regional Museum and Art Gallery, Manly

2010

JADA Grafton Regional Gallery Touring exhibition
Finalist The Glover Prize, Tasmania
Finalist The Alice Prize , Alice Springs
EMSLA, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery and touring show
JADA, Touring exhibition, Grafton Regional Gallery, Grafton, NSW

2009

Select- Port Macquarie Regional Gallery
Landscape- Catherine Asquith Gallery, Melbourne
Finalist, Country Energy Landscape Prize, Lismore Regional Gallery ,Lismore NSW
Finalist Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney
Broken Hill Art Award, Broken Hill Regional Gallery
EMSLA, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery

2008

Sydney Printmakers, Galerie Skara , Norway
Confluence , Reclaiming Life Port Macquarie Regional Gallery
JADA Tamworth Regional Gallery, Stanthorpe Regional Gallery, Qld
45 Years Sydney prints, Tamworth Regional Gallery
Hawkesbury Regional Gallery

Red Herrings John Miller Galleries, Newcastle, Stephen Killick, Geoff Maddams, Wendy Stokes

2007

Aspects of the Collection, Port Macquarie Regional Gallery
JADA Award, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery

NSW Parliament House, Macquarie St Sydney

2006

JADA Award, Grafton Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie Regional Gallery
45 Years Sydney prints, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Sydney printmakers Max Taylor Galleries, Summer Hill
A Local Dialect, Port Macquarie Regional Gallery
Finalist Sunshine Coast Art Award, Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra Qld

2005

Collaboration, Sydney Printmakers ,Gosford, Tweed River and Noosa Regional Galleries
Country Energy Landscape Prize finalist, Grafton Regional Gallery
Countryscapes, NSW Parliament House , Sydney

2004

John Gordon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, Christmas Show
Scratch ,Pull, Grind and Scrape, Sydney Printmakers, Grafton Regional Gallery, Grafton

Grafton Regional Gallery; Wendy Stokes paintings, ceramics J Kesby

2003

Sounds of Stillness, Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Gallery
Scratch, Pull, Grind and Scrape Sydney Printmakers, Mosman Regional Gallery

Abstraction Margery Edwards (New York paintings) and Wendy Stokes , Port Macquarie Regional Gallery, NSW

2002

Postcards Seven Regional Artists, Southern Cross University, Lismore; Cowra Gallery
NERAM Regional Art Museum , Armidale, Packsaddlers Exhibition
Scratch, Pull, Grind and Scrape Sydney Printmakers, Mosman Regional Gallery
Beyond the Surface, Sydney Printmakers, UTS Gallery, Sydney,
Iowa State University Print Exchange

2001

NERAM Regional Art Museum, Packsaddlers Exhibition
Atelier Skara, Norway
Tweed River Regional Gallery, Postcards: Seven Regional Artists, Southern Cross University, Lismore; Cowra Regional Gallery
Sydney Printmakers, Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Gallery
Postcards Moree Plains Regional Gallery, Moree

Axia Modern Art, Melbourne;Wendy Stokes, Kate Briscoe, George Raftopolous

2000

Postcards Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Gallery
Sydney Printmakers, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery
Swan Hill Regional Gallery Print Award, Swan Hill, Vic

1999

Sydney Printmakers, Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Chile
Sydney Printmakers, UTS Gallery, Sydney

1998

MPAC Print Prize, Mornington Arts Centre, Mornington Victoria

1997

Sydney Printmakers, Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney
Sydney Printmakers, Sir Herman Black Gallery, University of Sydney
Cool Changes in Printmaking : Six Printmakers of NSW North Coast, Lake Russell Gallery, Coffs Harbour

1996

Sydney Printmakers, Rex Irwin, Sydney; Burnie Regional Gallery, Tasmania
Sydney Printmakers, Borderlines, WAC, Willoughby
Works on Paper Fair Sydney Printmakers, State Library, NSW, Sydney
Sydney Printmakers, Cultural Exchange Exhibition, Guizhou, China

1995

Borderlines Sydney Printmakers, Studio One, Spiral Arm Gallery, Kingston, ACT

1994

ACAF 4 Melbourne, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne

1993

Travelling ‘Prime’ Painting Exhibition, Newcastle, Dubbo, Gold Coast City Regional Galleries; Muswellbrook Regional Gallery Editions Southbank Galleries, South Melbourne

1993
1980

Sydney Printmakers, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney

1992

The Artist and the Printmaker II, Peter Cole, Wendy Stokes, Grahame Fransella,Idris Murphy, John Coburn, Richard Hook, Arthur Boyd and John Olsen at Editions Southbank Galleries, South Melbourne

1991

The Artist and the Printmaker I, Peter Cole, David Rankin, Bruno Leti, Wendy Stokes, Idris Murphy, Jock Young, Editions Southbank Galleries, Melbourne
Editions South bank Galleries, Melbourne
ACTA Maritime Touring Exhibition Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaidee

1990

ACTA Maritime Touring Exhibition Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide
Editions Southbank Galleries, South Melbourne
MPAC Print Prize, Mornington Arts Centre, Mornington, Victoria

1989

ACTA Maritime Touring Exhibition Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide

1988

Editions Southbank Galleries, South Melbourne

1987

Editions Southbank Galleries, South Melbourne
Alvin Galleries, Hong Kong
Fremantle Print Prize, Fremantle Arts Centre

1985

Sydney College of the Arts Graduate Diploma Exhibition, Pier 3 Hickson Rd, The Rocks

1984

Editions Southbank Galleries, South Melbourne

1983

Henri Worland Print Prize, Warrnambool Regional Gallery; acquisition
Seoul International Print Biennale, National Museum of Modern Art Seoul, Korea

1982

Roundhouse Gallery, University of NSW, Grahame Kuo, George Barker, Leong Chan, Rose Vickers, Wendy Stokes, Michael Bognar, Ruth Faerber, Margaret Spratt
Gallery 62 Newcastle
Sydney Printmakers, Maitland, Muswellbrook, Bathurst and Penrith Regional Galleries.
Pioneer Art Award, Swan Hill Regional Gallery

1981

Newcastle Printmakers, Lake Macquarie Regional Gallery
University of NSW Art Prize finalist, UNSW Kensington
Bathurst Regional Gallery, works on Paper Award acquisition

1980

Hogarth Galleries, recent graduates from Newcastle College of Advanced Education
Graduate Exhibition, Bond Store, Newcastle

1979

Gold Coast City Art Prize- Gold Coast City Gallery and Maitland City Art Gallery, Tertiary Student Art Prize, Maitland, NSW

Institutional Collections

National Gallery of Australia

Art Gallery New South Wales

Warrnambool Regional Gallery

Tamworth Regional Gallery

Grafton Regional Gallery

Bathurst Regional Gallery

Gosford Regional Gallery

Port Macquarie Regional Gallery, Glasshouse

Coffs Harbour City Gallery

Newcastle University

Charles Sturt University

Parliament House, Canberra

Print Council of Australia

Australian Secondary Schools Project, Print Council of Australia

Artbank

Publications, reviews and essays

Within and Between the Space of Landcsape, catalogue interview, Bridget Purtill,Curator, Glasshouse Regional Gallery and the artist; Glasshouse Regional Gallery,Port Macquarie

In Conversation: The Nymphéas, essay Louise Martin Chew, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth

Air, Light, Space - Contemporary Abstraction, essay Louise Martin Chew, introduction Niomi Sands, Port Macquarie Regional Gallery at the Glasshouse, Port Macquarie, 2013

A Silent Conversation, essay Christopher Orchard, Dr Leigh Summers, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery 2011

View Points -Approach to Landscape essay, Laura Murray Cree, Catherine Asquith Gallery, 2011

Resilience, essay John McDonald; Catherine Asquith Gallery 2010Wendy Stokes, Interplay Catherine Asquith Gallery, Herald Sun, April 2009, Jeff Makin

Transience, essay Sandra McMahon, Tamworth Regional Gallery, June 2009

Marked in Time, essay Marilyn Walters; Sydney Town Art, 2005

Interplay, essay Olga Sankey Grafton Regional Gallery, 2004

AbstractionMargery Edwards, Wendy Stokes, Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Gallery, 2003

Printmaking in the Sun, Dan Welden and Pauline Muir

Galerie Gora, essay Sharni Lloyd; Montreal Canada, 2000

Images in Contemporary Australian Painting, Vol 3  Nevill Drury Craftsman House 1998

 The Adelaide Review, April 1995, True Believer, JN

Periphery, February 1993, The Estuary Series, J Matsinos

The Weekend Australian,1991, Children of the Cosmos, Elwyn Lynn, April13-14

Images in Contemporary Australian PaintingVol1 Nevill Drury Craftsman House 1992

The Weekend Australian – Children of the Cosmos April 13-14,1991,Elwyn Lynn

New Art Four – Profiles in Contemporary Australian Art, 1990 edited Nevill Drury

The Bulletin, July 10,1990, New and Notable, Glenn Russell p 112

Periphery –May 1990 The North Coast in Perspective R Rixon

Entertainment Times Hong Kong June 6, 1987 Ian Findlay

Eight Australian ArtistsAlvin Gallery, Hong  Kong    

Weekend Australian Haunted by the ellipse of form– October 31 – November 1, 1987, Elwyn Lynn

Sydney Morning Herald – Sydney Printmakers, 1981

Sydney Morning Herald – Sydney Printmakers  14th June, 1980, James Fairfax; Women Artists of Australia