High Country Exhibition at Tumut

Tumut Visitor Centre, 4th April to 27th May 2022

Members of the Artists on Parade Cooperative had a successful joint exhibition on the theme "High Country" at the Tumbarumba Gallery in April 2022.

Due to popular demand, the High Country Exhibition was moved to the Tumut Visitors Centre gallery located at The Old Butter Factory, 5 Adelong Road, Tumut NSW 2720.

Included in this exhibition were 5 paintings of Phil's, including 3 of the most recent paintings.

Relocation Retrospective Exhibition

Artists on Parade, Tumbarumba, 26th Feb to 31st May, 2021

For the last 15 years Phil Ryan has worked as a full-time artist out of his studio and house at Kunama (south of Batlow). Now he has decided to pack up and move to the big smoke - Tumbarumba.

To mark this relocation, Artists on Parade Gallery asked Phil to prepare a retrospective exhibition of all available unsold paintings produced since 2001. A total of 69 paintings were present at the Tumbarumba Gallery with the selection hung changing during the exhibition.

See the Relocation Retrospective Catalogue for further information on all 69 paintings that were on show.

2020 John Leslie Art Prize Finalist

Strata Succumbs to Roots and Water was selected as a finalist for the 2020 John Leslie Art Prize. The John Leslie Art Prize is a biennial prize for landscape painting base at the Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale Vic.

Images of all the selected finalists can be seen at the Gippsland Art Gallery website here.

After much delay, the 2020 John Leslie Art Prize exhibition had it's "virtual opening" on 24th July. Video of the opening and the announcing of the winning work can be view at the Gallery website.

2020 Bushfire Impact

The recent 2020 bushfire emergency caused the evacuation of all Kunama residents on late Monday night (30th Dec). I packed what I could and moved to Tumbarumba where I stayed with friends. By Tuesday morning, the bushfire had expanded rapidly to the southeast and impacted the northern and eastern sides of Tumbarumba township causing significant property loss but thankfully no fatalities. After this a thick pall of smoke settled over the town for several days.

At the Friday morning (3rd Jan) town meeting, the authorities strongly recommended all Tumbarumba residents to evacuate the town by 1pm. I decided to relocated (again) to Canberra. My niece arranged for me to stay in an apartment at Kingston Foreshores near to where she lives.

Friends were able to report on Tuesday (7th Jan) that my house and studio were intact and unburnt. The same friends were able to return on Thursday (9th Jan), took some pictures of my property, and cleaned out the fridge.

Wednesday 15th, the local power company confirmed that power was back on at Kunama so I packed up, cleaned the apartment, and headed home.

I can now confirm that the studio narrowly escape destruction due to the heroic efforts of the local RFS crews. No damage to exterior or interior so it will back to painting once the cleanup is finished.

Lost Paintings

Two paintings purchased in March 2019 have been "lost" whilst in shipment to the USA.

The paintings were Karst Country: Blue Waterholes 3 and Karst Country: Careys Kurrajongs 2.

If anyone has seen either of these 2 paintings since April 2019, please inform your local Police or Law Enforcement Agency.

Latest Work

Since the Young Volcanic Landscapes Exhibition, I have been producing "pseudo-canvases" using MDF sheets with softwood backing framework. These paintings are smaller than what I usually produce plus they will be sold unframed.

The smaller size of the recent paintings (e.g. 400 x 600 mm) means that I can attempt more detailed work, especially in the partial 3D carving. Fine patterns in form and colour are apparent in the "Monocot Forests" series of recent paintings. These paintings depict a number of native Australian palms in their native habitats.

Young Volcanic Landscapes

The most recent solo exhibition "Young Volcanic Landscapes" was held at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in the ACT from Feb 1 to 17, 2018.

The exhibited paintings depict the young volcanic landscapes of eastern Australia. There are 2 main regions with the most recent volcanic activity. The first is in Far North Queensland; Atherton Tableland and the McBribe Volcanic Provinces, while the second is far to the south in central and western Victoria plus south-eastern South Australia (Mt Gambier) which are referred to as the Newer Volcanic Province .

Read more about Young Volcanic Landscapes or see images of the completed paintings here.

John Leslie Art Prize Finalist

Gibraltar Falls Trilogy was selected as a finalist for the 2016 John Leslie Art Prize.

The John Leslie Art Prize is a $20,000 non-acquisitive award and biennial exhibition hosted by the Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale Victoria. The exhibition opened on Friday 2 September and closed 20 November.

The Gippsland Art Gallery is located at:

• Port of Sale Business Centre
• 64-66 Foster St, Sale Victoria
• Email: galleryenquiries@wellington.vic.gov.au
• Phone: (03) 5142 3500

"High Country Waterfalls" Exhibition July 2015

The most recent solo exhibition High Country Waterfalls was at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in the ACT. Tuggeranong Arts Centre is located in southern Canberra, beside Lake Tuggeranong.

The exhibition opened on Thursday 2 July and ran for the whole month.

Norvill Art Prize 2014

Karst Country: Yarrangobilly Castles was selected as a finalist for the 2014 Norvill Art Prize, a biannual Australian landscape art prize organised by the Murrurundi Arts Council.

The exhibition of the selected artworks was held at the Murrurundi RSL Memorial Hall, Murrurundi NSW during October 2014.

Stanthorpe Art Festival 2014

Pandanus Strolling Down to the Beach was selected as a finalist for the 2014 Stanthorpe Art Festival.

The Stanthorpe Art Festival was held at the Stanthorpe Regional Gallery from Feb 28 - Apr 13 2014.