Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep. 62. Deborah Halpern OAM

Deborah Halpern is one of Australia’s most celebrated multi-disciplinary artists, renowned for her vibrant, whimsical public sculptures that have redefined Melbourne’s urban landscape.

Rather than pursuing austere minimalism, which still dominated many sculpture departments, she embraced exuberance. Colour became central to her practice...and over a career spanning more than four decades, Deborah has explored a vast array of mediums, including sculpture, painting, pottery, glass blowing, and printmaking, though she is most famously identified with her monumental mosaic works... large-scale sculptures constructed from fibreglass and steel armatures, clad in hand-cut ceramic tiles.

It was a lovely languid conversation about her journey, her processes and, amongst other things, how her international residencies gave her exposure to international artists and had a huge impact on her and her work.

It was also really interesting hearing about her seminal 10m sculpture ‘Angel’ which graced the outside of the National Gallery of Victoria...in particular the constant hurdles she faced in physically making it and finding the finance to finish it.

She’s a big advocate for the benefit of art and public art in particular. Her work is meant to bring joy. To ‘elevate and escalate the art experience’, as she puts it.

To listen to the conversation, head to the link in my bio.

Deborah Halpern is represented by @arthousegallery, Sydney
@niagaragalleries, Melbourne

See more of her works at

www.deborahhalpern.com

Images:

1 DH by Mia Mala McDonald

2 Family 2024 (all works are glass, steel, fibreglass) 345 x 220 x 88

3 Ophelia 1992 (the face of Melbourne)

4 Bodrig the Powerful Owl 2025 116 x 100 x 60

5 Angel 1988

6 Flying Fish 2025 50 x 56 x 30

7 Creature with Green Eyes and Tail 2026 59 x 39 x14

8 Winged Victory 2026 127 x 56 x 110

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Ep.61 Julz Beresford

Julz Beresford is known for her amazing gestural depictions of rivers, bushland and alpine terrain.

She has a very distinct, energetic approach to landscape painting which we’ll discuss. Her works showcase the movement and light of the worlds she grew up in... The Snowy Mountains and the Hawkesbury River.

And I wanted to find out how she is able to bring those memories and sensations to the studio.

Her quite rapid rise came after...a very unusual career hiatus in London which, it turns out, became very helpful to the way she works.

Julz is represented by Michael Reid Sydney (@michaelreidsydney)

And her upcoming exhibition Between Dust & Rain, with former guest @carlylecerf will be at Michael Reid Murrurundi (@murraart) from 1 - 31 May 2026

Images

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep 60 Kiata Mason

Kiata Mason’s work explores the quiet drama of domestic life.

Her paintings showcase rooms we all have and often just rush through them but, like all good painters, Kiata’s work causes us to pause. And reflect.

Her paintings often reference her own family history and the coastal home she now lives and works in.

Kiata’s formal training was at the National Art School in Sydney, where she undertook a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting. She later built on this foundation with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Drawing, and then a Master of Fine Arts (Drawing), all at National Art School.

She’s been a finalist and semi-finalist in many major painting prizes including the Sulman, Doug Moran, Black Swan and Paddington art prizes and she has won the Muswellbrook Art prize for works on paper.

Across prizes, residencies and exhibitions, Kiata has held onto a deeply personal, drawing-led practice that honours the everyday without sentimentalising it.

Our discussion was broad and covered a lot of areas of interest to all artists I reckon. She’s a deep thinker and a very talented and compassionate painter.

Head to the link in my bio to have a listen to our conversation.

@kiatamasonart is represented by @akbellingergallery and @curatorialandco

Images

1 KM

2 Breakfast with Dorris, 2019 122 x 91

3 Because of the Spring Flowers 2019 122 x 92

4 One of Gran’s Good Plates 2017 45.8 x 61

5 Surrounded by Art 2025 73 x 90

6 From the Gallery of Small Things exhibition Paintings and Ceramics, 2026

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Ep. 59. Adriane Strampp

Adriane’s is a fascinating journey. She was born in the United States and educated in the UK before settling in Australia.

She brings the effect of that peripatetic life to her work. Her work is defined by its sensitivity to light, memory and place. Interiors soaked in soft light, distant landscapes, objects held in suspension.

We talked about her fabulously eclectic group of subjects she’s explored in her art including horses, dresses, landscapes, interiors, still lifes and the thread which weaves itself through all of them.

She has held more than 30 solo exhibitions around Australia and internationally and has been selected as a finalist multiple times for a number of awards including the Sulman, Dobell, Calleen, Ravenswood, Len Fox and Adelaide Perry.

And alongside her studio practice, Adriane has also made a profound contribution as a teacher. She is also the Founder and Director of the Fitzroy Painting Studio which has had probably thousands of students through its doors.

Head to the link in my bio to listen to our conversation.

Adriane is represented by

King Street Gallery on William (Sydney)

Jan Manton Gallery (Brisbane)

You can see some of her works there or on her website:

www.adrianestampp.com

Images

1 AS by Hugh Stewart

2 The Wait (long days and longer nights) 2022, 152 x 152

3 Lucy’s Light, 2022, 152 x 152

4 Celosia, 2025, 91 x 91

5 Silent World, 2025, 162 x 205

6 Paper Lamp, 2025, 91 x 91

7 Hydrangea, 2025, 30 x 30

8 Cornucopia (painting number 2), 1996, 122 x 153

9 Passage, 2019, 91 x 91

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Ep. 58 Amanda Penrose Hart

Amanda Penrose Hart is one of Australia’s most compelling contemporary interpreters of landscape.

In fact, judges at the Calleen Art Award recently described her as one of Australia’s most accomplished senior plein-air painters.

Amanda graduated with a Diploma of Fine Art from Queensland College of Art and then a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Griffith University, she developed a practice grounded in drawing, composition and a love of paint – which is becoming a wonderful thread through a number of the artists I’ve spoken to.

Travelling is central to her work: from Sofala and the Central West of New South Wales to European battlefields and coastal sites, she paints landscapes that really feel familiar.

She’s widely exhibited across Australia and has received major recognition including the Gallipoli Art Prize (2017), the Clayton Utz Art Award (2019) and the aforementioned Calleen Art Award (2024). Her work is held in significant public and private collections nationwide as well.

Amanda is part of the upcoming exhibition Lustre: Australian Artists in Greece & Crete WWll at Anzac Memorial Hyde Park Sydney. It will open on May 20 and will feature both Amanda and a previous guest on AWA, @joannalogue

Head to my bio above to hear our conversation

Amanda is represented by:

@kingstreetgallery
@philipbacongalleries

And you will find some of her works there as well as at her website:

www.amandapenrosehart.com.au

Images

1 APH by Michael Bradfield

2 Butter cloud 2021 110 x 110 (oil on canvas)

3 Sally’s Flat 2017, 38 x 52 (ooc)

4 Go lightly 2023 76 x 120 (oil on board)

5 Shepherds lookout ACT 2023 121 x 198 (oil on linen)

6 The Somme 1, 2017 100 x 180 (ooc)

7 Australian first division memorial, Pozieres 2017 41 x 62 (ooc)

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Ep. 57. Sophie Perez

Sophie Perez was born in Brighton, England. Her early love of art led to her formal academic training which culminated in her obtaining a Master of Arts in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London.

How she ended up in Australia...is an interesting story.

When she settled in the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, she embraced the unique landscape, and it informed her artistic practice. Her work was described as loose, gestural brushwork, with sensitive colour relationships that sought to evoke the feeling of place rather than replicate it literally.

By the latter half of the 2010s, Sophie’s work had begun to gain broader visibility within Australia. In 2022, she was awarded the People’s Choice Award at the prestigious Paddington Art Prize. She has also been a finalist in the Mosman Art Prize (2020, 2022) and the Lethbridge Landscape Prize.

"For me, painting transcends observation—it’s an invitation to connect with the beauty and complexity of our surroundings. Through my obsession to paint, I seek to forge meaningful connections that bridge the gap between artist and audience, celebrating the shared experience of the world around us." Sophie Perez

Head to the link in my bio to have a listen to our conversation...or head to wherever you get your podcasts.

Sophie is represented by

Australian Galleries, Salt Contemporary Art and Art Images Gallery

Images

1 SP (in front of The Language of Trees ’ 170 x 300 cm diptych)

2 The daily commute, 2025 140 x 130 Oil on Belgian linen (all images are OOBL)

3 The joy and weight of MOtherhood 2025 140 x 130

4 Sundown 2025 75 x 70

5 Morning in the studio 2025 45 x 40

Check www.australiangalleries.com.au for availability of Sophie's works

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Ep 56. Caroline Walls

Today on the podcast I’m very excited to be joined by Melbourne based contemporary artist Caroline Walls.

Caroline’s work explores the emotional lives of women through really bold but pared-back forms, and it centres on the female body, intimacy and ‘the emotional texture of everyday life’. Her paintings, drawings and sculptures sit between abstraction and figuration and the figures, at first glance appear to be simple flowing lines and rich, earthy tones. But her work makes you stop, look and... feel.

It’s quite extraordinary how her paintings exude such an intimacy through their pared back images.

She has a background in design and spent years living between London and New York. That period exposed her to elements that would later surface in her own studio work through bold silhouettes and controlled colour.

She made the enormous decision to return to Australia to undertake studies at the Victorian College of Arts...which brought immediate recognition and changed the course of her life’s journey.

It’s a really interesting discussion about how her practice has evolved and how her experiences as an Australian woman and mother shape the images she now creates.

Caroline has an exhibition 'She Once Was'which runs till March 7, 2026 at Olsen Annexe, Sydney, Australia. Make sure you have a look if you’re in Sydney and you’ll see firsthand what we’re talking about in this conversation.

To hear our conversation, head to the link in my bio or wherever you find your podcasts.

To see some of her works you can also head to her website:

www.carolinewalls.com

Caroline’s solo exhibition can be seen @olsen_gallery @olsen_annexe

Images supplied by artist

1 & 2 CW

3 All Day Long

4 Seasons

5 To Know What to Say

6 Into Your Arms

7 Are You With Me Now

8 Keeping Time

9 She Once Was

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep. 55 Prudence Flint

Prudence Flint is one of Australia’s most compelling contemporary painters.

For more than three decades, Prudence has been painting seemingly ordinary women in ordinary everyday interiors undertaking ordinary tasks. And the effect is extraordinary.

The paintings are imbued with a stillness and the subjects are caught...almost mid thought. And that is quite captivating. Those (often) solitary figures captured in private moments away from the male gaze.

Her work is fabulous, engaging and thought provoking and very recognisable.

She has held solo exhibitions in London, Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart and has exhibited in major state and regional galleries. She is a seven-time finalist in the Archibald Prize. She won the Len Fox Painting Award (2016), the Portia Geach Memorial Award (2010), and the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (2004).

In 2023, Prudence’s work featured in the NGV Triennial at the National Gallery of Victoria. Her work is held by collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, City of Port Phillip, Artbank, BHP Billiton, City of Gold Coast, University of Wollongong, Castlemaine Art Museum, X Museum, and numerous private collections.

It was a great conversation and to hear it, head to the link in my bio above.

Prudence is represented by @fineartssydney

Image: PF by Karina Dias Pires