SATURDAY 4 NOVEMBER 11AM - 4:30PM CONTINUES UNTIL 25TH NOVEMBER This curated exhibition of three private collections features over 70 artworks, including artists:  Whitely, Olsen, Kmit, Rees, Crooke, Beadle, Lindsay, Docking, Boyd, Passmore, Hinder, Blackman, Moore, Chagall, Long, Blackman, Ashton, Preston, Thompson, Gleghorn, Soloman and Historical etchings of Newcastle, etc. These artworks range from the 1850's to the 1970's ..read more

Dear Art Lover, I would like to invite you to join us at the Gallery Saturday 11 November 3-5pm for an art lecture by Catherine Hickson, art educator, regarding life with art. Catherine is passionate about helping people understand and surround themselves with art; ‘Art is fundamental to a good and balanced life’. Duration: 2 hours.  Inclusive of tea/coffee and/or wine, cheese and biscuits Cost: $25pp plus booking fee.  Purchase your tickets by 6 November 2017 here. Don't miss this exciting event! Yours in art, Mark Widdup CHG Director &nb ..read more

If you haven’t seen this exhibition, don’t miss James Willebrant 50th anniversary, A professional artist! ……. What a milestone.  How many of our readers know of an artist who graduated from Arts School and went into the professional artist role i.e. aimed to live solely from their art sales for their income and lifestyle. Pretty brave I would say …. Willebrant did. He gained a cult following with his surrealistic, art deco style and figure forms that exudes lifestyle and emphasises a relaxed way of living. I feel we could all learn a little from the artists compositions. His sty ..read more

August 16th celebrates going into our 49th year of operation and it is time to reflect upon the area or locale of where we started the galleries, hence the theme of this month exhibition. 48 years of active gallery management and directorship, can only be claimed by a few Australian galleries so we are amongst a distinguished few. In fact, the gallery has been in operation prior to my management for some 5 years and as such it would date the age of the gallery as 54 years old. Thank you to our artists' past and present and to our clients for your support over the decades. Please ..read more

  Black and White is Ben Kenning’s latest exhibition at Cooks Hill Galleries after his first highly successful solo show with the gallery, in early 2016. An extended trip to India had a profound effect on the young artist with the country’s culture, religions and sheer mass of humanity, along with a crippling bout of Dengi Fever, deeply influencing both his personal philosophy and artistic output. The progression of Kenning’s work is very much process driven, with the multiple questions, revelations and possibilities arising from one abstracted, figurative work informing and propelling th ..read more

Brett McMahon approached me earlier this year and discussed working together, as he was cognisant of the progressive changes we have made in recent years. Brett and I have known each other for years, and we have always had a mutual respect, but circumstances didn’t completely align until recently. Brett has an established reputation in both Sydney and Newcastle. Many Novocastrians are especially aware of his high-profile sculptural form design, as seen on the façade of the new Newcastle Courthouse, located on Hunter Street. McMahon’s art is founded in observations of both land- and seascape. U ..read more

WE RECENTLY SAT DOWN WITH PHIL CLARKE TO DISCUSS HIS ART, LIFE, LOVES AND OTHER THINGS! HERE IS 'YOUR LIFE ON A CANVAS' WITH CHG REPRESENTED ARTIST PHIL STALLARD... 1. Best recent art experience? The last couple of paintings for the current Cooks Hill Galleries exhibition, I tried to not overpaint and almost succeeded! 2. Most used art material? Oils. 3. Favourite colour? Turquoise. 4. Most embarrassing artwork story? Moved my studio into my apartment a few years ago, painting naked in the living room, looking out the window to see my neighbour staring in horror.. whoopsie ..read more

Christmas is upon us yet again and the usual consumption of food and gifts overwhelms us. In a country so rich in bounty from sea to shining sea, we can sometimes take it all for granted. In our hurried lives, we can forget where our true riches come from. I'm not talking about superficial wealth, like consumer goods or natural resources, or even our beautiful country. Gloucester Morning Fire by Rod Bathgate Rather, I'm talking about the deeper more meaningful rich vein of who we are as people, be it via our ancient indigenous heritage to our western tradition that was hard fought for and pr ..read more

My friendship with Phil Clarke goes back many years and I’m the proud owner of a number of his fine paintings, including some of his early work.   There’s a gang of us who are Phil Clarke admirers, and I’m always visiting friends’ homes where his work adorns their walls. As a journalist, I’ve always been interested in his philosophical approach to his work, which most often these days is concerned with conservation, internationalism, and social justice.   But his paintings are not heavy handed didacticism, Phil always has an entertaining and whimsical insight into the human ..read more

Paintings inspired by the visual world around us are often described as 'realistic'. However this terminology does not mean a photographic reproduction or facsimile. Good realism requires great drawing and observation, but most important the ability to synthesise, select and extract from the subject that which inspires the artist. The artist should experience and love his subject and bring to his art his perceptiveness, sensitivity and enthusiasm Thus his work will have 'expression', unfortunately a much misused and abused term in today's art. Bruce has long been inspired by the human nude ..read more