ABOUT THE Artists

Kim Wilson

Owner of Somersby Art Gallery and Artist
Kim Wilson is an Australian landscape painter based in Somersby on the NSW Central Coast. Working primarily in oils, she draws inspiration from the waterways of the Hawkesbury River, surrounding bushland, and nearby coastline, capturing the shifting light and quiet atmosphere of the Australian landscape. She runs “Somersby Art Gallery”, a landscape gallery in Somersby, supporting local artists and artisans. Kim was recently a finalist in the Hawkesbury Art Prize. @kimwilson_art; www.kimwilsonart.com.au; www.somersbyartgallery.com.au

Annette Kelsey

Artist
The love of watercolour is in Annette's creative DNA. She views nature through a watercolour filter, inspired by nature’s soft edges, transparencies and subtle blends of colour. Annette has recently returned to oils and is enjoying the journey to abstraction. The times of isolation during 2020 have revived a love for interiors and still life.
Annette keeps her touch light on the paper endeavouring to say more with less paint and less detail. Frank Lloyd Wright once said that ‘space is the breath of art’ Annette's desire is to use this ‘space’ to bring a fresh perspective to a world that has forgotten how to be still. www.annettekelsey.com.au @annettekelseyart

Trudi Bean

Artist
Trudi Bean works in a variety of media including painting, monoprint and collage. Her focus is on landscapes from the area around Kulnura where her family farm is located and the wider Central Coast. She is inspired by the observable effects of light and colour in the landscape - the inky blues of shadows, the brilliance of light reflecting on water, the burnished sky at dusk. @trudibean

Gay Pickering

Artist
Gay Pickering’s inspiration for her impressionist approach to landscapes and waterscapes is the interplay of light and shadow on the natural environment. Her preferred medium is the rich colour of oils and working in a limited pallet she likes to introduce some drama into her art with the colour and mood of changing weather and stormy skies. Gay was the winner of the 2022 Gosford Grandma Moses Competition and finalist in the Waverley Woollahra 9x5 landscape prize 2022, 2024 and 2025. @gaypickeringart

Kim Cardiff

Artist
Kim Cardiff is an Australian oil painter whose work explores light, memory and the emotional connection between people and place. Drawing inspiration from coastal landscapes and everyday human moments, she is particularly interested in capturing atmosphere – the way light falls across sand, water and skin, and the quiet stories unfolding within a scene. Working primarily in oils, she builds depth through layered colour and careful tonal contrast, allowing her figures and environments to feel both grounded and luminous. Her paintings invite the viewers to pause, reflect and reconnect with moments of stillness and belonging. @kimcardiff_art

Gretchen Miller

Artist
Gretchen Miller is a ceramicist working from a solar-powered studio on Wanangine Country, Central Coast, NSW. Her practice explores raw, tactile surfaces, alternative firing techniques, and the expressive potential of locally-sourced clay. Gretchen’s background is in environmental storytelling - for 20 years she was a documentary maker with ABC Radio National, and her work has been heard globally. She has a doctorate examining the ways humans attune to their homegrounds and their more-than-human companions. With a deep care of and compassion for the natureworld, it feels fitting for her to now work with fire, earth, water, air, and, sometimes, animal hair, feathers and bones. Gretchen’s vessels and sculptural forms speak of smoke and fire and creature transformations — an invitation to consider the mythic narratives embedded in the land and in ceramic making. @muddyochreceramics; www.muddyorchreceramics.bigcartel.com

Birgit Floehrmann

Artist
Birgit Floehrmann is an abstract artist who uses acrylics and mixed media to express herself. Key elements of her paintings are organic shapes and forms on textured backgrounds. Her focus lies in intuitively exploring the beauty and melancholy of transience. She is based in Phegans Bay at the Central Coast. The surrounding garden, the water and the bush is where she draws her inspiration from. @birgitfloart

Anna-Karina Hermkens

Artist
Anna-Karina Hermkens is a senior lecturer and researcher in the discipline of Anthropology working at Macquarie University. She teaches and uses creative methodologies, at the same time developing an Anthropology-in Art practice in her art studio “Bumble Hill Atelier.” Her studio is based in Yarramalong, NSW Australia, which is the land of the Darkinjung people. Her ceramic art practice, including sculptural and functional work, is very much inspired by her anthropological work and by the natural and social environments she lives and work in. Through ceramic vessels and forms whose bodies have been altered and modified, as well as various kinds of surface treatments, including paintings and sgraffito, she wants to address themes such as the construction and unmaking of the self and the fragmented (relational) body, exploring the interaction between identity, space, and struggles of belonging and becoming, as well as between ritual and embodiment. @bumblehill_atelier

Carolyn Purtle

Artist
Carolyn Purtle is a Central Coast based artist inspired by the surrounding nature. Bush walking through the many National Parks or wandering along the seashore, Carolyn is grabbed by these beautiful moments. Carolyn wants to share with you the beauty of nature so you can have some of it in your living room. "Painting allows me to bring some of that wonder and beauty back in my living room. This is an expression of me”. Carolyn works mainly in acrylics & watercolours, now having a go using oils. Her bold use of colour & brush stokes brings the work to life – expressionist. @carolynpurtleart