Featured Artists
The Canberra Art Fair brings artists from Canberra, the Region, and across the country to the vibrant Canberra art community. Here are some of the talented people who will be exhibiting at #CAF26
The Bunker Arts Group
Situated in Queanbeyan, on Ngambri / Ngunnawal land, the Bunker Arts Studio is the Bunker Studio Artists' base. The studio facilitates visual art activities—primarily developing an individual's visual poetry at Monday and Thursday art sessions. The Bunker Studio Artists have exhibited as a group at Belconnen Arts Centre, The Queanbeyan Hive (on several occasions) and a group show at Sydney's TAP Gallery this November. Bunker Studio Artists have achieved several art awards.
The Bunker also hosts concerts on the last Saturday evening of the month in Summer and the last Sunday of the Month in Winter.
The Bunker Studio Artists enjoyed a very successful Canberra Art Fair (CAF) last year and are looking forward to CAF26. Original paintings exploring aspects of landscapes, the figure, urbanscapes, environmental concerns, and abstracts will be on show from artists Shaun Myles, Stephen Quinn, Lea Pali, Dee Hopkins, Phill Hopkins, David Chatto, Trevor Lewis, and Dennis Mortimer.
Kerry Nobbs
Kerry grew up in the Tweed/Gold Coast regions. He is a self taught artist who painted many regional murals in the early years. Kerry has been painting professionally since 1984, using oils to capture the Australian landscape. He prefers to paint rugged mountain ranges and remote coastlines across our wonderful continent. Light and atmosphere are an important feature within his works. Kerry has won many awards in his career, and his paintings feature in collections, world wide.
Fiona Kain
Fiona Kain is a painter working in large-scale monochromatic acrylic, exploring identity, the garment as surrogate for the body, and social inscription. She holds a Master of Design, a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, alongside a background in motion graphics. Fiona's practice is driven by a deep curiosity about self identity and how it's shaped, performed and read by others. Clothing recurs throughout her work as a stand-in for the body itself, carrying the weight, memory and inscription of the person who wore it, even once they're absent from the frame. Her approach is considered and precise, with a strong illustrative sensibility, and working largely in monochrome allows her to focus attention on form, line and the presence of the painted surface. This exploration of identity has taken different forms across her practice, from a kawaii-influenced series examining the tension between cuteness, performance and selfhood, through to a body of work drawing on the legacies of female performance artists like Ana Mendieta and Marina Abramović, particularly Abramović's Rhythm 0, interrogating how the body is viewed, handled and inscribed upon by others. Her most recent series, Difficult, extends this inquiry, responding to a moment of public language around a woman's public persona, using garments left bare and marked as a quiet, physical rebuttal. Fiona works from the NSW South Coast, where she maintains her studio practice alongside a parallel career in automotive illustration.
Kathy Nelson - Eclectic Art
Kathy excelled in art from an early stage, achieving a NSW HSC prize for art. From there, Kathy consolidated her artistic skills while undertaking art training at Alexander Mackie College, which is now known as UNSW School of Art & Design. Her artistic style has been influenced by living in Europe and North America, and travelling through Asia, especially to Japan. Additionally, her love of nature, especially for birds, constantly inspires her. While living in the United Kingdom, Kathy displayed and sold artwork, along with occasional requests for commissioned artwork. Family commitments created a hiatus in her artistic endeavours. Now, with her children making their own way through life, she has returned to her passion for art. To date Kathy has attended local markets and made sales through personal contacts.
Her work is eclectic by name and eclectic in style. Not one medium nor one idea defines her style. She loves trying out different styles and utilising different mediums to showcase these styles. Kathy has a particular love of detailed pencil drawing, loves soft pastel work, inks, watercolour and acrylic canvas paintings. She has used these various mediums to bring vibrant colours together and is particularly immersed in the way colours of soft pastel drawings and acrylic colours can be blended. By using these techniques and often using them together in a single work, she has concentrated on bird and animal close ups. Japanese art also holds a fascination for Kathy. The beautiful patterns, colours and simplicity of Japanese design capture her interest from which she has undertaken some Japanese inspired works.
All in all, using various art techniques, mediums and passions, Kathy’s work comes under the name Eclectic Art.
Hannah Goggs - Moody Rabbit
Hannah Goggs (AKA Moody Rabbit) is a self-taught mixed media artist who is attracted to anything
related to flora and fauna. She is inspired by the worlds natural unique beauty.
Hannah loves plants, gardening and especially birds. Having completed a horticulture course this has expanded her knowledge and admiration for unique plants. Being a twitcher also helps her art
develop as she discovers new species. Creating art specifically for an area of interest sparks her
imagination including unique places overseas.
Hannah creates mostly through mood and feeling, pink being one of the major tones used in most of her work. “We are moved by paintings that we can connect to, they need to tell a story and relate to us in some way. That is how I approach each new painting”.
Hannah also has a business mind and loves the challenges that comes with personal growth.
“As an artist we adapt, change and explore new avenues. I am constantly evolving and enjoy waking up every day knowing that I get to create the world around me”.
Currently Hannah lives in Queensland where she is influenced by a range of new birds and plants.
Hannah also loves to travel and is looking to expand into Victoria and New Zealand.
You can find Hannah's work amongst many galleries Australia wide including overseas.
Angharad Dean
Angharad Dean is an Australian landscape artist working in mixed media to explore connections with the kosmos and to visually capture the flow of time. She has been developing and evolving her artistic practice for over 20 years. Since 2021 she has been employed as Artist in Residence at the University of Tübingen in Germany. She has also retained her connection to, and her 'place' in Canberra, including her studio, and spends part of each year working from her Australian home.
Living each year on 2 continents Angharad has learned to truly appreciate how climate and environment affects and connects every living thing. She studies closely the changing patterns of nature and makes art that captures the beauty of our earth. By struggling with cultural differences and language barriers and the resulting isolation, the importance of emotional connection is now also central to her practice. Angharad uses flexible materials: print making, painting, drawing, collage and textiles including 3 dimensional structures made from thread, to illustrate connection and flow, both physical and emotional.
Sarah Beetson
Sarah Beetson’s art practice has shifted in recent years from a focus on illustration to a focus on nature. In 2021, Sarah Beetson produced In Bloom, a triptych of large-scale paintings depicting Australian native flowers, conceived during pregnancy and completed throughout early motherhood. The works reflect the physical and psychological dimensions of matrescence, with the process of painting unfolding slowly—leaf by leaf, petal by petal—often while her newborn rested in a pouch between artist and canvas. The three paintings were acquired prior to their exhibition at 19 Karen Gallery, underscoring the resonance of this body of work. Since this pivotal moment, Beetson has continued to explore floral imagery almost exclusively, using the form as a subject through which to examine identity, transformation, and care. For the artist, the repetitive, attentive act of drawing and painting flowers functions both as an aesthetic inquiry and a meditative practice, supporting her navigation of the mental and emotional shifts that accompany parenthood. She has also used the subject as a means to explore identity and connection to country. This thematic transition began with FLOWERS ON YUGAMBEH COUNTRY, a body of work about native flora responding to Australia’s The Voice referendum and acknowledging the traditional indigenous owners of the land she lives upon. Her series “The Interloper” Featured Australian native flowers with transplanted British species, exploring her own identity as a dual citizen. Sarah has looked at native species from Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and is currently working on a series inspired by the conservation of our coral reefs.
Umair Ahmad - Umair Arts
Umair Ahmad is an emerging painter based in Canberra, whose visual arts practice is rooted in a lifelong engagement with drawing and painting, inherited from his grandfather's handcrafted paper flowers and refined through over two decades of creative work. Working across watercolour, acrylic, oil and pyrography, Ahmad currently focuses on watercolour as his primary medium, finding in its fluidity a natural extension of his voice. His recent exhibitions include solo showcases in Canberra (2021), including a notable calligraphic presentation of more than 70 works, as well as group exhibitions in Sydney and Canberra (2021–2023), with select sales contributing to Pakistan flood relief efforts. Beyond the gallery circuit, Ahmad has transformed his own garage into a functioning private exhibition space. With over 20 years of professional experience in graphic, UX and UI design, he now pursues art as a full-time vocation, committed to exhibiting, selling and evolving his creative practice.
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Yasmin Idriss
Yasmin is an artist and photographer in Canberra. Yasmin won the Canberra Museum & Gallery Photography Award in the CAPO Art grants 2023, and she was a finalist in the prestigious Bowness Photography prize 2024 held by the Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne. When Yasmin is not working at the framing shop or playing with framing rubble, you can find her taking photos of flowers and nature, taking portraits or working on a documentary project. She also loves painting, printmaking and creating sculptures from steel or found objects.
Yasmin coined the term "Yazelation" to describe these unique tessellation-inspired designs that she began creating in 2022. These YazElations embody her dedication to sustainability and her belief in the transformative power of art. They are the result of thoughtfully repurposing framing offcuts into intricate and visually striking pieces that reflect the beauty found in everyday rubble. Through this series, she aims to raise awareness about environmental conservation and the creative possibilities of recycling industrial waste.
Simon Ray
Simon Ray is a photographer specialising in landscape, travel and music photography, living on Ngunnawal country.
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"Photography for me is about capturing the beauty of the landscape around us and reminding people just how precious this world is. I specialise in landscape and urban photography, and I do love to capture musicians at live events."
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Alyson Hayes - Alyson Ceramics
Alyson is a Sydney based ceramic artist whose light sculptures illuminate the delicate patterns and textures in nature. After completing a Design degree at the College of Fine Arts (now UNSW Art and Design), Alyson worked with Angela Mellor whose paper clay technique was instrumental to the evolution of her work. Alyson uses a combination of slip casting and hand built techniques with Bone China. Thinly cast forms are translucent when lit, a process which allows her to make multiples while ensuring each piece is unique. Alyson hopes that through remembering humanity's deep connection with nature we will honor our responsibility to it.
Luca Siliquini
I am an Italian artist who was born and studied in Rome and now lives in Canberra. I commenced my formal studies in visual arts, specialising in social photography and subsequently chose to study social sciences. My artwork is rooted in observation - of myself, of others, and of the world around me. My creative process is deeply introspective, driven by dreams, imagination, and a profound exploration of the psychological dimensions of human existence. My paintings are visual translations of my inner responses to personal experiences and the relentless stream of global events. Through bold lines, symbolic forms, and geometric structures, I attempt to capture the tension between external realities and internal reflections. Colour and texture play a vital role, serving not only as aesthetic choices but as emotional and psychological markers on the canvas. Oil colour is abundant in my paintings and the use of the impasto technique, to create thick texture and consistency, is a constant feature of my self-expression. Additionally I paint with watercolours, which allows me to show my 'soft side' of symbolism as I experiment with blending to highlight places and moments of special significance. In the last few years I have exhibited my work both in Australia and overseas and was selected as a finalist for the Alice Art Prize 2026 with my artwork “Di notte” displayed in Alice Springs.
Josephine Townsend Ceramics
Josephine Townsend is a ceramic artist working from her home studio in Canberra. She has a busy retail practice, with a number of stockists in and around Canberra, regular markets, and sales from her studio. She also exhibits regularly, enabling her to explore more complex ideas, forms and surface designs, such as her coloured inlaid porcelain (nerikomi) work. Her nerikomi work is all about colour, pattern and expressing the precious qualities of porcelain; the delicacy, the luminous translucence and the pure colour response.
Josephine is an active member of the Canberra ceramics community. She teaches term classes and workshops at Canberra Potters, as well as supporting new makers, through market ready courses and mentoring. She has been working with clay since the late nineties. Her full time art practice began in 2016, after finishing careers in teaching and the public service.
Lana-Leigh Lombard
"My journey in the world of art is deeply rooted in my personal experiences and driven by a passion for painting that has been a part of me since childhood. Apparently I was drawing and painting before I could walk or talk. Growing up on a farm in Zimbabwe, I was immersed in a vibrant natural landscape that has profoundly influenced me throughout my life by instilling a deep love of nature. A Bachelor of Fine Arts at Rhodes University in South Africa provided me with a formal education in traditional fine art techniques, particularly drawing and oil painting.
These foundational skills continue to inform and shape my artistic expression, even as I explore contemporary trends and materials. Immigrating to Australia over 20 years ago opened up new avenues for artistic exploration. Moving to a completely new environment inspired me to incorporate the experiences and landscapes of my adopted home into my work and whilst still deeply rooted in nature, the subject matter I am drawn to now incorporates both my love of myth, fantasy and the natural world. My work carries these themes across ink drawings, watercolour, acrylic and oil painting. "
Stephen Smith
I'm a visual artist based in Sydney, Australia. My artist journey began with an early passion for painting before following a career in television and film where I've created soundtracks for many of Australia's best known television shows. In recent years I've returned to my original love of painting as a full-time artist. I paint streets, landscapes, portraits and other things that capture me. I’m drawn to the often overlooked moments of emptiness or disquiet within urban environments and aim to evoke some response or humour through much of my work. I also like to explore at the imbalance, or sometimes tension, between the constructed and natural worlds. Through my post production studios I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with some of the world’s most talented producers, directors, writers and actors on many award winning productions. These collaborations have helped inform my thinking as an artist. While the mediums are different, my goal remains the same: to connect with my audience on an emotional level, drawing them into a scene that resonates on either the screen or a canvas.
Norman Haskell - GranDada Photos
I create ‘composite' photos which typically combine and/or manipulate one or more photographs of apparently unrelated content and can include common objects and sights such as urban waste, plastic and other litter, bins, curbside throwouts etc. I use whatever tools and techniques available to me - such as AI, chance effects, visual parody and irony - to efficiently realise my ideas and reflect lifelong passions, influences and concerns about human impact on the natural environment in novel and individual ways. I may also draw on a wide range of significant artworks and movements from the twentieth century and before for new images on canvas and photographic media
Jill Harris - Little Bird Gippsland
Painting completely absorbs me. Time disappears when I have a brush in my hand and life’s worries seem to disappear with it. Art gives me a way to express creativity, gratitude and my personal connection to the world around me.
I lived in Canberra for 25 years while raising my children, and now live on a small acreage in beautiful rural Gippsland, Victoria. The local landscape and, in particular, the birds I see around my studio are a constant source of inspiration. My current bird series combines carefully observed, realistic birds — sometimes with a touch of quirkiness — with freeform, ethereal backgrounds. I love allowing watery layers of colour to flow and overlap, creating almost abstract spaces that often seem to draw towards light. I also enjoy painting flowers and landscapes, and am increasingly exploring the wonderful possibilities of abstraction.
I have exhibited and sold work at the Camberwell Art Show and many other art shows, and have received prizes at art shows in both Victoria and Canberra. I have also completed a number of public and private murals in Canberra and Victoria, including murals at Lakeside Leisure Centre – Tuggeranong Swimming Pool (Baby Pool) and Woden Early Childhood Centre in Canberra.
Dean Saddler - Warrior Art
Warrior art comes from an Indigenous, highly decorated first responder of 20 years, who found painting after serious injury was medically retired. A proud Wiradjuri man who finds mindfulness and paints by feel, the story evolves with each dot done by hand using acrylic.
Jo Layt - Quilluxe Creations
Jo Is a Canberra based quilling artist with over 10 years’ experience, weaving paper strips into intricate designs and forms. For those who don’t know, quilling is the art of rolling and shaping narrow paper strips into delicate, 3D designs.
Though her business Quilluxe Creations, Jo creates everything from greeting cards and unique giftware to framed art. You can find her work at Trove Canberra, a local cooperative of artists and makers with a gorgeous shop in Dickson.
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Hossei Abedi
Hossei is an independent photographer from Iran, born in 1986. His artistic practice is largely self-directed and developed outside formal support structures. His work is the result of travel, observation, and the documentation of places whose natural and cultural identities are undergoing change.
He continues his work at a time when many independent artists in Iran face economic challenges and the consequences of recent instability and conflict in the region. Maintaining an artistic practice under such circumstances requires persistence and long-term commitment. The purchase of his work not only helps bring these images to a wider audience, but also directly supports the continuation of his photographic projects and professional practice.
Ali Clinch
Ali Clinch is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans visual art, theatre and community storytelling. Based in Queanbeyan on Ngunnawal Country, she creates acrylic landscapes, watercolour portraits and participatory arts experiences that celebrate the people, places and everyday stories that shape our communities. With almost two decades of professional practice, Ali has built a reputation for creating work that brings people together. Her projects invite audiences to do more than observe: they encourage people to participate, share stories and discover the connections that exist between one another and the places they call home. Working across galleries, theatres, schools and community spaces, Ali believes that making art is a powerful way to foster belonging. Whether painting a portrait, directing a performance or leading a community creative project, she creates opportunities for people to connect through the shared experience of making, reflecting and celebrating together.
Sukhvinder Saggu - Saggu Artist
Sukhvinder has been living in Canberra for over 20 years. He has drawn and painted objects, nature, figures, and faces for more than 45 years. Received many prestigious awards, prizes, and honors in Australia, India, and the USA, his artwork has been featured in many publications including the International Artist, American Art Collector, Best of Drawing, Splash (book), and Watercolour Artist Magazines. Sukhvinder paints everyday simple objects with vibrant colors and textures in multiple mediums but prefers oil mediums and his style is realism to hyper-realism. Sukhvinder was a finalist a number of competitions by the International Artist magazine of the USA, in the Abstract/Experimental Art and portrait and Figure categories. Winner 11th Annual “Strokes of Genius” drawing art competition by The Best of Drawing magazine of USA and art published in the magazine in the Winter 2020 issue. Winner of “SPLASH 18” watercolor book-zine art competition by North Light Publishers; “Yellow Turban” artwork published in the book SPLASH 18 in July 2017
Lucy Tedder
Lucy Tedder is a Canberra based artist specialising in painting and works on paper. Her typical themes include the urban landscape, still life and other scenes of the everyday which she brings to life in hyper-colour.
Margaret Hadfield
Margaret Hadfield-Zorgdrager has been working as a professional artist in the Canberra/Queanbeyan region for 30 yrs. Margaret paints in all mediums and her major works have featured in numerous art awards including Paddington Art Prize, Portia Geach Art Prize, Gallipoli Art Prize and Fishers Ghost Art Prize.
Margaret won the 2006 Inaugural Gallipoli Art Prize and 6 of her military themed works have been exhibited by the Australian Government in the Netherlands, Turkey and France. The Gallipoli Series which are around 24 pieces have been exhibited in Griffith Regional Gallery, The Q Queanbeyan , Singleton Library and Corowa Civic Gallery.
Margaret's portraits include -Singer Helen Reddy, Australian of the year Professor Fiona Wood, basketballer Lauren Jackson, Elder Matilda House, Natasha Stott-Despoja and Geraldine Cox - all painted from life.
Anthea Kerrison - Solid Rocks Jewellery Designs
The idea behind Solid Rocks is budget-friendly jewellery that is still showcasing real stones: semi-precious gemstones, rocks, pearls, shell, real things not resin costume jewellery. And affordable.
Each piece is carefully designed, as that is why I do it, for the enjoyment of playing with interesting stones and pearls, and seeing what happens with each parcel of objects.
Most of the pearls and rocks come from the big gem fair in Salt Lake City, Utah, every winter.
I buy the other ingredients mostly from local Australian suppliers, and anything I can't find locally gets ordered from China.
I sell at very select markets around the ACT Region also.
