JANET DAWSON, IAN GENTLE and LESLEY TURNBULL share an appreciation for the Australian environment. All three artists investigate the qualities of the natural world in different ways.

DAWSON has had a distinguished career as an abstract and figurative painter and printmaker. After DAWSON moved to Binalong, NSW, in 1973 her work became, as Andrew Sayers says, "engaged with the qualities of the natural world: not only the landscape, but the sheen of birds' feathers, the shapes of growing things, the endless pictorial possibilities of vegetables tended in the garden". Since this time DAWSON has been concerned with reflecting her own world. In 2006 a travelling survey exhibition of DAWSON's work began at the Bathurst Regional Gallery, and travelled to the SH Ervin Gallery, Queensland University Art Museum, Tasmanian Art Gallery and Mornington Peninsular Art Gallery.

GENTLE uses the iconic imagery of the Australian bush to create whimsical "stick" sculptures and wall works. GENTLE seamlessly transforms twigs and branches of Eucalypt trees into his own bush mythology - the images and imprints of animals. Curator Glen Barkley says GENTLE's work references "early Australian colonial furniture", as well as "the remains or skeletal framework, of some ancient insect or unknown mega-fauna". GENTLE's work is represented in almost all major state galleries as well as in extensive private collections.

TURNBULL's work appears as though it is viewed through a camera lens or the window of a moving car. The blurred scenes evoke the nostalgia of travelling through the Australian landscape. Trees in fields or on the horizon inhabit the tranquillity of TURNBULL's oil paintings. In this body of work Turnbull focuses on the landscape of Centennial Park in Sydney. She portrays the atmosphere of Centennial Park, capturing the changes in season, light and colour. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons.) from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales in 1999 TURNBULL has exhibited widely.



Stella Downer Fine Art will be at the Melbourne Art Fair. The gallery will be located at Stand B71 on the upper level of the Royal Exhibition Hall, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne. The gallery will be exhibiting eight artists - Rae Bolotin, Lynda Draper, Merran Esson, Graham Fransella, Paul Higgs, Ian Marr, Kevin Norton & Denese Oates - from its stable of thirty-four artists. Please see the images on the left. The Danks Street Gallery will remain open during this period.