Judy Hawking-Burnett
Fitzroy Library Exhibition Space
21 December 2008 - 28 February 2009
Open Spaces
Paintings on the environment, and jewellery


Everton Hills (2 panels), acrylic on canvas, 45cm x 90cm, 2006

Judy’s exhibition, titled “Open Spaces”, showed 15 acrylics on canvas, semi abstract landscapes which included works that had been inspired by her surrounding environment in and around Beechworth in Victoria. She has also been inspired by the works of Fred Williams and Jackson Pollock. Of her work, she wrote: “I take colors, shapes and forms from the environment and transform them into paint... My work varies from abstract, to abstract expressionism or sometimes an impression of the subject matter.” She uses palette knives, syringes and dripping techniques to achieve textural and linear effects. The result is luscious, painterly works that successfully portray Australian landscapes.


Lilies I and Lilies II (2 panels), acrylic on canvas, 45cm x 90cm, 2006

In Lilies I and Lilies II, a two panelled work, thick juicy bright green leaves floated on dark blue waters. Desert Flowers II was full of vigour and growth, the stems and foliage shooting upwards, with impressions of flowers in white and yellow blobs. In Everton Hills, a diptych of pale green hill with deep blue mountain ranges in the background, the trees on the hill were simplified thick blob forms on stems, very effective from close and far range.
In recent years, Judy studied metal smithing and jewellery making, using colour and surface treatments and incorporating elements of her painting style into the designs. Her exhibition included 12 metal pendants, beautifully handcrafted in various metals, and each with its necklet of PVC, leatherette or sterling silver.


Pendant 6, heat coloured titanium, brass, gold, PVC, 2008

Judy’s pendants also showed inspiration taken from bush and landscape. Pendants 1 and 3 were nickel silver oblongs etched with images of trees that echoed her paintings. In Pendant 6, the tree images were formed by perforations in the titanium and brass base, heat treated to colour the metal in shimmers of blue, purple and gold. Pendant 8 was also coloured; the rolled copper mounted on nickel silver was shaded from deep rust to gold. The pendants and paintings made a very attractive display.

Review by Cressida Fox