Amanda Gardner - July 6, 2025

Hello and welcome!

No waxing lyrical this time around since it is only one month before the opening of two group exhibitions that I’m in!

It’s been a busy six months photographing and making work for Fresh Eyes 2025 (more about that here), as well as planning for Art Lab and preparing collages for framing.

Each of these exhibitions brings together a group of talented artists showing a range of thoughtful and compelling artwork, and I’m delighted to be exhibiting alongside them! Between us all, there will be painting, photography, collage, ceramics art, sculptural work and textiles.

My collages from the Ladies’ Home Journal series will be given an airing, along with four new small pieces made especially for Toward HOME at The Old Fire Station Gallery, Redcliffe. And, for the first time, selected pieces from the Language of Posing series will be shown at The Hub Gallery, Caboolture as part of Art Lab’s Aha! moments exhibition.

Please come and visit! Better yet, shoot me an email when you’re thinking of going and perhaps we can meet up!

In this exhibition the artists explore the concept of home as memory, body, history, family and longing. From ancestral connections to domestic critique, sensory experience and emotional terrain, each artist moves toward a different vision of what home is, or could be.

Through a multi-disciplinary approach, the works reflect on comfort and discomfort, presence and absence, rootedness and restlessness. Toward HOME is about searching and the journeys that shape a sense of belonging.

Aha! Moments has grown out of the conversations, writing, and shared inquiry that take place in Art Lab, where a small group of artists meet regularly to talk about art and art-making. It is a celebration of the artists within our group and the variety of practices in which they engage.

The exhibition showcases the value to artists of gathering in a supportive environment to ask questions and exchange perspectives, fostering trust and friendship along the way.

If you’re interested in knowing a bit more about Art Lab, I’m always happy to chat. I would love to hear from you! Here’s the origin story…

amandaigardner.com | @_amandaivy_