For the month of May, 2018, two other artists and Flemons were living at the UNSW Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station, a 39,000 hectare property located 112 north of Broken Hill.

It hasn’t rained at Fowlers Gap since 2016 and the salt bushes in the rocky landscape have been gnawed down by goats and sheep. River red gums survive in the dry creek that runs in front of the Green House where Flemons were staying and the passing traffic consisted of kangaroos, echidnas, sheep, goats, galahs, willy wagtails, parrots and a frog which lived in the toilet. He appeared at the beginning on the full moon and reappeared on the last nights of the stay with the return of the moon.

Despite the drought and harshness and the degradation of the land there is a beauty at Fowler’s Gap that attracts artists from around the world. The play of light across the hills and plains and the creek throughout the day from sunrise to sunset offers a constantly changing plethora of colours, some of which are impossible to describe in words.

The work exhibited here is a selection of the watercolours, drawings and acrylic paintings the artist completed en plein air at various locations around the station at different times of the day. The acrylic paintings on board are textured with modelling compound and the red dust and other detritus found where Flemons was working. Lynne Flemons is an established artist who has completed numerous commissions and residencies in Australia and internationally. Her work is featured on a series of energy boxes in Goulburn’s CBD as part of the Gallery’s public art initiative. See the Gallery for information on individual works.