EXPLORE OUR
ART GALLERY
The gallery showcases a collection of work by local and non-local Australian artists. On display you will find oils on canvas and paper varying in sizes, graphite’s and jewellery all with an equine theme. The Storybank invites everyone to enjoy the artist elements on offer.
These are the stories behind the first artists exhibiting at The Storybank...
Emma Llewelyn
Emma Llewelyn is an art teacher and artist living in the Southern Highlands NSW. After completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts she went on to specialize in animal and wildlife art, particularly horses and dogs. She creates realistic pet portraits from client photos, capturing the essence and personality of the subject. She also completes original animal and rural themed artworks. Emma mainly works in graphite and soft pastel.
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Emma has had several exhibitions, and won many awards and championships at various agricultural show art prizes. She has been accepted as a finalist in the Sydney Royal Easter Show several times. She has also had a feature article in the Australian Brumby Magazine, and sponsored several equestrian competitions and shows.
Emma's love of animals extends off the paper, with quite a menagerie of her own. She has three cats, two German Shepherds, a stock horse called Shadow and a quarter horse called Flame. Together they ride the forests and trails, and compete in team sorting. Her love of animals enables her to capture them so empathetically in her artwork.
Peter Mortimore
Childhood memories of the rugged beauty of our unforgiving Australian Outback, elements of family history and an eye for detail combine to contribute to the works and success of Peter Mortimore – the artist.
Traces of family history, interfaced with a love of horses, are reflected in the content of his works, with Peter’s Grandfather, a Master Farrier on the Bristol Tramways in England, losing his life whilst shoeing a difficult horse. His grandfather was an eight-horse ploughman before arriving on our shores back in 1911. His mother’s father a breeder of Australian Stock Horses, who sadly lost his life in a riding accident, taught Peter to ride.
Peter’s interest in horses is ever present; his thorough understanding of their anatomy and intense interest in their behavior ensures that his paintings portray them intricately, bringing each ones character to life, no matter the medium.
Although Peter’s subject matter is varied, a common theme emerges of the image of the Australian Stockman and his mount, as well as the austere beauty of outback landscapes. Peter paints in his studio in Dorrigo, and has enjoyed many successful exhibitions both throughout Australia and Internationally.
A self taught artist, Peter spends quality time – often up to 100 hours – on a single drawing, and more on a painting, as it is totally drawn before paint is applied. His work reflects his absolute eye for detail, and experience has shown that he is able to develop almost ‘photographic’ images of his subjects – a compliment he has enjoyed over and over, and one which provides him with a great deal of personal satisfaction.
After attending Sydney University, Peter commenced working life as a Stock and Station Agent. His employment required him to move extensively throughout NSW and Queensland, where he often came across stockmen and drovers moving their herds along the ‘long paddocks’. Images of the countryside and it’s characters, reflecting those enjoyed by Peter as a boy growing up in Moree, are present in many of the works he produces today on a professional basis. Peter and his wife Carolyn own and operate the Peter Mortimore Gallery in Dorrigo NSW.
Sue Fraser
Sue is a ceramic artist working from her studio in the hinterland behind Ballina in Northern NSW. She feels inspired by the symbolic decorative vocabulary found in the art of China and social and cultural stories of the T’ang Dynasty; a period of time when a woman ruled over The Middle Kingdom. Throughout history women and horses have been used as pawns in conquests, extension of territories and cultural alliances in times of conflict.
In both 2 and 3D Art throughout history the horse is depicted as an agent for areas of human experience. They elevate and transport providing a sense of freedom and power Horses continue to be desired by many for their strength fragility and beauty.
Sue has been a competitive equestrian and had horses of many types for a greater part of her life, growing up on a farm where horses were used daily. About 12 years ago her art studies introduced Sue to their importance within many different cultures. While she was researching women, horses and power. She finds that concubines educated in the arts for the entertainment of men were referred to as thin horses, so she stated making fat horses.
"I hand build coiling and modelling to develop shapes and forms. Using a decorative symbolic language they are fused by the alchemy of firing processes to develop ideas where fragility and strength of the horse and its interaction with women is expressed in clay. Taking history as my starting point I develop many ideas through various surface treatments, firing processes and form".
Miss Vet
Otherwise known as Jillian Kelly, Miss Vet is a livestock veterinarian by day, and an artist by night. She paints the finer parts of bush life: horses, pink lipstick, a well-shaped cowboy hat, pretty dresses and cowboy boots.
Jillian started painting in 2015, is self taught and creates all of her beautiful work from her studio on her farm near Coonamble, in western NSW. As well as original art pieces, including commissions, she creates limited edition prints, greeting cards and tags, and has lots of new creative ideas in the pipeline! Stay up to date with all of Miss Vet's work by following her on Facebook and Instagram.
Tracey Mackie
Tracey is one of our local artists. She lives in a lovely rural village called Lyndhurst, which is located in the Central West of NSW, Australia.
She shares her live with a few crazy horses, chooks, sheep, and an alpaca. They have a lovely little Jack Russell/Mini Foxie cross dog (that they got as rescue from Jack Russell Rescue) and three gorgeous fluffy moggies.
She grew up on a farm and always lived in a rural area and this is what heavily influences her paintings. She loves to paint the animals especially that surround her.
"I am an early childhood/primary teacher, but turned to painting to give my youngest child (on the Autism Spectrum), the extra help he needed in his high school years (and now in his trainee ship). I enjoy the time I get to paint as it is so wonderfully relaxing and very good for the soul when you need it to be. I love listening to my music and wondering what is going to appear on my blank canvas!
​I have really enjoyed my artistic journey. I have met some really lovely people through it - clients, artistic souls, and some wonderful likers on Facebook and Instagram, who always take the time to like or comment on my paintings. I've got artwork now all over Australia and also internationally, and the feeling is surreal to know that there are people out there loving my art, just as much as I love creating it! I'll never get tired of this path I am on. Please know too that your purchases help make a big difference in helping out. It's so nice to be able to contribute something to help pay bills and buy groceries!"
