Leia’s work in this exhibition is a series of oil paintings called ‘Fear and Wonder’. These pieces shift through allegorical renderings of magic realms, hinting at the mystery that lies beneath the surface of outward appearance and experience. With a flair for the mischievous and fantastical, Sidery’s paintings extend an invitation to revisit fairytale realms, yet are always ghosted by the potential for danger.

Lisa Bowen is a mixed media artist who grew up in small-town England. She studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College between 1999 and 2003, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Lisa found her way to Australia and the glorious inner West of Sydney four years ago, where her love for sunshine and the creative local community took firm root, lending to her work a new perspective.

Lisa’s work is kind of a celebration of failure: our flaws, personal problems and life’s losers. In Far Away Home she exhibited a series called ‘How to String a Sentence Together’ (pictured). The work came about after she found a copy of The Penguin Book of Clichés, amnd began thinking about these curious little collections of words that we are so often told to avoid. She then began to notice that in nearly every conversation she encountered, clichés were used.

Beginning to “collect” these clichés as they appeared naturally in conversation, Lisa found herself cherishing them – labouring over each letter as she stitched, and then lovingly framing each phrase. “Every day as more clichés popped up, I became ritualistic about writing them down immediately, before they were gone!” she says.

Bekky Keong is young artist based in Sydney. As an extraordinary student, Bekky received the HSC Distinguished Achievement award in Textiles and Design with the highest scores in NSW. Her Textiles Major Work was selected for TexStyle; making her one of only twenty five students in the State. While she works in a variety of mediums, much of her work is a variation of textiles and/or photography. She is passionate about the simple beauty and joy art can create. She addresses this through her use of intriguing aesthetics, texture and intricate, detailed techniques.

For Far Away Home Keong created a world for her charismatic fabric creatures, ‘The Smogs’. These soft, colourful and strange looking beings are all handmade from recycled materials. The installation ‘Smog on a Mountain’ depicted an imaginative land of quirky, friendly little beasts.  Each Smog is made with a unique, lovable outer and inner character suitable for all viewers. These charming individual creations have acquired their own traits, interests and personalities, and Bekky worked within the gallery space to build a place where the Smogs felt right at home.

CHECKOUT: Plump Gallery: full of Juicy concepts and ripe ideas. 240 Enmore Road, Enmore (NSW).