Chapman & Bailey

Celebrate the Spring Equinox with Artist and Life Model Elsa Thorp🌸23rd September, 6:45-9:30pm.

This intimate, untutored life drawing session merges the human form with raw botanical elements, inviting artists into a space of shared contemplation.

Drawing inspiration from Ikebana and her photographic collaboration with Amaury Geisel, Elsa weaves her deep relationship with seasonal local flora into life modelling. Posing in harmony with fresh, structural blossom branches, she offers artists a unique study of fleeting seasonal beauty and human form.

Buy tickets here: https://weteachme.com/classes/1047441-life-drawing-with-artist-and-life-model-elsa-thorp?timestamp=1787621222099&token=9nBHEMGWydfJJ45BuMxKFrk1DpMr



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We recently delivered these custom plinths to their new home, where they are displaying incredible sculptures by Anthony Pryor. Crafted by our bespoke display and furniture team, these plinths were made from black wood and gilded with 24 karat gold.

Lock Mechanism photos by .mahady as part of 'Locks, Cats and Various Discreet Moments', currently showing at .
The stunning frames were crafted by our framing department, using hardwood carefully painted black. AR70 anti-reflective glass was used to ensure a virtually unobstructed view of the intricate photos behind.

The show is on until the 29th of this month.🔓🔓🔓

Harry Rothel explains his art practice like a vice. When he's at work or running errands, away travelling—he's thinking about painting, "It's almost like an addiction, not knowing what you're going to make the next day, or how things will turn out, how the [will] paint react".

Read more about Harry's practice in our our second issue of Studio Forum which will be published this Thursday. Subscribe to the mailing list on our website to receive it straight to your inbox.

While most of us are familiar with the appearance of ornate gilded frames, what you might not know is the remarkable process of how they are created.

Here's Ying, Jarman's resident ornate frame crafter, cooking up the various materials used to make what she dubs 'compo'.

The messy and smelly process involves boiling and mixing a number of essential ingredients until the perfect consistency is achieved. This is formed into pancake shapes and set to dry, and eventually pressed into timber moulds.

Once affixed to prepared frames and after delicate shaping, carving and detailing, the entire thing is gilded with gold leaf for that iconic, opulent look.

We had the pleasure of spending a gloomy Melbourne morning with in her Fitzroy studio.
She took us through her unorthodox process of using encaustic wax medium, drawing sticks, encaustic paints and powdered pigment to create enchanting found object sculptures. We also got a glimpse into her long-standing painting practice which includes cold wax medium.

Ami Morris is the very first artist spotlight in our new monthly publication, Studio Forum: Conversations, studio practice, and material culture from Chapman & Bailey.

Every month, the publication will feature a spotlight; whether that be an artist, exhibition, institution or event. We'll have sneak-peaks into artworks residing into our art stockroom and intriguing goings-on in the workshops. We'll share materials that we're loving, and local events that we're looking forward to with our "What's On" guide.

Once subscribed, Studio Forum will land in your email inbox. The spotlights will live permanently on our website under the 'Arts & Culture' tab, where you can access long form text about each subject, including Ami.

We cannot wait for you to see it.

If like us, you love living with First Nations art, a bark painting is something every collection should include.

These two small but powerful works come from Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre (known simply as Buku by those who know it well), one of Australia's leading Indigenous-owned art and culture centres. Located in Yirrkala, in Northeast Arnhem Land, Buku supports more than 300 Yolŋu artists and filmmakers, nurturing cultural traditions while producing some of the world's most celebrated contemporary Indigenous art.

If you’ve experienced the extraordinary Bark Salon currently showing at NGV: Australia, saw Yolŋu Power at the Art Gallery of New South Wales last year, or visited the new Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met in New York, you'll already know the power and beauty of bark paintings.

These works may be modest in size, but they carry immense cultural knowledge and presence.

Images:
1. Milminyina Dhamarrandji, ‘Dhambadiny,’ 2022. Earth Pigments On Stringybark (Eucalyptus Tetradonta) 71 x 43 cm (Buku 6495-22)
2. Detail of above.
3. Lamangirra #2 Gumana, ‘Garrapara,’ 2023. Earth Pigments On Stringybark (Eucalyptus Tetradonta) 64 x 32 cm (Buku 3966-23)
4. Detail of above.

Read the in-depth stories behind these artworks on the cbOne Gallery website (link in bio), and explore our Art Centre page to discover more exceptional works from Buku and other Art Centres.
At Chapman & Bailey, we make custom aluminium cradles that can be adjusted as bark naturally responds to changes in humidity and temperature. The face clips are spray-painted to match each bark, providing conservation support while allowing the work to move safely over time.