MEDIA RELEASE: ART EXHIBITION
Invitation: here.
Group photo artists here (file name has initials)
Artists’ statements and bios
Artwork catalogue
Expanded Perspectives: The artists from Farmer Street Studio.
Six studio artists at the Farmer Street Studio are holding an inaugural exhibition at their North Perth studio between the 8th and 17th August 2025.
The studio has been a mainstay of the Perth fine art community for over 33 years, changing its name four times and location three times over this period. Originally it was established in 1992 by a group of ECU graduates, as the Select Plumbers Studio in Wellman Street in Northbridge, later renaming to reflect its location as the Wellman Street Artist Studio. Then it renamed and relocated to Robertson Park in Fitzgerald St, West Perth where it stayed for 20 years. In 2023 the City of Vincent assisted the then Robertson Park Artists Studio to relocate to its current location in North Perth. Over the 33 years the studio has been an art making space for 32 studio artists and over 1500 adult art class students.
The current studio artists are Graham Hay, Carol Rowling, Frances Dennis, Sarah Jane Marchant, Christopher McClelland and Lauren Jane Salt. These six artists are all established artists with their own distinctive styles, media and genres. Their works range from realism and figurative to abstract and conceptual. There are large and small scale works, paintings and sculptures. As well as regularly showing individually, they gather together for this group exhibition. Their work can be found in many public and private collections, both in Australia and overseas, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia. ‘Expanded Perspectives’ metaphorically refers to the diversity, conceptual framework and ideas explored within the exhibition.
Christopher McClelland is a multi-award winning artist who has held over 20 solo exhibitions, both in Australia and overseas. He is represented in public and private collections in Australia, Europe and the United States. Light, colour and atmosphere are important aspects of his work. Using traditional oil painting techniques, McClelland often paints lush oceans and landscapes, but rather than each work being a comfortable evocation of place, McClelland creates whimsical explorations of identity and culture by disrupting his scenes with surreal or discordant inclusions.
Frances Dennis’ inspiration lies essentially in using Australian Landscape as an enduring subject. Her enthusiasm lies in using paint, mixed media and marks to form the visual language of the work. While working memories are triggered, grabbed and made concrete. This process provides her with enough space to muse and hypothesise, for the viewer to do likewise and perhaps even recognise. Frances has been an artist at Robertson Park for nearly 24 years.
Carol Rowling studied Art and Design at TAFE and the Claremont School of Art. A member of the Robertson Park Studio since 2000, Carol has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally at private galleries and art fairs including Sydney, London, Madrid, Bologna and Galway. She held her first solo at Turner Galleries in 2018, followed by a second at Collie Art Gallery later that year. Carol creates textural painting from an aerial perspective using ochres collected from the Pilbara and Kimberley region. Her work has no narrative and is purely subjective by the viewer.
Sarah Jane Marchant is a contemporary landscape painter originally trained as an illustrator in the UK. After travelling to the Kimberley region of WA over 20 years ago, she fell in love with the vivid landscape and never left. Sarah exhibits extensively over Western Australia, now her adopted home, and has work in private collections across the globe. In recent years Sarah has also returned to illustrating for local WA authors and also runs popular adult painting classes from the studio space. Having spent many years exploring the iconic Boab tree of the Kimberley within her work, Sarah has turned to the fauna of the region with a focus on the endangered Gouldian Finch, for the current exhibition, producing a short series of quirky colourful Gouldian girls hoping to bring attention to their plight.
Graham Hay has participated in 180 exhibitions across 16 countries, including seven biennales. His artwork has been acquired by public collections in eight countries, including the Art Gallery of WA, and features in 22 textbooks and dozens of art journals. Graham has won 23 awards, including: Highly Commended at the 2025 Queensland Siliceous Award for Ceramic Excellence, First Prize at the 2024 New Zealand Forsyth Barr Contemporary Ceramics Award, and the 2021 Minderoo Station Artist Residency Grant. The biomorphic works finally released in this exhibition explore the fragility of abundance, and were predominantly made during this residency. This project was made possible due the support of the Minderoo Foundation Artist Fund.
Lauren Jane Salt is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with clay and organic materials. Drawing on her English–Bidayuh heritage and a background in floristry, her practice explores transformation, mythology, and cultural memory. What is held in the body, and what is revealed through process and time. Based in Boorloo (Perth), Lauren creates sculptural ceramic works that trace intuitive gestures and relational forms. She has exhibited locally, including as part of the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial (IOTA24), and recently presented her debut solo exhibition Crossing Portals at Lightworks Gallery in 2025. Lauren also teaches ceramic sculpture and handbuilding at Farmer Street Studio in North Perth.
KEY DETAILS MEDIA RELEASE:
“Expanded Perspectives”is an exhibition of recent artworks by the Farmer Street Studio artists: Lauren Jane Salt, Christopher McClelland, Sarah Jane Marchant, Frances Dennis, Carol Rowling and Graham Hay, at the Farmer Street Studio, 10 Farmer Street, North Perth. The exhibition is open to the public daily 8-17 August 10am-3pm.
Exhibition Opening Night: Friday August 8, 6:30pm-8:30pm. To be opened by Alison Xamon, Mayor of Vincent at 6:30pm. More: https://www.farmerstreetstudio.com
Map to the studio: https://www.farmerstreetstudio.com/where.html
Artist websites links from: https://www.farmerstreetstudio.com/artists.html
Christopher McClelland 0434 542 617 [email protected] IG: @christophermcclellandartist
Carol Rowling 0422 888 245 IG: @carolrowlingartist
Graham Hay 0432 978 733 [email protected] https://www.grahamhay.com.au
Sarah Marchant 0415 199 776 http://www.sarahjanemarchant.com/
Frances Dennis: 0415 833 391 http://www.francesdennis.com/
Lauren Jane Salt [email protected] https://www.laurenjanesalt.au/
Group photo artists here (file name has initials)
Artists’ statements and bios
Artwork catalogue
Expanded Perspectives: The artists from Farmer Street Studio.
Six studio artists at the Farmer Street Studio are holding an inaugural exhibition at their North Perth studio between the 8th and 17th August 2025.
The studio has been a mainstay of the Perth fine art community for over 33 years, changing its name four times and location three times over this period. Originally it was established in 1992 by a group of ECU graduates, as the Select Plumbers Studio in Wellman Street in Northbridge, later renaming to reflect its location as the Wellman Street Artist Studio. Then it renamed and relocated to Robertson Park in Fitzgerald St, West Perth where it stayed for 20 years. In 2023 the City of Vincent assisted the then Robertson Park Artists Studio to relocate to its current location in North Perth. Over the 33 years the studio has been an art making space for 32 studio artists and over 1500 adult art class students.
The current studio artists are Graham Hay, Carol Rowling, Frances Dennis, Sarah Jane Marchant, Christopher McClelland and Lauren Jane Salt. These six artists are all established artists with their own distinctive styles, media and genres. Their works range from realism and figurative to abstract and conceptual. There are large and small scale works, paintings and sculptures. As well as regularly showing individually, they gather together for this group exhibition. Their work can be found in many public and private collections, both in Australia and overseas, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia. ‘Expanded Perspectives’ metaphorically refers to the diversity, conceptual framework and ideas explored within the exhibition.
Christopher McClelland is a multi-award winning artist who has held over 20 solo exhibitions, both in Australia and overseas. He is represented in public and private collections in Australia, Europe and the United States. Light, colour and atmosphere are important aspects of his work. Using traditional oil painting techniques, McClelland often paints lush oceans and landscapes, but rather than each work being a comfortable evocation of place, McClelland creates whimsical explorations of identity and culture by disrupting his scenes with surreal or discordant inclusions.
Frances Dennis’ inspiration lies essentially in using Australian Landscape as an enduring subject. Her enthusiasm lies in using paint, mixed media and marks to form the visual language of the work. While working memories are triggered, grabbed and made concrete. This process provides her with enough space to muse and hypothesise, for the viewer to do likewise and perhaps even recognise. Frances has been an artist at Robertson Park for nearly 24 years.
Carol Rowling studied Art and Design at TAFE and the Claremont School of Art. A member of the Robertson Park Studio since 2000, Carol has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally at private galleries and art fairs including Sydney, London, Madrid, Bologna and Galway. She held her first solo at Turner Galleries in 2018, followed by a second at Collie Art Gallery later that year. Carol creates textural painting from an aerial perspective using ochres collected from the Pilbara and Kimberley region. Her work has no narrative and is purely subjective by the viewer.
Sarah Jane Marchant is a contemporary landscape painter originally trained as an illustrator in the UK. After travelling to the Kimberley region of WA over 20 years ago, she fell in love with the vivid landscape and never left. Sarah exhibits extensively over Western Australia, now her adopted home, and has work in private collections across the globe. In recent years Sarah has also returned to illustrating for local WA authors and also runs popular adult painting classes from the studio space. Having spent many years exploring the iconic Boab tree of the Kimberley within her work, Sarah has turned to the fauna of the region with a focus on the endangered Gouldian Finch, for the current exhibition, producing a short series of quirky colourful Gouldian girls hoping to bring attention to their plight.
Graham Hay has participated in 180 exhibitions across 16 countries, including seven biennales. His artwork has been acquired by public collections in eight countries, including the Art Gallery of WA, and features in 22 textbooks and dozens of art journals. Graham has won 23 awards, including: Highly Commended at the 2025 Queensland Siliceous Award for Ceramic Excellence, First Prize at the 2024 New Zealand Forsyth Barr Contemporary Ceramics Award, and the 2021 Minderoo Station Artist Residency Grant. The biomorphic works finally released in this exhibition explore the fragility of abundance, and were predominantly made during this residency. This project was made possible due the support of the Minderoo Foundation Artist Fund.
Lauren Jane Salt is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with clay and organic materials. Drawing on her English–Bidayuh heritage and a background in floristry, her practice explores transformation, mythology, and cultural memory. What is held in the body, and what is revealed through process and time. Based in Boorloo (Perth), Lauren creates sculptural ceramic works that trace intuitive gestures and relational forms. She has exhibited locally, including as part of the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial (IOTA24), and recently presented her debut solo exhibition Crossing Portals at Lightworks Gallery in 2025. Lauren also teaches ceramic sculpture and handbuilding at Farmer Street Studio in North Perth.
KEY DETAILS MEDIA RELEASE:
“Expanded Perspectives”is an exhibition of recent artworks by the Farmer Street Studio artists: Lauren Jane Salt, Christopher McClelland, Sarah Jane Marchant, Frances Dennis, Carol Rowling and Graham Hay, at the Farmer Street Studio, 10 Farmer Street, North Perth. The exhibition is open to the public daily 8-17 August 10am-3pm.
Exhibition Opening Night: Friday August 8, 6:30pm-8:30pm. To be opened by Alison Xamon, Mayor of Vincent at 6:30pm. More: https://www.farmerstreetstudio.com
Map to the studio: https://www.farmerstreetstudio.com/where.html
Artist websites links from: https://www.farmerstreetstudio.com/artists.html
Christopher McClelland 0434 542 617 [email protected] IG: @christophermcclellandartist
Carol Rowling 0422 888 245 IG: @carolrowlingartist
Graham Hay 0432 978 733 [email protected] https://www.grahamhay.com.au
Sarah Marchant 0415 199 776 http://www.sarahjanemarchant.com/
Frances Dennis: 0415 833 391 http://www.francesdennis.com/
Lauren Jane Salt [email protected] https://www.laurenjanesalt.au/