A Place to Call Home exhbition of watercolours 24 April-05 May 2024

Marta Madison is an author, public speaker, and fine artist specialising in fashion and architectural paintings. Her art practice normally focuses on fashion illustration and fine art, but since 2021, she has embarked on a series of watercolour portraits of homes built in Federation Queen and Arts and Crafts styles in NSW and Victoria. This fascination with art and heritage houses came about during a walk around her neighbourhood of Crows Nest, Willoughby and Cammeray in 2020.

"Somewhere in every human heart there lives an old house", says Marta. "Houses are important gathering places, giving us a secure sense of where we are today and where we have come from. Old buildings and their surroundings share a mutual history. It's one reason preservationists like historic districts and neighborhoods: the presence of houses of compatible design and comparable age, in near-original settings, enhances a neighbourhood as a whole, giving us a glimpse of aesthetic trends and how things have changed. This is the reason heritage houses are important and why they matter. We need to preserve these homes."

The tradition of artistic depictions of private homes normally commissioned by landowners to show their status, has been popular for centuries and remains an important historical reference of early architectural styles. Marta is carrying on the tradition of heritage home artist and this solo exhibition will showcase 25 paintings and drawings, sketches and artifacts from her research and practice.

Marta continues, "When settlers arrived in Australia from the UK, they brough this tradition and it became an important source of income for many early NSW colonial artists, such as Eugène von Guérard, Louis Buvelot, William Tibbits, Conrad Martens, Nicholas Chevalier and Thomas Clark. The pictorial legacy left by the 19th century painters of house portraits not only demonstrates the origins of Australian artistic patronage, but also provides an insight into the cultural and social aspirations of successful colonial landowners.

These houses, primarily built in the Federation and Queen Anne styles, also reflect the tastes and talents of the tradespeople and architects from Europe who arrived here in the 1800s. There are wonderful examples throughout Australian cities and rural areas."

"This project has brought me so much joy, allowing me to spend time with the current owners, learning about the histories of the houses, how they were lovingly restored and what the houses mean to them. Recordings of homeowners reliving their journey from dereliction (in some cases) to award-winning renovation are available on my website (www.drawntofashion.com.au/sydney-illustrator-marta-madison). It is fascinating to listen to their stories of how they came to acquire the homes and the hurdles they faced as they tried to realise the dream of restoring them to their current glory."

Each artwork is A3 size and shows the front facade of each house as seen at street level. Descriptions of each house painting are available in an extensively researched catalogue which visitors can purchase. Marta will be available during the exhibition as artist-in-residence, to greet visitors and talk about her journey as a heritage artist and impart the knowledge she's gleaned from her time researching the homes. She self-published a book of her fashion illustrations in 2021 called, Girl Can Draw, available in good bookstores and through www.girlcandraw.net

In closing, Marta says, "I hope to inspire a deeper appreciation of heritage houses within the community and start a dialogue on why these houses matter. It made sense to involve the Australian Heritage Festival, thus the exhibition will coincide with NSW Heritage Month,18 Apr-19 May 2024. Exhibition venue: Artspace@The Concourse, Chatswood, 24 April -05 May 2024, 11-5pm Wednesday to Sunday. Email the artist at [email protected]

https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/ahf_event/a-place-called-home-why-heritage-houses-matter/

Closed Anzac Day 25th April.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Art Space at the Concourse,, Sydney, Australia