NRCG Annual Program 2026

annual program 2026

acknowledgement The Northern Rivers Community Gallery & Ignite Studios respectfully acknowledges the Nyangbal people of the Bundjalung Nation as the traditional owners of the land upon which the Gallery and Ignite Studios stands.

We pay respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge their living culture and unique role in the creative life of this region.

Images: (cover) Jacqueline Scotcher, Slow Dawn (detail), 2024; (pgs 1-2) Sam McPherson, Mossy Top (detail), 2024; (pgs 3-4) Laila Page, Raining Landscape (detail), 2024.

contents Acknowledgement

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Mayoral Message

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About Us

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Welcome / Coordinator's Message

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Exhibition Program

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Public Programs & Ignite Studios

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Gallery Shop

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Getting Involved

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mayoral message The annual Northern Rivers Community Gallery creative program for 2026 promises to deliver an exciting and inspiring year, with a dynamic mix of interdisciplinary and experimental contemporary exhibitions featuring local, regional and national artists.

Our Gallery Coordinator, Imbi Davidson, leads a dedicated team of staff and wonderful volunteers.

Together, they’re set to make 2026 one of the Gallery’s most vibrant years yet.

Throughout the year, the Gallery will present a first-class exhibition program showcasing leading Australian artists alongside emerging talent. It will host the Byron School of Art and Southern Cross University Graduate Awards, and continue to build an inclusive, accessible and diverse arts program.

At the same time, Ignite Studios will deliver a rich suite of public programs, including creative workshops, inconversation series, engaging community projects, and excitingly, the launch of a new community ceramics studio and kiln firing services.

NRCG is a vital and valuable arts organisation in the Ballina Shire and is essential to supporting the community’s vibrant arts and cultural life. I look forward to seeing the 2026 program come to life.

Sharon Cadwallader | Mayor Ballina Shire Council

about us The Northern Rivers Community Gallery (NRCG) has established itself as an important arts and cultural institution of the Northern Rivers, fostering creative exhibitions and programs, supporting opportunities where arts and culture can thrive and positively contributing to a vibrant creative community for Ballina.

Housed in the heritage listed former Ballina Municipal Council Chambers and Ballina Fire Station, NRCG & Ignite Studios is a buzzing arts and cultural precinct, equipped with professional gallery spaces, a retail outlet, artist studios, workshop/project spaces, artist residency, ceramics studio and kiln services. Our facilities support a range of economic and creative development opportunities across the creative industries.

Images: (pgs 5-6) Ameila Reid, Sometimes the Land (detail), 2025; (pgs 7-8) Paul Brown, Double Dragon (detail), 2024.

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welcome Welcome to the 2026 NRCG annual program, featuring upcoming exhibitions and providing a snapshot into the activities and services NRCG delivers across the gallery and Ignite Studios.

This year’s program highlights the outstanding contribution of artists from across the region and presents exhibitions from national, emerging and established artists. NRCG’s gallery program continues to be highly competitive and gaining notoriety, which ensures strong submissions and a curated program of excellence each year.

Throughout 2026, NRCG will deliver a range of considered public programs including creative workshops, artist talks in the gallery, special community events, and the launch of Ignite Ceramics, a community focused ceramics studio and kiln services for Ballina based ceramicists.

There are so many ways to engage with our creative community in 2026. We are always looking for bespoke wares and new suppliers for our gallery shop and welcome applications for new volunteers to join the team as gallery ambassadors. The best way to stay up to date is to visit our website, sign up for our monthly newsletter, or follow us on social media.

On behalf of the NRCG team, we look forward to welcoming you in 2026.

Imbi Davidson | Coordinator Gallery & Ignite Studios

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exhibition program

january exhibitions 8 January - 1 March 2026

Into the Forest Karyn Fendley Drawn from the lakes, estuaries, and forests that grow in the coastal national parks of northern New South Wales, the artist offers viewers a moment of stillness to reconnect with the natural world.

Image: Karyn Fendley, Wetlands (detail), 2023

A Light Hold Eliza Adam Responding directly to her surroundings, Adam explores recent and distant histories of place. Drawn from quiet observations of the natural landscape, these works are a meditation on the substance and the essential material nature of our world and our relationship within it.

Image: Eliza Adam, Lucent (detail), 2024

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exhibition program

Temporal collapse Linsey Gosper Linsey’s work explores the intersection of art and magic through analogue photography and darkroom processes.

Central to this exhibition is the altar—an assemblage of symbolic objects, serving as a timeless site of ritual, devotion, and offering.

Image: Linsey Gosper, Pegasus (detail), 2025

Boundary Rider Jacqueline & Dane Scotcher The artists' believe that connecting with the natural environment’s rhythms is at the threshold of deeper inner knowing. Through a ‘slow’ approach to digital animation and abstract painting, the duo attempt to give credence to these often intangible and quiet internal terrains, essential in navigating an increasingly noisy external world.

Image: Dane Scotcher, Therapy (detail of video still), 2025

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march exhibitions 5 March - 26 April 2026

How water flows Laila Page In this body of work, artist Laila Page explores the idea of painting light and water as it flows onto and through the landscape. The paintings are semi-abstract, with each mark reflecting nature's forces and rays of light.

Image: Laila Page, Raining landscape (detail), 2024

TRANS/FORM Dean Stewart In TRANS/FORM, Dean Stewart extends his practice of working with found objects and discarded materials, with a focus on metamorphosis. The works occupy a space between destruction and renewal, inviting reflection on how transformation is both unsettling and liberating.

Image: Dean Stewart, Shifting Light (detail), 2025

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exhibition program

The Time Travellers' Manual Darren Bryant This exhibition showcases the merging of old and new print technologies to interrogate ideas surrounding 'the aura of the original'. Bryant's practice is concerned with the language of the matrix connected to pressure, memory, and loss.

Image: Darren Bryant, memory + image, 2024

SheMossLed: Reimagining Human Connection Sam McPherson, Sigrid Macdonald & Tyler Solleder This immersive art exhibition explores the relationship between humans and nature through the sensory qualities of moss. The project creates a multi-sensory environment designed to engage visitors through touch and sound, and by integrating innovative accessibility features.

Image: Sam McPherson, Moss Wall, 2025

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may exhibitions 30 April - 21 June 2026

My mind is an advertisement Nic Palmer This series presents a perspective on the use of image editing software in the creation of oil paintings. The artist explores how digital advertising, the internet, and gaming, can influence and shape our minds.

Image: Nic Palmer, fragments internal, 2025

Line of expression Dianne Ingram This selection of mixed-media abstracted works document the artist's travels throughout Australia. Created sequentially, the series of works on paper are a mixture of plein air drawing, memories, and interpretations of visited landscapes.

Image: Dianne Ingram, Layers of existence, 2025

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exhibition program

Debris James Bourbon This exhibition presents large-scale, black and white hand-painted banners built from reused print media.

Their striking scale echoes advertising, rebuilding past imagery to question consumer culture and its influence on everyday life.

Image: James Bourbon, Debris Coastal Field Test 2.1, 2025

Colonies: The Geometric Sublime – Art That Makes Itself Paul Brown These artworks are created by digital colonies of artificial agents—small programs that use artificial intelligence and artificial life (A-Life) to interact. Each agent observes its neighbours and adjusts its behaviour based on the overall state of the group.

Image: Paul Brown, Double Dragon (detail), 2025

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july exhibitions 25 June - 16 August 2026

Origin Myths Swerve Swerve's paintings explore adoption as an origin narrative, questioning the myth that biological origins define identity. Through vibrant, playful imagery informed by new materialism, the work examines identity as fluid and continually becoming Image: Swerve, God in three persons (detail), 2025

Love letters Amelia Reid This exhibition is a series of love letters to the biosphere: the thin layer of minerals, gas and water that sustains all life on earth. Through a series of paintings, the artist responds to the seven kilometres containing the breadth of life’s beauty and tragedy, held against the infinite vacuum of space.

Image: Amelia Reid, Dreamland (detail), 2025 photo by Stephen Gleeson

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exhibition program

2025 SCU Graduate Award Rebecca Lavery Presented in partnership with Southern Cross University (SCU), this exhibition showcases the recipient of the Graduate Art Award, presented to a Bachelor of Art and Design student for creative excellence.

Image: Rebecca Lavery, Crowd Surfing (detail), 2024

Nanang Wabang Sonya Breckenridge & Maurita Moran Nanang Wabang, big sister and little sister, explores connection's to Nyangbal Country and Kin through the creative mentorship between Aunty Sonya Breckenridge and her neice, Maurita Moran.

Image: Sonya Breckenridge, Big sister little sisters (detail), 2025

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september exhibitions 20 August - 11 October 2026

The duality of Dale Burke Dale Burke is a painter of mythical landscapes. He blends found photographic imagery into bright vibrant compositions that are at once familiar yet remain somehow very illusive.

Image: Dale Burke, Blue Green Tree (detail), 2024

Feliz Cumpleaños (Happy Birthday) Estefania Minniti (FANIA) Feliz Cumpleaños (Happy Birthday) explores birthdays as both celebration and confrontation. Through expressive paintings and handbuilt ceramic sculptures, Fania reveals the tension between joy and discomfort, humour and melancholy.

Image: Estefania Minniti, Feliz Cumpleaños (detail), 2024

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exhibition program

If not now, when? Christina Waterson Balancing self-doubt with self-belief, grief with joy, the ache of growth and healing with alchemy, Waterson maps her personal journey through the transformation of everyday materials.

Image: Christina Waterson, A Garland For My Heart, 2023

The 15th Annual Grace Cruice Memorial Exhibition BACCI Presented by Ballina Arts & Crafts Centre Incorporated (BACCI), the 15th Annual Grace Cruice Memorial Exhibition is a tribute to founding member, Grace Cruice and her vision showcasing the best works created by BACCI members.

Image: 12th Annual Grace Cruice Memorial Exhibition (installation view) photo by Ben Wyeth

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november exhibitions 15 October - 6 December 2026

Fragile Mappings Rachel Dun The works in this exhibition explore the fragile rainforests of the Northern Rivers through printmaking, artist books, and works on paper developed from time spent in the landscape.

Image: Rachel Dun, Spark Dreams (detail), 2025

Traces and Thaw Antoinette O'Brien Through fired and unfired sculptures, river documentation, and miniatures, this exhibition examines how materials and spaces carry stories of environmental disruption and care. Using ceramic figures, moving image and sound work, O'Brien explores displacement, resilience and transformation.

Image: Antoinette O'Brien, Ice Instrument Trial, 2025

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exhibition program

BSA Graduate Award Kirsty Marshall Presented in partnership with the Byron School of Art (BSA), this exhibition showcases the work of a recent graduate and promotes the professional development for an outstanding graduate from the BSA three year course.

Image: Kirsty Marshall, Walking the Dog (Neighbourhood) (detail), 2024

The World Came Flooding In Isobel Knowles & Van Sowerwine Through an immersive and sensitive portrayal of life before, during and after natural disaster, this exhibition uses virtual reality and detailed miniature sets, with community-made replicas of lost furniture to evoke the rich inner world that remains when everything is washed away.

Image: Isobel Knowles & Van Sowerwine, The World Came Flooding In, 2025, courtesy of Film Camp

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public programs & ignite studios

ignite ceramics Wheel throwing studio, kiln firing services, ceramics workshops and events.

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public programs & ignite studios

public programs Artist talks, creative workshops, gallery tours, pop-up exhibitions, and special events.

artist residency Studio and accomodation for a single artist to expand their creative practice.

Images: (pgs 23-24)Together Community Event, 2024, Image Kate Holmes; (pg 24) top - Gallery Artist Talk Event, 2022, Image Elise Derwin; bottom - Artist Residency, Image Carolyn Cardinet; (pg 25) Suvira Ceramics, Image NRCG.

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creative spaces for hire Space for workshops, creative development, meetings, pop-up exhibitions, project, special events and more. Available for community groups and individuals.

public programs & ignite studios

creative studios Two light-filled studios for medium to long-term tenancies, available for creative practicioners from the region.

contact ignitestudios@ballina.nsw.gov.au nrcgballina.com.au

Images: (pg 26) top - Linocut Workshop, 2024, Image Michelle Eabry; bottom - Gallery Pop-Up Art Market, Image Kate Holmes; (pg 27) Ignite Studios Engine Room, Image Miles Away Media.

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gallery shop

sell with us We accept applications from local designers, artists and craftpersons to sell bespoke wares in the gallery shop.

gallery shop

local & ethical suppliers Shop suppliers are sourced from across the Northern Rivers or support socially engaged, ethical or sustainable enterprises.

contact nrcg@ballina.nsw.gov.au nrcgballina.com.au

Images: (pgs 28-31) Gallery Shop 2024-25, Images Ben Wyeth; (pgs 32-33) NRCG Gallery Exhibition 2024, Image Ben Wyeth.

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getting involved

volunteer with us NRCG has a team of dedicated volunteers who are a vital part of gallery operations. Volunteering is a fantastic way to develop skills and support the creative community.

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getting involved

exhibit with us NRCG welcomes exhibition proposals once a year from artists, curators, community and cultural groups.

donate NRCG is a deductible gift recipient and all donations of $2 and above are tax deductible.

Images: (pg 34) top - Pop-Up Art Market Event, 2024, Image Kate Holmes; bottom - NAIDOC Community Weaving Day, 2025, Image Kate Holmes; (pg 35) NRCG Volunteers, Image Elise Derwin; (back cover) Dane Scotcher, Therapy (detail of video still), 2025.

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northern rivers community gallery Open Wed - Fri 9am – 3pm Sat - Sun 9.30am – 1pm 44 Cherry Street & 60 Crane Street, Ballina NSW 2478 02 6681 0530

nrcgballina.com.au | @nrcgballina An arts & cultural initiative of