At DRAW Space in October 2024, John Stanfield will install an unchronological selection of drawings from the past two decades. The exhibition titled Time Collecting explores the glyph as an archetype that moves beyond individual and cultural boundaries. Stanfield uses drawing as a tool that allows for a broad investigation into the nature of universal forms and transcendent ideas in the pursuit of an individual language.

Through drawing, we gain visual frameworks to navigate knowledge, opening pathways to understanding and ultimately, freedom.

John Stanfield, 2024

Linda Matthews is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and a Co-Director of the Visualisation Institute at the University of Technology, Sydney. Her research concerns architectural and urban design methodologies that utilise the optical logic of digital visioning systems. The work aims to use virtual urban spaces as a source of qualitative and quantitative data to generate non-traditional modes of architectural and urban form.

Linda was a member of the winning Leadership, Advocacy and Research team at the 2024 Australian Urban Design Awards for the Quantifying Quality project. The research uses an innovative methodology to leverage advanced evolutionary algorithms and crowd-sourced data to identify and prioritise the qualitative properties of public spaces. This work will form the basis of a new book publication in collaboration with Gavin Perin to be published by Routledge in 2025.

Maryanne Coutts is an artist who draws every day and is the Head of Drawing at the National Art School. She sustains various concurrent long-form, open-ended drawing projects through which she seeks to hold and represent, in handmade images, personal expression and encounters in our ever-changing world. Her projects involve trees, clothing, bodies, news media and urban environments.

For Draw Space in August 2024, Maryanne will present ‘Days’ a new body of work in drawing on handmade paper and embroidery made as part of her daily practice. ‘Days’ reflects the events of her life as she moves between Sydney, where she lives and works, and Melbourne, where many family members live.

DRAW Space are thrilled to present Scott Elk / DUSK+DUST: The Denouement – Drawing Together the Strands of Grief.

The work of prolific multidisciplinary artist Scott Elk is a meditation on how image, object and sound can come together to express grief. Working across drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, collage and sound, Scott expresses the same idea across different media.

This June, four artists experiment with light as an inscription of the invisible. Light is central to how we see our world, though often light itself, cannot be seen. The artists delve into hidden energies and vibrations to image time, the cosmos, sensory experience and spirit of place.

A WALL FOR MY SISTER showcases a curated collection of drawings and collages to honour the artistic legacy of Wendy Tabell (1942 to 2023). Wendy, an artist and educator, pursued her practice with quiet dedication, seeking no acclaim. Despite being largely overlooked by the mainstream Sydney art scene, she remained devoted to her 'living practice' – a private and vocational pursuit where abstraction served as a key mode of expression.

DRAW Space are thrilled to present Group Show / FABRICATION, curated by Daniel Press and Sarah Eddowes.

The core idea is how drawing terminology – sketching, line, depth, and layering – compliments the potential of digital fabrication. Artists experiment with human/machine interplays in ways where the line between the two becomes blurred, with Fabrication acting as a prompt to explore themes of the fake, the deceptive, and trickery; while also offering potential for the imagined, fantasies, myth, and storytelling.

This exhibition centres on a medium that is loved by some and hated by others. For those who have spent years using graphite, this show offers an homage to an old friend. Through the work of nine artists, this exhibition showcases graphite’s material potential.

Drawing can be described as an activity as much as a medium. The act of drawing is often valued for its characteristics of directness, quickness, simplicity, abbreviation, and immediacy. However, drawing can also be valued for the opposite characteristics, as labour intensive work requiring time and considerable attention to detail.

A riot of colour, creativity and individual expression is the only possible outcome of bringing together such a large number of diverse artistic practices. DRAW Space is excited to present A KIND OF MAGIC, a one-week exhibition from 29 February to 3 March. This exhibition is a collaboration between Studio ARTES, an arts centre for adults with disabilities, and DRAW Space gallery.

Curated by Amelia Skelton, Belinda Yee and Rowan Yeomans.

Contemporary drawing is often described as a journey without a destination, an open-ended process, an awaited discovery. As such, there are no rules with which to define it. The idea behind this exhibition, of rules for drawing is to present a group of artists who work methodically, systematically, and serially within a narrow set of refined and self-selected parameters.

Curated by Lisa Pang.

DRAW Space is delighted to present DRAWN TOGETHER / The work of DRAW Space volunteers. This group show features the work of:

Artemisia Cornett, James Gardiner, Tempe Macgowan, Declan Moore, Katika Schultz and Beatrice Weidner

Drawing Walkshop, a DRAW Space initiative

11am-5pm Wednesday 17 to Saturday 20 January,
12-5pm Thursday 21 January

The Drawing Walkshop is an opportunity for artists for whom walking is essential to their practice. Come and join us. Attendance is free.

A performative drawing by Julia Davis and Lisa Jones

9-14 January at DRAW Space

Live drawing through the window on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 7pm
Open to the public on Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm

A group exhibition presenting textiles and textile processes in terms of drawing. This group of artists have in common not only textile-based practices but an interest in exploring the transcendent materiality of used and re-purposed textiles, once recomposed.

Curated by Melinda Hunt and Lisa Pang.

A series of ink drawings created over 20 years by artist, Ron Adams.
Further details to come.

Curated by Melinda Hunt and Chelsea Lehmann.

Textas, or felt pens, are an ubiquitous medium that many grew up with. These pens encourage a drive to create and a sense of play. Often overlooked as a fine art medium, this exhibit shows how these humble pens can produce bold, forceful artworks that call for attention.

Curated by Daniel Press.

Artists: Quinn Chen, Jake Alexander Cruz, Lorna Grear, Lily Langley, Jacqueline McIntyre, Ngarra, Charmaine Pike, Jeremy Smith and Yuck.

Gary Warner is an artist and art worker who teaches experimental drawing at the National Art School, Sydney. Through September 2023, he proposes to utilise DRAW Space as a hybrid workshop, studio, exhibition and event space where, through his daily inhabitation and various activations, the labour of drawing as practice, pedagogy and field of enquiry is made evident. The project will culminate with a closing celebration to exhibit the products of the residency activities.

Materiality entwines several ecological mark-making processes in temporal and spatial dialogue. Each artist navigates an experiential reading of time in the environment, drawing on the textured surfaces of the surrounding matter and material processes.

Curated by Daniel Press.

Artists: Sadhbha Cockburn, Penny Coss, Kristy Gordon, Joyce Lubotzky, Emma Pinsent, Chrystal Rimmer, Brigitta Summers and Mei Zhao

In Tania Lou Smith's photographic works, part vaudeville, part feminist inquiry, she uses her body and its comedic potential to transgress cultural binaries. The bold colours in Smith's work, the animated figure-in-context and the graphic composition of the images, belie the political and psychological content of the work and the weightier autobiographical themes explored. To initiate this exhibition, Smith was given the provocation - how is your practice drawing? This curatorial reframing enabled Smith to look afresh at her practice while testing and extending the way drawing is understood.

Curated by Belinda Yee.

Usually taking as his impetus the ever-brewing storm of information in which news and current affairs are produced and consumed, on this occasion Locust Jones will draw directly in the space, creating a counterpoint to the news stream. As he describes it, this is a turn towards the primacy and intimacy of drawing as a means of clearing the slate, of purging the toxicity of negative news through the delivery of a durational drawing performance. Using drawn text and imagery as well as spoken words Jones will create a large-scale piece that will be on display until the end of the exhibition. The performance will be accompanied by drumming by musician Tim Bruniges.

Opening night and performance from 5pm, Thursday 1 June. The work will be on display until the end of the exhibition.

Thursday 1 June – Sunday 2 July

Curated by Belinda Yee.