Story Tellers

Story Tellers is an exhibition that celebrates artworks with narrative, that allow for a dialogue between artist and viewer, highlighting the seen and unseen. These artworks include subtle or overt references to artist's personal lives, culture, current political or social issues. Curated based on technical skill, conceptual strength and executed with realist precision, this exhibition brings together artists from around the globe including from the USA, India, Ireland and Australia.

Co-curated by Dr Elaine Schmidt (USA) of the Bennett Collection of Women Figurative Realists, independent curator Didi Menendez (USA) and FLG Director Claire Harris, Story Tellers tells the story of us, in all our diversity.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS are

Anne-Marie Zanetti (QLD, AUS) Australian born Anne-Marie Zanetti is a self-taught, representational artist. Her rich works are inspired by delving into personal experience and feature rich luminous colours, dramatic use of sunlight and intricate details. Zanetti’s paintings have won many awards have been selected to hang in numerous exhibitions, most notably the Doug Moran Portrait Prize in 2018.  Her work has been collected both nationally and internationally.

Alex Dewars (Scotland, UK) Alex Dewar is a Scottish figurative painter exploring identity, hierarchies, patriotism and body politics. 

Amanda Greive (IL, USA) Figurative painter Amanda Greive has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, was a juried member of the Chicago Artist’s Coalition’s HATCH project (2011-12), and most recently was the recipient of the Rehs Contemporary Award in the 13th ARC International Salon. 

Arina Gordienko (Essex, UK) Arina Gordienko holds a MFA in Painting, from the University of the Arts London, and has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards in the UK, USA and Europe. 

Claudia Kaak (Germany) German figurative painter Claudia Kaak was selected as a finalist in the 13th & 14th Annual ARC Salon Awards and exhibited at the International Guild of Realism (2019). Kaak's work has been featured in American Art Collector, PoetsArtists, MilionArt Kaleidoscope, The Guide Artists, Revista Ophelia.

Colleen Stapleton (NSW, AUS) Sydney-based Colleen Stapleton received the A.M.E Bale Painting Prize Florence Academy of Art Scholarship & the JAAS Brett Whiteley Scholarship in 2018. In 2019, Stapleton was seleceted to take part in the ARC Salon, Portia Geach Award, Kennedy Art Prize, Lethbridge & Korea-Australia Arts Prize. In 2020, Stapleton's work will be exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery of Australia as part of the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize.

Denise Fulton (TX, USA) Denise Fulton is a realist figurative artist represented by Davis Gallery in Austin Texas. Fulton is a founding member of the Atelier Dojo, realist art school of Texas.  

Elizabeth Barden (AUS) Elizabeth Barden has been a six-time finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Art Prize, a finalist in the Lethbridge Art Award & Peoples Choice winner of the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Prize. Barden is a founding member of Portrait Artists Australia, a member of PoetsArtists, an ‘Associate Living Master’ at the Art Renewal Centre, USA, and her work is held in the permanent collection of the Australian National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia.

Read Interview between artist and muse

Heather Brunetti (OR, USA) Heather Brunetti is an emerging figurative artist based in the US. Brunetti has been published in PoetsArtists and was a featured finalist in the first International Biennial Portrait Competition at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin, USA. 

June Stratton (GA, USA) US-based, Hawaiian-born, June Stratton, creates figurative oil paintings incorporating traditional fresco techniques. Stratton's work is held in various collections internationally such as the Bennett Collection of Women Realists, Texaco Incorporated, US Department of State, Bank of America, The Mayo Clinic, and The St Regis Hotel.

Kathrin Longhurst (NSW, AUS) German born, Sydney-based Kathirn Longhurst has been a finalist in numerous awards including the prestigious Archibald Prize (2018), the Portia Geach Award (2019, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011), the Doug Moran Portrait Prize (2017), the Sulman Prize (2012), the Mosman Art Prize (2016), the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Prize, the Korea Australia Arts Foundation Prize and the WA Black Swan Prize. She was the winner of the Portia Geach People’s Chioce Award in 2017. Her work is collected widely in Australia and internationally and is represented in the Bennett Collection of Women Realists, USA.

Kim Leutwyler (NSW, AUS) Sydney-based Kim Leutwyler's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Australia and the United States. Some of Leutwyler’s recent accolades include being selected as a finalist in the Archibald and Sulman Prizes, the Churchie national emerging art prize as well as the Portia Geach Memorial Award.

Laurence O’Toole (Ireland) Laurence O'Toole has had solo exhibitions across Ireland and internationally. After winning an award at the Royal Ulster Academy he went on to show at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. O’toole has taken up residencies throughout Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Spain and France and has is collected internationally.

Matthew Quick (VIC, AUS) Australian artist Matthew Quick has won and been selected as a finalist in 70 plus major national art awards, including the Sulman Art Prize, the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, the Mosman Art Prize, the Shirley Hannan Portrait Prize, the Glover Prize, the Redland Art Award, the Paddington Art Prize, the City of Albany Art Prize, the Fisher’s Ghost Art prize, the Blake Prize Director’s Cut, the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, the Townsville Open Art Award, the Duke Art Prize, the John Leslie Art prize, the Churchie and the Prometheus. 

Narelle Zeller (ACT, AUS) In 2019, Zeller was selected as a finalist for the Lester Art Prize, Australia’s third richest art prize held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, as well as a finalist for the prestigious 14th International ARC Salon. In 2018 Narelle was a semi finalist in the Doug Moran Portrait prize and in 2017 received the honor of the Canberra Peoples Choice Award in the Cliftons Art Prize. Her work has been exhibited both locally and nationally.

Pippa Hale - Lynch (VIC, AUS) Having completed formal education in 2019, Hale has since become devoted to pursuing her professional painting career. Trained as an architect, painting and drawing have remained a consistent thread throughout her life. Her work combines techniques obtained over her years of experimentation as well as her more formal training in 19th century representational drawing and painting. 

Rachel Linnemeier (AZ,USA) Linnemeier has exhibited thoruhgout the US including with RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton, NY, Abend Gallery in Denver, CO, and The Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ. In 2019, Linnemeier participated in “Painting Today, International Women’s Day,” an exhibition at the prestigious MEAM - European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, Spain. Linnemeier’s work featured in the first International Biennial Portrait Competition at Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art in Wisconsin.

Sonal Ramnath (Mumbai, India) Indian-based Sonal Ramnath was selected for the Annual Spring Show of Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA, USA in 2018. In 2019, Ramnath’s work was curated into the Inside Out:Outside In show at RJD Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York and won the Late Smt. Durgadevi Saraf Trust Award at the 101st Annual Exhibition of the Art Society of India.

Suzanne Anan (NJ, USA) Anan's work has been commissioned by corporations such as Johnson and Johnson, and art institutions such as The Newark Museum. Her work has been added to the Ghost Ranch Museum Collection, New Mexico, the Bennett Collection of Women Realists, the Living Treasure Museum, Japan, and the private collection of Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell in Sussex, England.

Vakseen (CA, USA) LA-based Vakseen's work has been exhibited by the Ontario Museum of History & Art, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Spectrum Miami/Art Basel, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Zhou B Art Center, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, the University of California Los Angeles, Soho House London among others. His work has been published in various publications including LA Weekly, Buzzfeed, Complex Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, Hi- Fructose Magazine, Vibe Magazine, PoetsArtists, Professional Artist Magazine, High Times Magazine, Kolaj Magazine, Gay Times, BOOOOOOOM and Supersonic Art. 

Vicki Sullivan (VIC, AUS) Vicki Sullivan was awarded “Associate Living Master” by the Art Renewal Centre, the largest international foundation for the promotion and education of realist art. Sullivan is a member of Portrait Artist’s Australia, The Melbourne Society of Women Sculptors and Painters, The Victorian artists Society, the Art Renewal Centre and The Portrait Society of America, she currently works from her Studio in Rye, Victoria.