Margaret Olley, Dressing Table, 1982. Oil on board, 76 x 101 cm. Courtesy: the Margaret Olley Art Trust, the Tweed Regional Gallery Foundation Ltd. and Tweed Regional Gallery, South Murwillumbah.

Drawn entirely from the Tweed Regional Gallery collection, this exhibition brings together superb examples of Margaret Olley’s still life paintings alongside artworks by contemporary Australian painters and photographers who have responded to Olley’s art, life and legacy.

The exhibition includes interior and still life paintings from as early as the 1970s, when Olley was painting in her family home in Brisbane and in the home of her late artist friend, David Strachan, in Paddington, Sydney. Olley purchased her famous Duxford Street, Paddington home studio in 1964 and it became her primary site and subject for painting until her death in 2011. This exhibition includes paintings from throughout her home studio including the Blue Kitchen, the Green Kitchen and the Yellow Room.

Olley’s dedication to her practice and her enormous capacity for friendship made her an inspiration to other artists. This exhibition includes portraits of Olley and interiors of her home studio made during her lifetime, as well as contemporary responses to the home studio re-creation in the Margaret Olley Art Centre.