Previous Exhibition
Group Exhibition —
Dancing with Colour: Frances Edwina Powell and Jamie-Lee Garner (NERAM)
Feb 7 – Mar 16, 2025
A joint exhibition between Armidale artist and potter Jamie-Lee Garner and Brisbane-based artist Frances Edwina Powell. Each embraces bold colour in their artistic practices, imbuing their works with movement and dynamism. Garner creates her pottery vessels then ‘upholsters’ them with vintage textile offcuts while Powell mimics acts of daily pantomime with her collages reminiscent of Matisse. This exhibition is in partnership with The New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM).
A Tender Disco — Plaything Playhouse observes and mocks the inveterate feminine daily performance of complying with social conduct. This ritualistic routine often functions under the veil of etiquette and habit, almost a communion to the gods of social convention. Frances considers this as mimicking a dance routine or a puppet performing. There’s a reason why the viral TikTok trend of ‘to be a woman is to perform’ has taken off. Elements of this performance can serve us and satisfy our identity, other elements can feel directed by an omnipotent social force greater than us.
This exhibition references the later collage work of Henri Matisse and his heavily reproduced and revered body of work, which observes paid female muses in an act of posed performance.
In Frances’ work, she subverts this dynamic and often places herself in the role of ‘observed muse’. She references herself, her partner and her friends mimicking acts of daily pantomime — of partnered performance, self-monitoring and introspection — the disco of our social roles.
Materially, Frances treats her figures like dolls by cutting and pasting figures contained within paper sets. She has also reproduced these snapshots of paper dolls in paper sets within brightly rendered paintings — a still of a plaything in her playhouse. The doll's partner may make an appearance, or she may be looking at herself in the mirror or consciously being observed.
A Tender Disco – Plaything Playhouse is ultimately an observation of the elements of feminine performance that can either feel tender and personal or counterfeit and confused.
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Jamie-Lee Garner is an interdisciplinary artist that lives and works from her studio in the Northern Tablelands, on Ngarabal country in NSW, Australia. She received her BA in Architecture from the University of Sydney in 2018. By working across various mediums, including ceramics, recycled textiles and oil painting, Garner creates work about the discovery of self in a way that aims to be accessible and most importantly delightful.
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Address
106 – 114 Kentucky Street
Armidale NSW 2350
Gallery Opening Hours:
Tuesday – Sunday
10.00am – 4.00pm
For sales enquiries, please get in touch with NERAM:
T 02 6772 5255
Image credit: Frances Edwina Powell, Ribbons and twirls! (hyper today), 2023, oil paint and pencil on archival paper, 59.4 x 42 cm. Courtesy the artist and Side Gallery.

Plaything playhouse — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
59.4 x 42 cm
$650 Framed

Ribbons and twirls! (hyper today) — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
59.4 x 42 cm
$650 Framed

Disco tits (Collage) — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
59.4 x 42 cm
$650 Framed

It’s certainly working today — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
42 x 30 cm
$490 Framed

Disco tits — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
42 x 30 cm
$490 Framed

You’re my spirit person — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
42 x 30 cm
NFS Framed

Modest performance — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
42 x 30 cm
NFS Framed

Flashing lights, yay! — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Oil paint and pencil on archival paper
42 x 30 cm
NFS Framed

Dazzling shapes — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Bunny ears up (extra cute) — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

My dance routine — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Facsimile — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Feeling myself — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Living room glow — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

In the window — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Self-held, doorway — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Swirl & twirl — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Upright uptight — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Tight & together — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250

Twister I — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

The dressing room — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Twister II — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Well that’s not my mirror — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

Under the arch — Frances Edwina Powell 2023
Pigmented ink and pencil on archival paper
21 x 15 cm
$250 Framed

The Painting That Keeps Moving — Jamie-Lee Garner
Textile
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Your New Phone — Jamie-Lee Garner
Textile
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A Soft Burning Heart — Jamie-Lee Garner
Sandy Raku clay, acrylic paint, vintage textiles & sealant
H 56 x W 33 cm : 6.2kg
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Blaze It — Jamie-Lee Garner
Sandy Raku clay, vintage textiles & sealant.
H 55 x W 40 cm : 5.8kg
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Monk — Jamie-Lee Garner
Oval base, sandy Raku clay, terry towelling & sealant
H 29 x W 30 x W 20 cm
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Protected Petite Snake Vessel — Jamie-Lee Garner
Sandy Raku clay, vintage textiles, acrylic paint & sealant
H 28 x W 18 cm : 2.5kg
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Sun Flares — Jamie-Lee Garner
Sandy Raku clay, vintage textiles & sealant
H 26 x W 42 cm : 3.5kg
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The Swan — Jamie-Lee Garner
Ceramic and textile
For sales enquiries, please get in touch with NERAM