EXHIBITION HOURS
12–6PM TH–SA, 12–4PM SU
OPENING DRINKS
3–5PM SATURDAY NOV 9
Welcome to my show, I’m a Sydney-based artist and art educator, specialising in lino printing and mixed media works. These pieces are a collection from the last few years. I have borrowed the title for the show from the fantastic Indian writer, Rohinton Mistry.
I am constantly striving to maintain a balance in my life and work. I feel privileged these days, to be able to have time to do what I love. Each week I teach the very young, create in my studio, nurture my mind and body through exercise, daydream, spend time in nature and have connections with friends and family.
Balance is also a core principle of design, which is attained by the arrangement of the art elements of line, shape, texture and colour. So in my studio I’m often struggling to find that balance within each piece I make. This is a brief description of my works, which fit into the following categories.
Interior Motives Series
2023-present – mixed media works.
As the title suggests, many of these pieces are inspired by the interior/still life genre. While I may begin with my head in the real world, once I’m absorbed and in the flow, my work goes elsewhere. Each piece can be viewed as a snippet of an alternative reality, enlivened with striking colours and bold patterns. I have really loved recontextualising my lino print discards and working with stamping and pastel to make these pieces. The process is playful and experimental and allows me to explore fresh directions. Each work like a puzzle, I move the parts around until I hit the sweet spot.
Disappearing Traders
2020-present – lino prints and drawings.
In 2020 I started a body of work titled Disappearing Traders. Several of those original prints are in this show – Marie Louise, Ming, Sylvia’s Shoes, Keys Cut, Cronulla Kiosk, Crago Mills, Gould’s Books, Loved and The Sando.
“If you know Sydney’s inner west you will recognise these places in an instant. The Ming On Warehouse, green with a decorative double fin sprouting up from the roof. The pink and mauve Marie Louise Salon on Enmore Road. The big old former metalworker’s workshop at the beginning of King Street which used to house Gould Books. Each is a local landmark, capturing a slice of suburban history in and behind its facade.
In the prints collected in Disappearing Traders Maggie Stein turns her attention to landmark stores and structures of the inner west, celebrating their idiosyncratic details and anachronistic presence in the contemporary streetscape. They show a fond, familiar attention to these businesses and their proprietors, who are often synonymous with the businesses themselves. “
Vanessa Berry 2020
Iconic Places and Landmarks
2018-present.
When I began making lino prints again in 2006 my inspiration was King Street, Newtown. The medium seemed perfect for capturing the gritty feel of the streets and I received positive feedback from my audience. I went on to focus on landmark corner buildings and intersections, quirky local viewpoints, shopfronts, pubs and later iconic spaces, such as Going Places 2018.
Nature and Home
Over the years I have continued to make art in appreciation of my cosy and characterful home. My home is a place to recharge, relax, celebrate and connect with family and friends. Home is also a place of inspiration, its aged weatherboards and well worn floors speak to me of the energy of past lives.
I take notes with my phone and pen from nature, while walking on a Sunday, usually along Sydney’s coastal fringe. However, I started making nature inspired prints on a trip around Australia with my family way back in 2010.
My way of seeing, being and making is my core strength and I see creativity as both magical and transformative.
FRONT ROOM
SECOND ROOM
ABOUT MAGGIE STEIN
I have been following a creative path since I was quite young, growing up in Goulburn NSW, I had one of those art teachers who was a true mentor. I only realised fairly recently that art has been my anchor, helping me survive the early loss of my mother. At 21yrs old, I attended COFA, Sydney (then the City Art Institute ) from 1985 -87 and absolutely loved it. It was there I developed my first printmaking skills, but ended up doing a bit of everything. In 2006 I created a linoprint again after a big break, it was then I realised that lino was such an accessible medium – perfect for me trying to squish some creative time in between parenting and teaching. Over the last 15 years as I have had more time and desire I have been able to delve more deeply into lino carving and printing techniques. Then, in 2023–24 I switched my focus to mixed media as it provided more immediate satisfaction, leading me to recapture a sense of play in my work.
Find out more @stein_press