Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep 77 Dani McKenzie

Dani McKenzie’s story begins, unusually, not in an art school studio but in a bedroom — where, after a formative trip through Europe and a chance encounter with the work of Belgian painter Michaël Borremans, she spent six months teaching herself to paint.

That instinct and passion carried her into the National Art School in Sydney, where she completed both her undergraduate and Master of Fine Art degrees, and where her enduring fascination with photography — memory, privacy, and the lives of strangers — first took shape.

Early in her career, Dani worked from found photographs, creating imaginative worlds conjured from those images. But it was the ubiquitous disruptions of 2020 that changed everything. Forced to slow down, she began walking her own neighbourhood in inner-Melbourne, photographing it at night, and turning her lens — quite literally — on her own life and surroundings.

The results are a stunning body of work. Paintings of glowing windows, quiet streets, and private moments caught in public space, executed with a photographic precision that somehow still feels deeply human.

Dani is represented by PIERMARQ Gallery, Sydney, MARS Gallery, Melbourne and Long Story Short Gallery (Los Angeles, Paris, New York) and has held solo exhibitions in Paris, Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne.

Dani mentions being influenced by Clarice Beckett. You could copy and paste this link into your browser to hear a conversation I had with Jennifer Higgie on Clarice:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/australian-women-artists/id1794012822?i=1000695950466

Head to the link in my bio to have a listen to our conversation. Alternatively, search Australian Women Artists wherever you find your podcasts.

Images

1. DM image supplied by artist

2. Waiting For You, 2022, oil & acrylic on linen

3. Waiting for Gelato, 2021, oil on masonite

4. That Little Italian Place on the Corner, 2022, oil & acrylic on linen

5. Room With a View, 2023 oil & acrylic on linen

6. Closing Time I, 2023, oil & acrylic on board

7. Date Night, 2024, oil & acrylic on linen

8. The Final Hour, 2025, oil & acrylic on linen

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep 76 Kate Shaw

Kate Shaw is an award-winning Australian artist who spends her time working and living between Melbourne and the US, having exhibited in Australia for over 20 years and internationally for over 10 years.

Through her luminous landscapes, Kate has created an artistic world that is quite breathtaking, but also quite unsettling. Over that career, it would be fair to say she has fundamentally reinterpreted how we perceive the natural world.

Her practice began to be recognized not just for its innovative methodology, but for its ecological statements.

Kate has held solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong and throughout Australia. She has also been part of group exhibitions in many other countries.

‘Kate has become a compelling voice in contemporary painting, known for her immersive, surreal landscapes that probe our relationship with the natural world. Shaw’s richly layered works — created through ‘paint pours’, resin, and reflective surfaces — evoke geological and atmospheric phenomena while inviting contemplation on ecological fragility, climate change, and the psychological experience of nature.’ Olsen Gallery

To hear our conversation head to the link in my bio or search Australian Women Artists wherever you find your podcasts.

Kate is represented by Olsen Gallery, Sydney (@olsen_gallery)

For more info on Kate:

www.kateshaw.org

Images:

1. KS by Belle Stewart

2. Divine Matrix 2026 acrylic & resin on board 120 diam

3. 89 Seconds to Midnight 2025 acrylic on board 120 diam

4. Aurora 2016 acrylic and resin on board 120 diam

5. Carbon Entanglement 2026 acrylic and resin 60 x 50

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep 75 Lucy Culliton

Lucy Culliton is a gem.

It was such an enjoyable conversation – she always has interesting stories, and I was just lucky enough to be sitting on the other side of the table.

It becomes quite apparent that Lucy finds a portrait in everything she looks at — a cactus spine, a prize rooster, a knitted doll, a greyhound asleep in the afternoon light. And that’s because she paints with an intimacy that seems to breathe life into those everyday scenes and objects?

Lucy Culliton lives and works on a property at the edge of Bibbenluke in the Snowy Monaro. There she has created a beautiful garden, and she also shares the property with cows, sheep, goats, horses, pigeons, ducks and many rescued greyhounds. The farm is not a backdrop to the work. It is the work.

Lucy studied at the National Art School, graduating in 1996, and has spent three decades building one of the most beloved and distinctive bodies of work in Australian painting. She is a multiple Archibald, Wynne and Sulman finalist, and this year won the Sir John Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Her paintings make you slow down. They make you look harder. And they make the ordinary world feel, somehow, like more than enough.

I decided within seconds of starting this conversation that, for listeners to get the full picture, it would best to just let it roll. No editing. It is what it is with Lucy. And aren’t we all the luckier for that.

Lucy is represented by @kingstreetgallery in Sydney and @janmurphygallery in Brisbane

Her exhibition, Grasses, Tussocks & Sedges is at King St till 4 July

Head to my bio for a link to the podcast episode or search for Australian Women Artists wherever you find your podcasts.

Images

1. LC via Painted River Project

2. Bibbenluke Spring 2025 oil on canvas 122 x 99

3. Top Swamp II 2023 oil on canvas 199 x 122

4. Toolah, artist assist and and model oil on canvas 140 x140 (winner Sulman Prize 2026)

5. View From The Pavillion Gunningrah 2026 oil on canvas 184 x 183

6. Love lies bleeding 2017 oil on canvas 244 x 183