Australian Women Artists – Details, episodes & analysis

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast 

Episode 1

Jo Bertini

Jo Bertini is a painter, art educator, lecturer and writer. She is known internationally for her paintings and drawings of desert landscapes here in Australia as well as India and the US. 

She’s not only a landscape painter but she’s a highly regarded portrait painter having been shortlisted for the prestigious Portia Geach Memorial Award at least 14 times (I say ‘at least’ as I tried counting them, but I suspect there’s more). 

Arthouse Gallery describes her work thusly (?): Jo Bertini’s paintings traverse well-worn landscapes in an exploration of the true nature of wilderness. Drawing from the traditions of artists on scientific and ecological survey expeditions into the most remote and inaccessible regions, Bertini celebrates her long and intimate engagement with the desert. Her work bears witness to natural and human histories of nomadism observing the seasonal rhythm of landscapes and the people connected to them. With loose yet refined brushwork, Bertini depicts the fragile beauty of the world's remote desert landscapes connecting to what is seen and felt within. An innate longing that she expresses through her visceral, emotive paintings that serve as an act of devotion to the natural world.

It's stunning really. And the conversation was so engaging. Jo thought she might have 'gone on a bit' and that I could cut bits out. I tried....I couldn't. It was so interesting. 

Her work has been acquired by private and public collections both nationally and internationally and is on display in many public art galleries, museums and institutions. 

Head to the link in my bio to hear our conversation. Alternatively, search in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Enjoy!

Video photo image: Thomas Studer

Hi everyone, welcome to the trailer for Australian Women Artists. My name is Richard Graham. You may know me from my podcast Really Interesting Women which I started in 2020. It has since evolved into a popular Instagram account by the same name. 

It was from that project that Australian Women Artists evolved. After interviewing and profiling a number of Australian women artists I became more aware of just how underrepresented and undervalued they were and are in this country despite the stunning artistic works that have been produced since the mid nineteenth century. 

I wanted to shine a light on those works by talking to the artists themselves, to experts on artists from history as well as covering many other topics and events of interest. 

Given that my other project is called Really Interesting Women and this project is focussing on Australian Women Artists, I’ve been asked a number of times how I found myself in this women’s rights/gender equality space and it’s because, firstly, the injustices should concern everyone, but secondly, in 2000 my wife and I swapped roles and I became the primary carer for our 3 young daughters, the youngest of whom was 7 months old. She’s nearly 25 now. I decided to lean in to that fairly unique (for the time) first-hand experience by highlighting the incredible contributions women have made, not only to my life, but to this country as a whole.

This project is for artists and art lovers and art curious. I’m hopefully asking the questions even non artists (like me) would want to hear. 

The new Instagram account is, unsurprisingly, @australianwomenartists and the podcast (by the same name) will be published on all major platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify as well as many others. I’d love you to follow that account and the podcast. 

It’s been a revelation to me and even Katy Hessel who wrote the international best seller, The Story of Art Without Men, wrote about the Australian Women Artists she discovered while visiting here recently...I feel like my art history has been overturned. 

Tune in and follow me and you’ll see what all the fuss is about. Hope to see you very soon. 

Richard

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Episode 11 Belynda Henry

Belynda Henry is a very significant figure in contemporary Australian art, renowned particularly for her evocative landscape paintings. 

Landscapes are to her a deeply felt experience and that experience is then reflected in her immersive artistic process – sights, sounds and the feel of the environment she’s painting in. 

A multiple finalist in prestigious awards such as the Wynne and Archibald Prizes, Belynda has held over 30 solo exhibitions and achieved international acclaim, with her works acquired by collectors worldwide. 

In 2019, she was included in Thames & Hudson’s publication, ‘A Painted Landscape’, which featured the works of leading Australian landscape painters such as Elizabeth Cummings, John Olsen and Ann Thompson, in other words, esteemed company.

She’s about to have her 5th exhibition in New York. And we discuss, amongst many other things, the appeal of her Australian landscapes to an international audience. 

Head to the link in my bio to listen to our conversation. 

Images

1.   BH image supplied (@nicholas_samartis)

2.   Jilliby Creek, 2025 oil and wax on linen 122x122

3.   Golden Wattle, 2025 oil and wax on linen 152x122

4.   Eucalyptus No. 3, acrylic and pastel on canvas 215x215

5.   Full Moon Shimmer, acrylic and pastel with oil and wax on linen 152x122

6.   Louise Olsen, a beautiful summary, 2016 Archibald Prize finalist, acrylic and pastel on polyester canvas 157x116

Australian Women Artists

Podcast ep. 10

Louise Olsen

A fascinating conversation with Louise Olsen.

A successful artist who, like many others before her, was able to combine that with an incredible skill for design. When I say incredible...she co-founded the now iconic global brand, Dinosaur Designs. 

We, of course, discussed her beautiful art and her processes and methodologies, her very talented mother’s art, spending two years painting in isolation in 2020 with her father John Olsen in his rural retreat, Dinosaur Designs and her first family exhibition with her artist husband and daughter amongst many other things.  

I started to feel like I was getting to know the Olsen family quite well! And I reckon Louise is quite the polymath. She has this ability to connect ideas and concepts from different fields...all with art and design at the core. 

And one of the secrets? Take your sketchbook wherever you go. It will leave an impression far greater than any photo.

Head to the link in my bio to find the podcast, or go to your favourite podcasting platform and search ‘Australian Women Artists’

‘To be an artist is to be an explorer’ Louise Olsen (AWA, 2025)

Australian Women Artists

Podcast episode 9

Annika Romeyn

Annika Romeyn is an important figure in contemporary Australian art. 

This is in no small part due to her unique approach to depicting the Australian landscape and the innovative techniques she uses. Her work engages with cultural and environmental themes, and it has been described as bridging traditional landscape art and contemporary artistic practices. 

More recently she’s been a finalist in the Pro Hart Outback Art Prize, winner of the Mandy Martin Art and Environment Award, winner of the Burnie Print Prize, Winner of the National Works on Paper and the Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize amongst many others. She’s had nearly 20 solo exhibitions and many more group exhibitions. 

We talked broadly about her very distinctive and striking works that use one colour to amazing affect...and how her approach to colour has evolved over the years. 

One happy accident was discovering a rust stain on a floor of her studio that led to using a rusted steel sheet as a pallet (you’ll see it in the Instagram photos). Her work combines elements of drawing, printmaking and painting and the results are stunning. 

Join me for our conversation by heading to the link to the podcast in my bio. 

Annika is represented by the fabulous @flinderslanegallery in Melbourne and we are having this conversation in her amazing Canberra studio.

1. Image:RG

2. Guerilla Bay, 2019 watercolour monotype on paper 168x228

3. Endurance 7, 2021 watercolour monotype on paper with watercolour additions 228x168

4. Old Mutawintji Gorge 1, 2023 watercolour monotype on paper 168x228

5. Wana Karnu 2024, rust and ink on paper 240x360

6. The palette (image RG)

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Episode 8

Petrina Hicks

A really enlightening conversation with Petrina Hicks – one of Australia’s most acclaimed and influential contemporary photographers.

 She initially trained in commercial photography and recounts how this influences her seemingly simple and stylised minimalist aesthetic.

 Petrina is renowned for her large-scale, hyperreal photographs that explore female identity and challenge traditional representations of women.

Her work is characterized by the presentation of beautiful images which, on closer inspection have been described as ‘simultaneously unsettling and surreal’. 

 She explores themes of powerful women, identity, and animals, tracing the boundaries between humans and animals. He subjects are juxtaposed against simple backgrounds and, as a result, she has a very distinctive style which often draws inspiration from mythology, fairy tales, and historical art imagery.

 Petrina has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, including a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2019-2020. 

 Her photographs are held in Australian and international collections.

 Head to the link in my bio to hear our conversation. 

She is represented by Michael Reid Galleries head to https://michaelreid.com.au/artist/petrina-hicks/

For available works

1.        PH

2.        Shenae and Jade, 2005 lightjet print 85.5x80

3.        Lauren with Fruit 2011 lightjet print 145x144

4.        The Unbearable Lightness of Being 2015 pigment print 77x100

5.        Shewolf 1 2016 pigment inkjet print 100x129

6.        Peach study 2018 pigment inkjet print 100x100

7.        Mnemosyne II 2024 archival pigment print 90x120

8.        Memento mori I 2024 pigment print on cotton rag 120x90

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Episode 7

Dr Anne-Louise Willoughby on Nora Heysen 

Nora Heysen was a precocious talent who sold her first work at 16 to Dame Nellie Melba. Encouraged by her father, artist Sir Hans Heysen, Nora had enormous early success.

By the time she was 20 her paintings had been purchased by the state galleries of NSW, SA & Qld and held her first solo exhibition at the Royal Sth Aus Society of Arts in 1933. She was 22.

She was the 1st woman to win the Archibald and was our 1st woman war artist. 

But then...inexplicably, she fell from public view. 

In the late 1980s she was ‘rediscovered’ and a retrospective of her work put her, once more, in the spotlight. She lived to witness this and enjoy the accolades she deserved and the reputation that allowed her to move from her father’s enormous shadow. 

It was a great conversation with Dr Anne-Louise Willoughby and her book is a revelation.

Nora Heysen: A Portrait (freemantlepress.com.au)

Head to the link in my bio to hear our conversation.

1. Self portrait, 1932 oil on canvas 76.2x61.2 AGNSW
2. Self portrait, 1934 oil on canvas 43.1x36.3 Nat. Portrait Gallery
3. Archibald Prize Winner, Madame Elink Schuurman, 1938, oil on canvas 87x68
4. Nora Heysen with her Archibald winning portrait, Photo:Tim Clayton/Fairfax media
5. Portrait of Nora Heysen at work, 1939 gelatine silver photograph 18.5x14.2 Harold Cazneaux 
6. Matron Annie Sage, 1944, oil on canvas 76.6x56.4 Aust War Memorial
7. Intentionally hung together by Art Gallery SA (image: RG). One is by one of Australia’s greatest artists. The other is by…well, I’m going to say another of Australia’s greatest artists. Intentionally hung by AGSA next to each other. Would you know which was Hans and which was Nora? Answer below
8. Interior The Cedars (image: RG) which hosted Nellie Melba, Laurence Olivier, Edmund Hillary, Anna Pavlov, Marcel Marceau. If the walls could talk!
9. Nora Heysen at 92 in front of Hans Heysen’s Red Gold. Brenton Edwards 

Top Hans Heysen Poppies 1907 oil on canvas. Bottom Nora Heysen, Scabious, 1930 oil on canvas

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Episode 6

Eliza Gosse

Eliza Gosse paints quiet suburban scenes focused on post-war and mid-century architecture and design. Her style is influenced not only by her love of nostalgia, but by her studies in architecture. Her flat two-dimensional painting style and muted colour schemes give off a warmth and welcoming (I think). The fact that she rarely paints figures is to allow the viewer to picture themselves in these gorgeous scenes. 

But when she does paint figures...they go alright too. Twice chosen as a finalist in the Archibald!

Eliza Gosse graduated with a Master of Fine Art from the Nat Art School, Sydney in 2019. Her work has been exhibited in public and private galleries since 2016. Gosse’s work has been selected for numerous awards and prizes including the Archibald Prize (2023, 2022) and Wynne Prize (2020), Paddington Art Prize (2023, 2021) and won the Mosman Alan Gamble Award (2022) and the John Olsen Drawing Prize (2017). In 2024 she was awarded a Bundanon Trust Residency. 

It was a great, easy conversation. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her story. 

Eliza Gosse is currently practicing in Sydney and represented by Edwina Corlette Gallery (Brisbane) and Olsen Gallery (Sydney) and this conversation took place in her fabulous converted pizza restaurant in Sydney.

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

Paintings

1.    Grapefruit, Burnt Toast and Raspberry Jam 2023 acrylic on canvas 132x122

2.    Eucalyptus and Gum-nuts Collected From An Afternoon Walk 2023 acrylic on canvas 152x182

3.    Ocean Views Can be Glimpsed Beyond 2023 acrylic on canvas 180x150

4.    In My Grandmother’s Garden (a preview glimpse from Eliza’s new solo show at Edwina Corlette Gallery opening 9/5/25

5.    Breakfast at Ours (Archibald finalist) 2023 oil on board 2 panels, 137.5x86.6 and 145.5x97

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Episode 5 Margaret Ackland

Margaret is a four times Archibald finalist and is renowned for her expressive and vibrant use of colour. 

Besides the Archibald accolades, she has had 36 solo exhibitions, been a part of 37 group exhibitions, and I’m almost not exaggerating when I say about a thousand other finalist awards including Portia Geach Memorial Award, Hazelhurst Art on Paper, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, The Blake Prize and the Salon des Refuses. 

She is represented in a range of national and private collections. Her work was on the front cover of the 2023 July edition of Art Almanac, and she has been featured in Italian Vogue and on ABC TV’s ‘Compass’ series. 

In other words, I reckon one of this country’s great artists. We’re having this conversation in her fabulous Sydney studio.

Images referred to in our conversation

1. Taken by RG

2. From Vestiges exhibition. Vestiges, 2013 oil on canvas 183x152

3. From Social Distancing exhibition. Apocalypse Now (June 2020) watercolour on paper 25x25

4. From Balancing Act exhibition. A Balancing Act, 2022 watercolour on paper 85x90

5. From Lifelines exhibition. Lifelines, 2024 watercolour on paper 150x100

Australian Women Artists

The Podcast

Episode 4

Jennifer Higgie on Clarice Beckett

Jennifer Higgie is an internationally respected arts writer and art historian who has lived and worked in London for many years. 

She is a novelist, screenwriter, art critic and former editor of the London-based contemporary arts magazine Frieze. She was the presenter of Bow Down, a podcast about women in art history, and has just published Season 2 of Artist’s Artists - the podcast she hosts for the National Gallery of Australia. 

Her latest books are The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World; and The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women’s Self-Portraits.

Her own life is worthy of its own podcast for Australian Women Artists, but she is my guest today and joins me at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, to discuss the incredible Australian artist, Clarice Beckett. 

I think it would be fair to say Clarice Beckett is one of the most original artists of early twentieth-century Australia. She is known for her innovative use of colour and tone and light to create quite an incredible atmosphere in which the subject matter of a painting exists. This ‘tonalism’ was controversial and criticised, but she persisted and soon became its greatest exponent surpassing, many say, her outspoken teacher Max Meldrum.

But, as you will probably come to appreciate with these artists in history, Clarice was very much underappreciated in her lifetime and, after her death she was largely forgotten until an incredibly fortunate and lucky set of circumstances led to her rediscovery.

It’s an amazing story and one that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. 

Head to the link in my bio for my podcast conversation with Jennifer Higgie on the incredible Clarice Beckett.

Jennifer's books, including  The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World; and The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution and Resistance: 500 Years of Women’s Self-Portraits can be found at the following link: https://www.jenniferhiggie.com/books-publications