The Goulburn Art Award

Announcement and official opening event: 6pm Friday 19 June 2026 

Finalist exhibition dates: Friday 19 June – Saturday 18 July 2026 Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre
184 Bourke Street 
Goulburn NSW 2580
Australia
02 4823 4494

E: artgallery@goulburn.nsw.gov.au
P: 02 4823 4494

Artist Statement for Green Swamp

My painting, titled, Bannaby Green Swamp is the first painting in an exploration of landscape as a wild and romantic place. This is an area I’ve walked for years- it’s a remote bushland place near Taralga where I walk through blackberries and scratchy bushes to reach. I’ve been walking this area for 20 years and have constantly thought about painting this area. It is green and swampy with ferns- a very different type of bush compared to its surrounds. It’s remote and untouched. There are wild animals too, wild pigs, many birds, wombats and kangaroos so the space never feels totally safe – there’s a surreal relationship with the bush. It is a shared space. This painting is reflective of my whole practice when I’m working with landscape. I like to feel the space around me as a three- dimensional space and translate this environment onto a flat surface. Like a puzzle. I love that tension between flatness and render. This is the first painting I’ve made in preparation of a concentrated series about Green Swamp.

Artist bio- Lorna Grear

In November 2025, Lorna held her 4th solo exhibition at Flinders Street Gallery, Sydney; titled Close To Home. The exhibition presented paintings that were painted over 2 years and over 4 seasons during a sabbatical and featured landscapes from Taralga and Bannaby, in the Southern Highlands where she lives.

During her artist practice, Lorna has held numerous solo shows including at the The infamous Tailor Room Gallery, Sydney ( curator Lee Frost) between 1998 – 2003, Peloton in 2005, 2009 and 2011, Mop Projects in 2013 and Airspace Projects Inc. in 2019, 2018 and 2016. Other galleries include, Imperial slacks, Herringbone, SNO, Phatspace, Zitlip and Firstdraft. Her work has been exhibited in the Portia Geach Memorial Prize, the Paddington Art Prize, The Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, The Fishers Ghost Art Award, Mosman Art Prize and the Liverpool Art Prize. She is a graduate of both Sydney College of the Arts and The National Art School. Lorna currently teaches art history and painting at TAFE NSW, where she also acted as Head Teacher of St George College of Fine Arts and The Ceramic Design Studio, Gymea.