Kaleidoscope Editions: Artists

Peter Atkins’ abstract works are based on a life-long practice (some might say, obsession) of relentless collecting and sorting, and are the result of his incredible capacity to find order in chaos and inspiration in the everyday. For many years his art has involved sourcing and appropriating colours, patterns and shapes from the environment around him, in a process that he calls “readymade abstraction”. With an exhibiting career spanning four decades, Peter’s work is widely collected and is represented in public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, among others. Peter is represented by Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne and GAG Projects, Adelaide.

Kylie Banyard’s practice encompasses painting, photography, sculpture, and textiles. The labour of women’s creative work is a strong theme that runs throughout her imagery, alongside an abiding interest in art, art education and architecture. She creates her speculative, dreamlike works in regional Victoria, where she lives, works and lectures in art at Latrobe University. Kylie’s work has been included in significant exhibitions including, The National 2019: New Australian Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Kylie is represented by Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne.

Melinda Harper’s art reveals an unwavering commitment to abstraction, combining vivid colour with dynamic arrangements of geometric forms. Working across a broad range of media, she has produced screenprints alongside paintings, collages, drawings, embroideries and hand-painted assemblages throughout her career. Melinda began exhibiting her work during the 1980s at Pinacotheca and Store 5 in Melbourne, and in 2015 she was the subject of a major solo exhibition, Colour and Sensation: The Works of Melinda Harper at Heide Museum of Modern Art. Melinda’s work has been widely collected and is represented in public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Art and creativity run in Katherine Hattam’s blood. The daughter of an artist, she is also the mother of artists, and has been making and exhibiting since the late 1970s. Art and life go hand in hand in Katherine’s work, which reflects her experiences and perspectives in a way that mirrors our own. Her work also incorporates text to emphasise her meaning. Widely exhibited and collected, Katherine’s work is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Art Gallery of South Australia, to name just a few.

Richard Lewer’s works get to the heart of what it means to be human, often focusing on our fears or frailties with his confessional tone and dark, wry humour. Richard describes himself as a social realist, but ultimately, he is a storyteller; using tales from his New Zealand childhood and his upbringing as a Catholic to reflect on the issues that connect us all. His work often combines imagery with diaristic text that reveals the shameful or surprising things that we would normally keep to ourselves. Lewer held his first survey exhibition in 2009 and in 2025 was the subject of two major surveys, at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and Geelong Art Gallery, in regional Victoria. His work is represented in most Australian public collections, as well as New Zealand’s Auckland Art Galley Toi O Tāmaki and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, among others. Richard is represented by Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide and Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane.

Rob McHaffie’s painting, drawing and ceramic portraiture of characters, both real and imagined, engages with themes of personal healing, family, human relationships and the foibles of contemporary life. Never without a pen and sketchbook in hand, Rob’s work is based on close observation of the world around him but is never judgemental. Instead, he presents us back to ourselves with a sense of warmth and a wry humour. In 2024 Rob was the subject of a major solo exhibition, ‘We Are Family’ at Bendigo Art Gallery. Widely collected, Rob’s work is held in the collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Rob is represented by Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney.

Simon Paredes has a keen interest in the world around him and in his small-scale drawings, he draws attention to the everyday things that many of us overlook. Product packaging, with its vibrant colours and eye-catching graphic design, is a consistent theme in his work, but his subject matter also includes architecture, animals, domestic objects and subjects borrowed from popular culture. In 2014, Paredes joined Arts Project Australia, an internationally leading visual arts organisation that champions neurodivergent artists and artists with intellectual disability. In addition to being included in group exhibitions at Arts Centre Melbourne and the Wangaratta Art Gallery, his work is now represented in numerous private collections around Australia.