Artists

Leonie Barton

Bio  /  CV

Leonie Barton is a self-taught artist based in Avalon Beach in Sydney’s picturesque Pittwater area. The environment feeds into her practice as she follows the changing seasons around her and how the complexity of nature is in constant flux. Both the power and stillness of the outdoors inform her practice, whether it’s her drawings, paintings, ephemeral installations, or the large format photography from solo travels through remote areas of the world.

Barton had always drawn from a young age as well as constructing small ephemeral installations from natural materials in the bush where she grew up in far north Queensland. Barton began working intuitively, discovering shapes, balance and harmony in the compositions; however rather than call herself a photographer, the artist used the medium of photography to document her installations, capturing the fleeting sculpture.

Within Barton’s paintings, there is a balance between the ephemeral shapes captured in her prints, to a looser mediation on boards, paper and canvas. Her gestural abstracts echo the colour fields of Rothko or Barbara Hepworth’s modernist sculptures— defined by a mixture of soft and sharp edges, the colour and brushwork give off emotion that is rooted in aesthetics. The process is joyful, instinctive and becomes about the formal aspects; how the line, colour, and form are discovered through individual mark-making.  

Solo exhibitions
2022 “From an Umber Landscape Curated by Rosby Art Gallery
2021 “Textura” Curated by Sophie Vander – Curatorial + Co
2019 “An Audience of One” – Sydney Road Gallery

Group exhibitions
2021 “Darlings”2020 Curated by Sophie Vander – Curatorial + Co
2020 “Here With Me” Curated by Sophie Vander – Curatorial + Co
2020 “August” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2020 Small Works Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2020 “June” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2020 “April” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2020 “Jan” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2019 “Share the Dignity” Curated by Amber Creswell Bell – The Happen Store
2019 “One Day in June” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2019 “Pause and Reflect” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2019 “Where We Stand” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2019 “Autumnal” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2019 “Take Me Back” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2019 “Tickled Pink” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2018 “Why So Serious” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2018 “The Green Room” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2018 “What Lies Beneath” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2018 “Chasing the Sun” Curated by Sarah Montgomery – Sydney Road Gallery
2017 “PHOTO17” Invitation/Curated by Patricia De La Motte, Singapore Contemporary
2017 “The Other Art Fair” By Selection – The Facility Melbourne
2017 “Landshape” Curated by Sophie Vander Curatorial + Co – Sheffer Gallery
2017 “LAND” By Invitation/Curated by Katherine Roberts Director – MAG+M
2016 “The Other Art Fair” By Selection – Sydney
2016 “Artisans in The Gardens” By Selection – Royal Botanical Gardens
2016 “Vantage Points” Curated by Lisa Woolfe – ArtEst
2015 “The Game” Curated by Kendall Henry Officer for Public Works, New York
2015 “Your Art Our Walls” By Invitation – Kings Place Gallery, London
2008 “ASX-Reuters Art Exhibition” By Invitation – Sydney 2007 “ASX-Reuters Art Exhibition” By Invitation – Sydney
2005 “Queenwood Art Show” By Selection – Sydney 2005 “St Josephs Art Show” By Selection – Sydney 2005 “St Augustines Art Show” By Selection – Sydney 2005 “Harbord Art Show” By Selection – Sydney 2005 “ArtSPOT Summer Show” Sydney

Prizes
2020 “Little Things Art Prize” Finalist – Sydney
2016 “The Contemporary Art Award” Finalist – Brisbane
2006 “The Churchie Emerging Artist Prize ” Finalist – Brisbane
2006 “Warringah Art Prize” Finalist – Sydney
2006 “Willoughby Art Prize” Finalist – Sydney
2006 “Woollahra Art Prize” Finalist – Sydney
2006 “Hills Grammar Art Prize” Finalist – Sydney
2006 “Toyota Community Spirit Award” Finalist – Melbourne

Commissions
2019 Oatley Wines “Artist Series Labels” Craigmoor Vineyards, Mudgee INTERIOR DESIGN COLLABORATIONS
2019 Space & Co Sydney by BVN Architecture and Curatorial + Co WORKSHOPS + MENTORING
2019 Masterclass Leader, Ephemeral Workshop July – Noosa Regional Gallery
2019 Mentor/Lead Ephemeral Artist Floating Lands Land Art Exhibition October – Noosa Regional Gallery 2016 Workshop Leader Commissioned by Pittwater Council – Newport Art Festival RESIDENCIES
2016 Awarded by Jacky Winter Gardens – Melbourne

Work