caelene NEE glen

Caelene Glen’s work focuses on the subtleness of fleeting enlightenment and emotional understandings. Expressing everyday activities and interactions through art, she attempts to translate human existence within the eternity of the universe itself. Caelene’s chosen background education in mathematics and astronomy, often brings balance and compositional poetry to expressions of sensitivity in a modern world.

BONNITA GILLARD

Bonnita Gillard is a mid career visual / sound artist, researcher and writer living in Naarm / Melbourne, Australia. Inspired by feminine artistry (particular the intersection between motherhood and art), Symbology, Folklore, Herbalism, mythology and the underworld of the human psyche; has lead to years of research and training in various modalities starting with a Bachelors degree in Fine Art Painting and Sound Art and Therapy. Bonnita is currently creating work between the Mornington Peninsula and Bayside. 

CLAIRE HUMPHRYS-HUNT

Claire Humphrys-Hunt is a dedicated creator, working predominantly as an artist in embroidery and painting techniques. She expresses emotive depictions of the world and characters around her, producing life experiences, and observations of others’ lives, in the most beautiful layering of fabric and thread.

Claire has an extensive art career spanning many decades. After a break from exhibiting, this new body of work has been released as part of the ‘Threaded’ show at the ‘Caelene nee Glen’ art gallery; marking a renewed journery for Claire’s career.

DALIT BAR

Dalit Bar is a sensitive painter working with oils for over 15 years, capturing light and the freedom of movement in her triptych painting for AIR.

“I am inspired by nature, the duality of movement and stillness, fragility and freedom everywhere around us. My work reflects an ongoing exploration of image symbolism, self-reflection and the merits of oil paints. ”

~ Dalit Bar

ELLIE YOUNG

Ellie Young has delved deep into research to understand the personalities and lives’ of harlequins through the 14th to 18th centuries; as well as the relationships between these harlequins - also known as court fools, jesters and buffoons - with their commissioners. At times these relationships were affectionate, yet oftentimes an outlet for vicarious emotional expression. Ellie’s exhibition statement reads:

“the Victorian era harlequinade was reduced to a plotless epilogue to the main pantomime, becoming a dramatised fairy tale.”

fionna madigan

Fionna Madigan’s work is an abstracted response to the colour, texture and forms of the flora and landscape around her. It offers a window of aesthetic contemplation and an experience of perception. Texture works in the painting on a visceral level; we feel texture in our bodies, even if it’s being viewed and not touched. Fionna aims for the work to be optically playful; the painting surface is matt and the work comprises richly compressed layers which engage teasingly with depth perception.

Fionna is drawn to a fertile zone between abstraction and realism and feels particularly satisfied when her paintings straddle these genres. Commencing with compositional goals and encouraging random occurrences; improvisation and transience are integral concepts to the artist’s creative endeavour.

Fionna Madigan is interested in the experience of perception and the way in which the visual cortex metabolises texture and perceptual depth.

Joanna Thomas

Joanna Thomas works as an artist creating intricate embroideries, mixed with antique materials to create sculptured forms.

The smallest details found in Joanna’s artworks, can hold significant depth in the narrative of her stories. Once allowing oneself to submit to the artist’s vision, the viewer is rewarded by Joanna’s sensitive artistic creations. Each work contains nooks that explain the narrative, further the story and lends to an essay of art. All developed in various media, technique and material; which alludes to the feminine beauty of texture, material and fine needlework.

lucia roohizadegan

Lucia Roohizadegan is a Melbourne-based artist, illustrator, and author. Her paintings are a celebration of light, colour, and tranquillity, and are meditatively created using environmentally friendly water-mixable oil paints. Finding endless inspiration from the natural beauty of Slovakia’s mountainous landscapes, her botanical paintings keep her connected to her cultural heritage and loved ones based overseas.

MASA HOSS

Masa Hoss is a multidisciplinary artist working on Bunurong Country in Melbourne’s Bayside. Her practices in photography and sumi-e gather and share moments of quietude — for in peace, we find our highest selves: tender, open, still.

“The fluid forms of the flowers drift in and out of the frame like air and breath.” ~ Masa Hoss

Artworks from the Agapi collection have been finalists in the Omnia Art Prize 2023 and the Ripper Art Prize 2025.

Ray Besserdin

Born to artist parents, with a 35-year career, Ray Besserdin is an internationally recognised entirely self-taught artist. Ray pioneered his signature “Impressionist Sculptured Paper” style, inspired by the French Impressionist painters, to capture expression and emotion without realism, using sculptured torn papers, much like bas-relief, working with a “palette” of sheet-formed papers providing a wide spectrum of colours, textures, solidity, and delicate translucency. Works range from abstract to ultra-realistic, from miniature to gigantic. Nature is his favourite subject, but he also enjoys portraiture and abstract. Ray regularly collaborates with architecture firms, interior designers, and events coordinators to create unique artworks that leave audience in awe. Works hang in private and corporate collections in London, Munich, Monaco, Manhattan, Tokyo, New Zealand and throughout Australia.

SERIFA

German artist duo Natassja and Christian, developed SERIFA in 2021. Dedicated to their art, following the principle of 'Defining New Aesthetics', the artists pioneer new forms of visual expression through artificial intelligence. SERIFA integrates AI technology as an artisitic tool, marking a significant evolution in their artistic trajectory, and echoing a philosophy of embracing unpredictability and innovation.

A collection of artworks have been reserved as exclusive release by the ‘Caelene nee Glen’ gallery. This initial collection is part of the FIRE elemental exhibition October 2024.