Melbourne Studios is an artist-led collective based in Naarm/Melbourne, with a strong focus on contemporary works on paper and printmaking practices. The collective has participated in Sydney Contemporary PAPER consistently over the past eight years, including during the pandemic, maintaining a visible and engaged presence.
Across its participation, Melbourne Studios has prioritised direct engagement between artists and audiences, fostering meaningful conversations around process, materiality, sustainability, and collecting works on paper. A defining feature of the collective’s program is the presence of the exhibiting artists on the stand, a professional curation and installation, with Trudy Rice regularly delivering live demonstrations and educational discussions that offer visitors insight into printmaking techniques and contemporary practice.
The collective also values presentation as an extension of practice. Lisa Sewards’ bespoke bipartite framing will feature in the 2026 exhibition design, reinforcing the relationship between artwork, object, and display.
For the 10-year anniversary of PAPER, Melbourne Studios will present a collaborative artist book project as a special commemorative feature, reflecting the collective’s long-standing commitment to collaboration, craftsmanship, and the enduring relevance of works on paper within contemporary art.
The LJP Studio is a new home-based space grounded in printmaking, artist books, storytelling, and the tactile possibilities of paper. Its identity is shaped by a deep attention to memory, place, Country, material process, and the quiet ways stories can be carried through plate, image, texture, sequence, and touch.
Born and remaining on Gadigal land, Lisa’s Aboriginal, Scottish, and Welsh heritage informs a practice concerned with belonging, origin stories, shoreline, water, and the relationships between people and place. Her background spans the medical education, public health, silk-screen printing, graphic art, photography, illustration, and academic research, all of which continue to shape a practice based in care, observation, experimentation, and connection.
The studio’s values centre on slowness, handmaking, sensory access, and meaningful engagement with materials. Works are developed by using aluminium plate, linocut, wood, monoprint, copperplate, embossing, chine collé, and bookbinding processes, often becoming unique or small-edition artist books and prints.
Over the next few years, Lisa is transitioning into a full-time creative practice. Her goal is to expand the studio’s artist book and printmaking output, develop more sensory-diverse paper-based works and build a sustainable practice where print, story, Country, and touch can continue to meet.
Damien Minton is a Sydney based art dealer who has worked in the industry since 1988, starting out as the coordinator of the Bondi Pavilion Community Arts Centre Gallery. Damien has worked for legendary art identities Ray Hughes and Frank Watters.
The Damien Minton Gallery started in Newcastle in 2000 and then operated in Redfern until 2014.
Damien then instigated the unique Sunday Arvo Art Salons are on a Sunday afternoon in Redfern, for two hours only, at one of Sydney’s last remaining unrenovated warehouses.
Damien also presented solo and group exhibitions of independent artists in ‘off location’ spaces around Sydney and beyond.
In 2024 a new gallery space was opened, presenting a program of independent contemporary Australian artists at 50 Buckingham Street Surry Hills, Sydney.
Printmaking can be historical, present and political, a space for ideas and embodied processes, for cultures to be shared. Cicada Press has been making original prints generated from a unique pedagogically-based workshop in Australia for over twenty years. It was formally established by its director Michael Kempson at the University of New South Wales Art & Design in Sydney in 2004 and now continues outside of a formal institutional context. We work with a broad spectrum of Australian and international artists, the resultant prints reflecting a sustained engagement through a medium that both chronicles and confronts so much about our evolving culture. Seeing printmaking’s unique expressive range in this collaborative working relationship and being admitted to the unique knowledge of others, provides those who are involved with their creation at Cicada Press with a framework for life-long learning. This exhibition at Sydney Contemporary 2026 facilitates diverse stories from artists contributing to this internationally respected custom-printing community.
Established in 2007, CHALK HORSE is a Sydney-based contemporary art gallery that began as an artist-run initiative and has since evolved into a renowned commercial gallery. While our foundations remain grounded in the experimental spirit of the ARI model, our program now supports a diverse roster of artists working across disciplines and critically engaged practices.
2026 marks a defining moment in the gallery’s trajectory. In the energetic Year of the Horse, CHALK HORSE will significantly expand its footprint with the launch of an upstairs Viewing Room above our William Street gallery, increasing our exhibition capacity and allowing for more focused presentations of works from our stable.
Continuing our long-standing engagement in Southeast Asia, CHALK HORSE is launching CHOK MAA, a Bangkok-based residency and curatorial platform. The residency will support Australian and international artists, providing studio and exhibition spaces while fostering international connection, grounding opportunities for new collaborations, and building the gallery’s international presence.
This momentum is reflected in the increasing institutional and international presence of our artists. In 2026, major institutional presentations include Kate Mitchell’s ‘In the Eye of the Giant’ and Mechelle Bounpraseuth’s ‘Sou Sou’ at AGNSW. The gallery will also participate in Aotearoa Art Fair in New Zealand for the first time and return to Art Paris at the Grand Palais, presenting works from the estate of Billy Benn alongside Adrian Janagla Robertson’s European debut.
Together, these developments mark a pivotal year of growth for CHALK HORSE and reflects the ascending global profile for the gallery and its artists.
Baldessin Studio is a not-for-profit open-access printmaking studio located on Wurundjeri-willam country (St Andrews, Victoria). Now in its 25th year, the studio is built on the rich legacy of the renowned printmaker and sculptor George Baldessin (1939-1978) operating from his original 1970s bluestone studio. With artists at its core the studio champions printmaking, embodying George’s generosity of spirit and passion for fostering creativity.
Set within the idyllic surrounds of the St Andrews bushland, the studio offers a unique space for artists to immerse themselves in their practice, strengthen technical mastery and proficiency and connect with the rich tradition of printmaking in Australia. The studio offers a yearly program of workshops, masterclasses, fellowships and events in intaglio, relief and photo-based printmaking techniques, with a focus on hybrid and contemporary practices. In addition, the studio also offers public access days, residencies, collaborative editioning services and an open studio weekend as part of Melbourne Design Week. Since 2014 Baldessin Studio has partnered with State Library Victoria hosting 15 artists as part of the annual Creative Fellowships program.
3 Studios is a Sydney based collective of three artists formed in late 2021. We came together as a way of sharing experiences in the field, recognizing our place in the natural environment and observing climate patterns and manmade impacts. Exploratory drawings and paintings completed en plein air provide a springboard for further exploration in our individual studio practice. Meeting regularly, we share our love of the landscape and ideas, supporting each other in our artistic expression. Viewing the landscape through our individual lenses results in three different visual responses, a defining aspect of our group. As well as exhibiting as a collective we hold our own solo exhibitions. We will be exhibiting at the M16 Artspace, Canberra in from April 16 to May 10, 2026.
VELVET LOBSTER started in December 2024 aiming to showcase emerging Australian artists along with stablished artists. We aim to introduce new artists to existing collectors who are keen on collecting new art works as well as new collectors getting into the world of Australian art.
Founded in 2024, Syrup Contemporary (Gadigal/Sydney) is a commercial gallery dedicated to platforming conceptually driven practices that challenge conventions and expand dialogues around contemporary practices. Our program prioritises artists whose work engages critically with social, political and cultural narratives and who place material knowledge at the forefront of artistic concerns. We have a commitment to support emerging and mid-career artists, fostering long-term relationships that allow for sustained development and ambitious projects. Alongside exhibitions, we produce publications, public programs and collaborative projects that extend conversations beyond the gallery space.
Collaboration is central to our identity – whether through partnerships with curators, institutions, or cross-disciplinary practitioners — enabling dynamic exchanges within Australia and South East Asia – where we are focusing our future overseas growth and our collaborations with artists from the region. Through a carefully considered curatorial vision and a strong commitment to artist advocacy, the gallery continues to build a reputation for presenting rigorous, risk-taking exhibitions across painting, sculpture, installation, performance and interdisciplinary practices.
Nasha Gallery started as ‘Nasha’, doing a number of short-term exhibition projects in various Sydney locations. In 2022 Nasha Gallery opened in a permanent location in Darlinghurst focusing on a group of promising young artists. The gallery has since relocated to a first floor walkup in Chinatown Sydney.
