Emerging artist Erika Sorby opens her show, Women and Wine, at Blackstone Gallery this weekend. The exhibit presents a series of original, contemporary oil paintings that encompasses female sensuality, flattering decor and wine.
The exhibition launch is from 3 to 6pm on Saturday, April 9. The show features about 50 works completed over the last two years.
Erika Sorby was born in Newcastle and attended Merewether High School. She completed a double degree in Secondary Teaching and Fine Art (majoring in drawing and painting) at the University of Newcastle.
In her previous show, Portraits and Possessions, at Weswal Gallery in Tamworth, Sorby exhibited a selection of oil paintings focusing on portraits and significant jewellery pieces
She currently practices art around her teaching commitments. After several years of teaching in north-west NSW, Sorby now teaches at Merewether High School.
While she enjoyed had a garage to serve as her studio when living in Tamworth area, she's now painting in the living room of her current accommodation on a fold out table.
Sorby says, "Self-portraiture is a space where you can explore persona and identity while also developing technique and experimenting with artwork medium.
"I particularly enjoy embodying historical figures in my self- portraits, for the qualities and characteristics I feel I value or represent myself.
"While creating these portraits, I also thought about items that would historically accompany these figurines. This started with my self-portrait as Marie Antoinette, so I immediately thought of a champagne glass. This then developed into a body of work of thematic portraits and accompanying wine glasses."
Sorby is completing a PhD online through the University of Southern Queensland.
"My PhD is investigating Visual Arts education, more explicitly researching teacher perceptions and experiences related to the current neoliberal educational climate (which devalues arts based subjects)," she says. "The study is formatted as a narrative inquiry which emphasises teacher voice."
