https://michaelreidnorthernbeaches.com.au/

Michael Reid Northern Beaches, 2/358 Barrenjoey Road, Newport, Sydney (2026)

17/06/2026

YOU’RE INVITED: BEN WATERS | ‘The Moments In Between’ | Opening Celebration this Saturday, 20 June, 1–3pm | Michael Reid Northern Beaches

Please join Avalon-based artist BEN WATERS at Michael Reid Northern Beaches this Saturday, 20 June, to celebrate the opening of his latest solo exhibition, ‘The Moments In Between’. Drinks will be served from 1pm and all are welcome to come along, hear from the artist and experience his beautiful new exhibition.

OPENING DRINKS
Ben Waters | ‘The Moments In Between’
Saturday, 20 June, 1–3pm
Michael Reid Northern Beaches
2/358 Barrenjoey Road
Newport NSW 2106

One of the most distinctive voices in Australian landscape painting and a major force within the creative community of our idyllic slice of coastal Sydney, Waters has built a celebrated practice grounded in his enduring connection to the waterways and bushland surrounding his lifelong home on the ‘Beaches.

“I know a work is finished when the feeling at the end matches the feeling I had when I first started thinking about the painting,” says the artist, who begins each work with long, meandering bushwalks around the Pittwater area before returning to his Avalon studio to translate his impressions of the landscape through a highly original visual language.

Beautifully capturing a tangle of willowy gums as they arch and overlap atop steep escarpments that sweep towards glittering expanses of water, Waters brings his paintings to life with a bold graphic charge, emotional heft and an approach to colour that is entirely his own.

We look forward to welcoming family and friends, art lovers and collectors, daytrippers and locals alike to our celebration of ‘The Moments In Between’ by Ben Waters. To RSVP or enquire about available work, please email [email protected]

Ben Waters

17/06/2026

“In autumn, I began walking the Sydney Harbour trails as a weekly ritual – from The Spit to Manly, Bradleys Head to Chowder Bay and on to Balmoral – seeking exercise and mental clarity,” says British-born, Eora/Sydney artist NICOLA WOODCOCK of the seeds for her forthcoming solo show, ‘Harbour Flora’ – opening this week at Michael Reid Northern Beaches.

“Along these foreshore tracks I observed the native flora growing through sandstone, leaf litter and coastal scrub, becoming increasingly aware of the shifting colours and textures of the season. Walking through the landscape brought a sense of liberation and peace.”

Woodcock is among the most beloved and in-demand artists to regularly light up our program, having delighted visitors to our Newport gallery through a succession of special releases and group showings, including a release for our fifth-anniversary show. Following the success of these projects, as well as her 2025 solo exhibition at our Southern Highlands sister gallery, ‘Harbour Flora’ marks her first full-scale solo presentation in Newport in almost three years. Works can be acquired online in the lead-up to our opening celebration this Saturday, 20 June, 1–3pm, where the artist will be in attendance.

“The act of walking the trails along the harbour’s edge sharpened my attention to the resilience and sculptural beauty of the native plants: banksias aglow against dry earth and clumps of delicate flannel flowers emerging through tangled bushland,” says Woodcock, who works in oil pastels on custom birch panels, beginning with a brown wash of pastel to dirty up the colours and introduce contrast as she lays down her vibrant hues.

Back in the studio, Woodcock’s observations from her foreshore walks are translated into works shaped by memory, movement and atmosphere. “Using a palette of earthy reds, browns and ochres contrasting with jewel-like bursts of colour, these artworks explore the native flowers I encountered,” she says.

For more, please visit our website or email [email protected].

Nicola Woodcock

16/06/2026

COMING SOON: KATHY LIU | ‘Mirage’ | 16 July–8 August | Michael Reid Northern Beaches

Represented by our flagship Eora/Sydney gallery and announced this month as a finalist in the 2026 Waverley Art Prize, KATHY LIU will make her Michael Reid Northern Beaches debut next month with ‘Mirage’ – a sublime new series that has arrived at Michael Reid Sydney on its way to Newport and can now be previewed by request.

‘Mirage’ follows a much-admired trifecta of large-scale presentations at Michael Reid Sydney, including Liu’s entirely sold-out solo debut in early 2025 and her celebrated showing in the 2024 edition of the annual Painting Now program. Since her breakout turn as a National Emerging Art Prize finalist, Liu has garnered acclaim for a distinctive, intuitive approach to abstract painting that delights in the serendipitous possibilities of the painting process.

“For me, painting is not only an interpretation of space, but also an accumulation of time and energy,” says Liu, whose ethereal abstractions gesture to hazy memories, nocturnal musings or half-remembered dreams. “It embraces the experience of the unknown, chaos, being trapped, struggling, letting go and revolution ... this allows me to move beyond the conscious to access the hidden narratives that lie within the subconscious mind.”

This open-ended process makes the canvas a conduit for fabulous adventures through imaginative worlds, taking delightfully unexpected turns as amorphous pools begin to coalesce and playfully enigmatic characters amid impossible landscapes appear through diaphanous wafts of colour.

“Colours are always my clues,” says Liu. “I think of combining colours as akin to the tuning of an instrument. I am careful to keep them neither too sharp nor flat. I pay a lot of attention to the surface of my work. I’ve always been attracted to ancient frescos, Roman wall paintings and medieval tapestries, their surfaces concealing time, history and magic.”

To request a preview or book an in-person viewing, please email [email protected]

Kathy Liu

15/06/2026

“I’m not necessarily trying to paint what’s in front of me; I’m trying to paint what I feel inside,” says Avalon-based artist BEN WATERS, who will make his much-anticipated return to Michael Reid Northern Beaches this week with ‘The Moments In Between’ – now available to preview online, in person and by request ahead of our in-gallery opening event this Saturday, 20 June.

A star among our gallery’s represented artists and one of the most distinctive voices in Australian landscape painting – as well as a major force within the creative community of our idyllic slice of coastal Sydney – Waters has built a celebrated practice grounded in his enduring connection to the waterways, escarpments and bushland surrounding his lifelong home on the ‘Beaches.

After sketching during long, meandering bushwalks, Waters returns to his Avalon studio to translate his impressions of the landscape through a highly original visual language. Beautifully capturing a tangle of willowy gums as they arch and overlap atop steep escarpments that sweep towards glittering expanses of water, Waters brings his paintings to life with a bold graphic charge, emotional heft and an approach to colour that is entirely his own.

‘The Moments In Between’ arrives after the artist’s recent collaboration with leading Australian furniture and lifestyle brand King Living. “I know a work is finished when the feeling at the end matches the feeling I had when I first started thinking about the painting,” he tells writer Grace Elliot in an editorial feature accompanying the collaboration, which saw Waters’s paintings installed at King’s newly opened Northern Beaches flagship. “I hope people continue that conversation. When they bring it into their home, it becomes part of their story and hopefully sparks their own memories of being in nature.”

We look forward to welcoming visitors to ‘The Moments In Between’. Please join the artist for drinks at the gallery on Saturday, 20 June, 2–4pm. For enquiries, please email [email protected]

Ben Waters

09/06/2026

COMING SOON: NICOLA WOODCOCK | ‘Harbour Flora’ | 18 June–11 July | Michael Reid Northern Beaches

Michael Reid Northern Beaches is thrilled to announce the imminent and much anticipated return of British-born, Eora/Sydney-based artist NICOLA WOODCOCK, whose forthcoming series, ‘Harbour Flora’, can now be previewed and acquired online ahead of her show’s official opening.

Woodcock is among the most beloved and in-demand artists to regularly light up our program, having delighted visitors to our Newport gallery with a slew of special releases and group showings, including, most recently, her star turn in our fifth-anniversary show. Following the success of these projects, as well as her 2025 solo exhibition at our Southern Highlands sister gallery, ‘Harbour Flora’ marks her first full-scale solo presentation in Newport in almost three years.

“In Autumn this year I began walking the Sydney Harbour trails as a weekly ritual — moving from Spit to Manly, Bradleys Head to Chowder Bay and on to Balmoral — seeking both exercise and mental clarity,” says Woodcock of the seeds for her new series. “Along these foreshore tracks I observed the native flora growing through sandstone, leaf litter and coastal scrub, becoming increasingly aware of the shifting colours and textures of the season.”

A finalist in the 2025 Waverley Woollahra Art School 9x5 Landscape Art Prize, Woodcock has also been selected for the Northern Beaches Environmental Art Prize, The Little Things Art Prize and the National Emerging Art Prize.

“Walking through the landscape brought a sense of liberation and peace,” she says. “The act of walking the trails along the harbour’s edge sharpened my attention to the resilience and sculptural beauty of the native plants: banksias aglow against dry earth and clumps of delicate flannel flowers emerging through tangled bushland. Back in the studio, these observations became a small collection of oil pastel artworks shaped by memory, movement and atmosphere.”

To preview and acquire works from ‘Harbour Flora’, please visit our website or email [email protected].

05/06/2026

A beautiful selection of bijou beach scenes by Boorloo/Perth-based contemporary painter ELLA HOLME is at one with the luxe coastal mood of this Palm Beach home by Atelier Alwill and Alwill Architecture – published this week by The Design Files.

“We wanted this to feel completely different from how the family lives day-to-day – a genuine escape,” says Atelier Alwill principal Romaine Alwill of her concept for the beachside Spanish Mission abode. “Not in a themed way, but in the sense that it could be joyful, a little playful, and less structured than a primary residence with still a high level of functionality.”

This sense of joyfulness and beachy insouciance is elegantly distilled in Holme’s paintings, which formed part of two bodies of work by the artist, both presented by Michael Reid Northern Beaches in 2024. “I return to studying the beach again and again,” says Holme, whose loose and energetic style is a perfect painterly encapsulation of holiday mode.

“I like the soft pastels and light colour values at midday, endeavouring to capture the vast sun and sea we have. I like people’s relationship to the beach; the playfulness at the beach, sunbathing and the feeling of being on holiday. I live on the coast so it makes up my landscape and culture.”

Visit our Northern Beaches online stockroom for an ever-evolving collection of beautiful original artworks that similarly evoke a sense of effortless waterside style. For all enquiries – and to receive first access to Ella Holme’s future releases – please email [email protected].

Thank you to , and for featuring Ella Holme’s work.

Photographs by Anson Smart |

02/06/2026

COMING SOON: BEN WATERS | ‘The Moments In Between’ | 18 June–11 July | Michael Reid Northern Beaches

This week, we are delighted to announce the imminent return of Avalon-based contemporary painter BEN WATERS, whose next solo exhibition, ‘The Moments In Between’, is available to preview online and by request.

One of the most distinctive voices in Australian landscape painting and a major force within the creative community of our idyllic slice of coastal Sydney, Waters has built a celebrated practice grounded in his enduring connection to the waterways, escarpments and bushland surrounding his longtime home.

“In between a view, a tree, a branch, a moment,” notes Waters in the Moleskine he kept during the making of this new body of work and which ultimately inspired its title. “In between an ocean, a bay, the tides, our thoughts. In between the sun, the shade, the wind, our breath. In between what we see, we feel, we remember, we share. In between them all are simply moments.”

After sketching during long, meandering bushwalks, Waters returns to his Avalon studio to translate his impressions of our natural environment through a highly original visual language. Capturing willowy gums as they arch and overlap atop steep escarpments that sweep towards glittering expanses of water, Waters brings his paintings to life with a bold graphic charge and an approach to colour that is entirely his own.

“Colour is not chosen to replicate what’s seen, but to express what’s felt,” writes Grace Elliot in a story accompanying the artist’s collaboration with iconic Australian design and lifestyle marque King Living. “For Ben, colour is never literal.”

With ‘The Moments In Between’, Waters conjures landscapes poised between observation and memory, immediacy and reflection. Vibrant passages of colour and interlacing forms evoke the shifting moods of the bush, the play of light across water and the fleeting sensations that linger long after a walk has ended.

Works have arrived at Newport, where they can be viewed in person ahead of the opening. For enquiries, please email [email protected].

30/05/2026

YOU’RE INVITED: LEONA DEBOLT | ‘Autumn Nights at the Bowlo’ | Opening Drinks TODAY, Saturday, 30 May, 2–4pm | Michael Reid Northern Beaches

Please join Northern New South Wales-based artist LEONA DEBOLT this Saturday, 30 May, at Michael Reid Northern Beaches to celebrate the opening of her first solo exhibition at the gallery, ‘Autumn Nights at the Bowlo’. Drinks will be served from 2pm and all are welcome to come along, meet the artist and experience her vibrant new series of abstract, colour-soaked figures.

“Treasured autumn evenings on the strip between the river and the ocean with the sound of waves, and the band at the bowlo humming in the background,” says DeBolt, setting the scene for her series amid the soft rhythms of Wooli’s coastline. “These portraits offer a snapshot of characters gathered at the fibro fishing shack as the sun slips below the horizon. With a tinny in hand, they sit in easy conversation as the everyday becomes quietly significant.”

ARTIST DRINKS
Leona DeBolt | ‘Autumn Nights at the Bowlo’
Saturday, 30 May, 2–4pm
Michael Reid Northern Beaches
2/358 Barrenjoey Road
Newport NSW 2106

Working intuitively across layered surfaces, DeBolt’s expressive paintings hover between portraiture and pure sensation, capturing moments of easy connection and the soft rhythms of coastal life.

To enquire about ‘Autumn Nights at the Bowlo’ or RSVP to this Saturday’s public celebration, please email [email protected]
debolt

26/05/2026

YOU’RE INVITED: BETRA FRAVAL | ‘Wading’ | Opening Drinks this Saturday, 30 May, 2–4pm | Michael Reid Northern Beaches

Please join celebrated Naarm/Melbourne-based artist and 2026 Bayside Painting Prize winner BETRA FRAVAL this Saturday, 30 May, at Michael Reid Northern Beaches to toast the arrival of her first solo exhibition at the gallery, ‘Wading’. Drinks will be served from 2pm and everyone is welcome to come along, meet the artist and experience her radiant new series of expressive waterscapes – the culmination of her recent residency at Bundanon.

“It emerged as my sensory and emotional experience of place felt heightened and amplified, contrasting with months prior spent navigating my father’s stroke and brain injury,” says Fraval of ‘Wading’, which arrives soon after the announcement of her win at the Bayside Painting Prize, where she received the $10,000 Beckett Local Prize. “At Bundanon, I stepped out of a darkened room and saw the world in vivid colour. It was a moment of reprieve, wonder and renewed openness. This work holds a memory of that magical time when landscape offered not just solace, but a sense of lightness and possibility.”

ARTIST DRINKS
Betra Fraval | ‘Wading’
Saturday, 30 May, 2–4pm
Michael Reid Northern Beaches
2/358 Barrenjoey Road
Newport NSW 2106

Across the colour-soaked canvases comprising ‘Wading’, paint pools and seeps into the warp and weft of raw linen as lushly translucent, evanescent sweeps of light and tone coalesce to form luminous waterscapes – all with a fluidity that matches her figures’ unfettered embrace of the natural world.

“‘Wading Out (Misty Morning)’ marked a shift in my practice where figures began entering landscapes that I previously painted as sites shaped by human intervention,” says Fraval, citing a favourite work from her new series. “Rather than focusing on the impact of people on the environment, this work instead reflects on the profound effect the environment can have on us.”

To enquire about ‘Wading’ or RSVP to this Saturday’s public celebration, please email [email protected]

Michael Reid Northern Beaches

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