Couple Joins Hawkesbury’s Art Scape

A new art gallery will soon open in Hawkesbury as new residents Cass and Jeff Walsh cement their presence in the region’s art space.

The couple are pushing to open their gallery Scapes of Art next month, ahead of the Hawkesbury Artists and Artisans Trail (HAAT) on August 26 and 27, which they are both actively involved with.

Since moving to Hawkesbury in 2021, the couple has created an online gallery and store to showcase all of their artworks - paintings and photos.

While Cass applies paint to canvas and Jeff captures what he sees behind his camera lens, both artists focus on landscapes.

That is where the name for their gallery Scapes of Art came from.

“‘Scape' is an extraction from all types of scapes (like landscape, seascape, cityscape)”, Cass said.

“'Art' is a visual representation of something creative.”

Although, initially, the gallery will solely be a display of the couple’s works, it will also become a space that represents and supports other local artists to exhibit, collaborate and sell their works of art. “We are excited to collaborate with other Hawkesbury artists whose main focus is on the natural landscape in their creative works,” Jeff said.

Cass and Jeff were living in the Hills District when COVID hit and they took it as an opportunity to reassess their lives and downsize.

The move was also an opportunity for the artists to follow a long time dream and goal of establishing their own physical gallery.

Their love of the country found them leaving the Hills District for a property in Glossodia where they could see trees, horses and farms.

“It’s a beautiful part of Western Sydney,” Cass said.

“It has a vibrant arts community.”

“We’ve really landed on our feet here.”

They live on a one-acre block of land with a gigantic workshop down the back which they have been working on to turn into their bricks-and-mortar gallery.

“We’re going for a 'rustic-meets-industrial' feel to take advantage of what’s already here, plus we do prefer to reuse or recycle where possible,” Cass said.

Jeff said it was also a little bit like them.

“We’re rough and ready with a bit of spit and polish,” he said.

Cass specialises in painting mixed-media impressionist landscapes and you can find her work at Cass Walsh Art.

Jeff’s work can be found at Jeff Walsh Fine Art Photography, and as the name indicates photography is his artistic field.

We’re going to learn more about Cass and Jeff in the coming months.

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• Arts and Media