Handmark

20/10/2026

Handmark Gallery was delighted to host a special event celebrating the opening of the Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival, welcoming the exceptional Orava Quartet, alongside Her Excellency the Honourable Caroline Wells, Governor of Tasmania, and her partner Dr Rob Walters.

Surrounded by the vibrant and evocative works of Susan Simonini’s 'Places I Belong' and Cameron Haas’ 'Running Towards Danger', the gallery provided a beautiful setting for an occasion bringing together music, art and community.

A wonderful celebration of the creative spirit that makes Tasmania’s cultural life so rich and distinctive.

oravaquartet Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival - TCMF Susan Simonini Cameron Haas Governor of Tasmania

20/10/2026

"'Places I Belong' brings together my ongoing relationship with the Tasmanian landscape and my enduring love of shape and colour in a new way. The paintings are looser and more spontaneous, reflecting a growing familiarity with the forms and rhythms of the local environment. Over time, I feel I have developed a visual language that allows me to respond more intuitively to this landscape that I love." - Susan Simonini

There is a magic to the Tasmanian landscape, and in 'Places I Belong', Susan Simonini captures something of its enigmatic beauty. Through expressive forms, vibrant colour and a fluid interplay between abstraction and recognition, her paintings evoke the feeling of being somewhere deeply familiar, yet endlessly surprising. These are places shaped not only by the landscape itself, but by the quiet accumulation of time, memory and experience.

'Places I Belong' is on view until 26.10.26 and can also be viewed online at handmark.com.au.

Susan's works are eligible for the Tasmanian COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme, for a 12 month interest free loan.

For all enquiries please contact the gallery at —

[email protected] 
or call
(03) 6223 7895

Susan Simonini

18/10/2026

"Creativity... comes when you let go of what you know, when you push past a single idea and refuse to settle." And for Cameron Haas "it’s not just a solitary act in the studio. It’s a shared spark, the energy of stepping into the unknown together."

Cameron Haas | Running Towards Danger
Until — 26.10.26

Visit the gallery and step into the mesmerising world of Cameron Haas, as he ventures into new territory while retaining the boldness, vivid colour and captivating energy we know and love in his work. Discover a fresh perspective on a practice that continues to evolve, inviting us to look closer, linger longer and experience the unexpected.

Exhibition can also be viewed online at handmark.com.au

For all enquiries please contact the gallery at —

[email protected]
or call
(03) 6223 7895

Cameron Haas

14/10/2026

Cameron Haas' exhibition 'Running Towards Danger' is a pivotal moment for Cameron. He leaves the familiar to embrace the ‘danger’ of uncertainty. “Any visual move is uncomfortable. But this was something I had to do, and it was almost like starting from scratch,” Cameron reveals. After 17 years of controlled geometric shapes, he now explores texture and a handmade feel. “I can see the human touch which gives them movement and emotion.”
 
But one thing remains constant. Cameron’s new paintings are still resolutely non-narrative, and are even identified by a number within the series, leaving the viewer free to find their own meaning. Take Cameron’s largest painting, 'Running Towards Danger #1'. Layers of intense, overlapping colour - yellow, magenta, blue and ochre - are partially framed by a dripping white form, creating a compelling composition without recognisable subject matter.

Cameron Haas | Running Towards Danger
Until — 26.10.26

For all enquiries please contact the gallery at —

[email protected] 
or call
(03) 6223 7895

Exhibition can also be viewed online at handmark.com.au.

Cameron Haas

Featured artwork: Running Towards Danger #1 • 2026 • acrylic on linen • 122 x 132cm •

14/10/2026

Cradle Mountain and the Central Highlands have captured Susan’s heart. “The landscapes are unlike any other. The quietness. The stillness. They have a magical presence,” Susan enthuses. Her paintings pay homage to these subalpine environments through emotion rather than literal depiction. “My works are about feeling, and I use abstraction as a way to explore place, memory and perception.”
 
Susan explores the haunting solitude of Cradle Mountain in 'A Quiet Mind'. Autumnal tones hint at buttongrass and the turning of the fagus as the famous mountain hovers in the distance.

Susan Simonini | Places I Belong
Until 26.10.26

Susan's works are eligible for the Tasmanian COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme, for a 12 month interest free loan.

For all enquiries please contact the gallery at —

[email protected] 
or call
(03) 6223 7895

Exhibition also online at handmark.com.au.

Susan Simonini

Featured artwork: A Quiet Mind • 2026 • acrylic on canvas • 103 x 123 cm •

12/10/2026

SAVE THE DATE

Join us in beautiful Evandale in the charming upstairs salon rooms of the Clarendon Arms on the 13th of November for Handmark's annual 'Affordable Show' opening. Featuring works by Handmark's brilliant artists with nothing over $5000, there will be something for all art lovers!

Opening | Affordable Show
13.11.26 from 5:30 pm
at the Clarendon Arms, Evandale

To register for exhibition preview head to the exhibition page at Handmark.com.au.

Image: Peter Gouldthorpe • From Balmoral Hill • 2026 • oil on canvas • 30 cm x 30 cm

11/10/2026

Susan Simonini | Places I Belong
Until 26.10.26

Some landscapes become part of us, their rhythms and contours finding a place in our memory long after we have wandered through them.

In 'Places I Belong', Susan Simonini explores the quiet intimacy between people and place, drawing on her deep connection with Tasmania’s rural north-west. Through expressive colour, shifting forms and painterly gestures, her works capture not simply how a landscape looks, but how it feels to belong within it.

"The Tasmanian landscape is a central influence within my practice. After almost a decade of living in the rural north-west, my relationship with the landscape has become deeply familiar and embodied. I have always been drawn to the sub-alpine environments around me – particularly Cradle Mountain and the Central Plateau Conservation Area - and their shapes, textures, rhythms, and expanses. Through repeated encounters, these qualities have become internalised, contributing to a sense of belonging and a feeling of peace within the landscape."

There is a beautiful sense of freedom in these new paintings, where familiarity gives way to spontaneity and the landscape becomes something deeply personal. Each work offers a glimpse into the evolving relationship between memory, place and the experience of finding home.

Discover Susan Simonini’s 'Places I Belong' at Handmark Gallery, showing until 26 October 2026 or view online at Handmark.com.au.

Susan's works are eligible for the Tasmanian COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme, for a 12 month interest free loan.

For all enquiries please contact the gallery at —
[email protected] 
or call
(03) 6223 7895

Susan Simonini

11/10/2026

Cameron Haas | Running Towards Danger
Until 26.10.26

What happens when an artist steps away from the familiar and allows uncertainty to become part of the process?

In 'Running Towards Danger', Cameron Haas invites us into a period of creative risk-taking, where painting becomes a space for discovery rather than resolution. His latest works feel alive with possibility, embracing the tension between control and spontaneity, intention and intuition.

"Haas describes the process as unsettling — but that’s the point. Creativity, he says, comes when you let go of what you know, when you push past a single idea and refuse to settle. And for him, it’s not just a solitary act in the studio. It’s a shared spark, the energy of stepping into the unknown together."

There is a renewed sense of movement within these paintings, where colour, texture and gesture interact in unexpected ways. The works ask us to look closely, not only at what is depicted, but at the physical presence of the paintings themselves and the way they inhabit the space around them.

We invite you to experience Cameron Haas' 'Running Towards Danger' at Handmark Gallery before the exhibition closes on 26.10.26, or view online at handmark.com.au.

For all enquiries please contact the gallery at —
[email protected] 
or call
(03) 6223 7895

Cameron Haas

10/10/2026

Tasmania’s artists need our support, and the COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme is worth fighting for.

For years, COLLECT has helped people buy original art through interest-free loans, while giving artists and galleries a reliable source of income. It helps keep artists making, galleries thriving and Tasmania’s creative culture alive.

Now, the scheme’s future is uncertain.

Here’s what matters: COLLECT is a loan, not a grant. The money is repaid to the government. Ending the scheme could have lasting consequences for our creative community, without delivering meaningful budget savings.

We cannot afford to take the people and businesses that help make Tasmania’s cultural life so vibrant for granted.

Add your voice. Sign the petition and urge the Tasmanian Government to keep COLLECT alive.

Read the ABC report here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-08/art-loan-scheme-in-doubt-amid-tasmanian-cost-cutting/107238918

And find the petition below.

Urge the Tasmanian Government to retain COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme