Under Alan’s direction, exhibition programs always balanced informative historical surveys with adventurous exhibitions introducing and showcasing the work of extremely talented artists, many of whom had not previously received the attention they deserved.

In gallery one, henceforth to be known as the Alan Sisley gallery, the space has been opened right up (after Alan’s memorial service), for the first time at a major exhibition, with all internal runner walls pushed out, maximising the space to house the survey of John R Walker’s remarkable landscapes: Terroir: Big Land Pictures.    

As Andrew Sayers notes in his introductory essay in the accompanying online catalogue (http://issuu.com/utopiaartsydney/docs/orange_catalogue), Walker’s dramatic, almost cinematic landscapes evoke both visceral and cerebral responses from viewers.

Very few Australian art historians have tackled Australian art in toto. In Australian Art (Oxford University Press), Sayers was one of the few brave enough to do so, but he did not refer to  Walker in that publication. However, in his newly published magnum opus, Australian Art: A History, Professor Sasha Grishin identifies Walker as one of the few artists to interpret potently the landscape vision of Fred Williams.

Although Walker may reference Williams, Streeton and Arthur Boyd, he has made his own mark with his unique and large-scale interpretations of Australian landscapes. 

He deploys a remarkably sensitive and divergent art practice, with various degrees of abstraction, and in these multi-faceted works he demonstrates a real engagement with the natural colours and textures of the landscape, not to mention the human interventions that mark the land.

 This is a special exhibition and the artist himself appeared staggered by what he had accomplished over many years, but had not seen displayed in such a wide-open space. 

  Walker’s art is not at all about discrete marks - he explores the deep meaning of terroir and his ideas are bold and inspirational. 

Although Grishin was in Orange to open Peter Boggs’s exhibition last weekend, I caught him secretly viewing Walker’s work in the adjacent gallery and wondered what he thought.

As the curator of the exhibition in gallery two Mysterious realities  the art of Peter Boggs, I am proud to present for the first time in a public gallery, the work of one of the finest tonalist painters currently working in Australia. 

As an introductory mini-survey, the show is somewhat packed with treasures that may never be seen in the one place again, but Brenda Gray’s hanging is sympathetic to the work. 

The ceiling lighting has been dimmed to enhance spotlighting of paintings and drawings, which are hung low to facilitate the viewer’s gaze. 

The viewer is invited to explore the compositional intricacies of these exceptional pictures and there is a feeling of calmness in the room that encourages contemplation.

Professor Grishin has written an insightful essay for our catalogue, but at the opening he delivered an address that not only offered ways of viewing the artist’s work but also recognised the input of Alan Sisley in the project. 

It was a real privilege to hear Professor Grishin speak, especially given the fact that he taught Alan art history at Australian National University in the 1970s.

In his address Professor Grishin admitted to becoming “somewhat addicted to Boggs’s work”. 

He pointed out that although Boggs knew well the streetscapes, deserted towns and empty rooms he painted, the pictures “are all to some extent mindscapes, or even dreamscapes, places transformed through memory”. 

According to Professor Grishin, “One of the most obvious features of his art is the absence of people”.  

His spaces have been deliberately depopulated and made devoid of human habitation, but traces of the human presence are absolutely everywhere.  

As a visual strategy, through our imagination, we tend to fill the vacated spaces and we start to inhabit Boggs’s paintings. We as viewers become the people in his work”. 

Last Saturday night, as Boggs and I hung about in Summer Street waiting for take-away pizzas, as you do, a young musician came up and expressed his appreciation of the artist’s work. 

“I don’t want to appear sycophantic,” he said. “But I love your work, the geometry and tones are so cool.” 

Upstairs in gallery three, an important part of Australian art history is retold. 

In Margo Lewers’s Ceramics and related works, the story of Lewers’s contribution to public art, in particular the installation and eventual renovation of her extended mosaic mural, that fronts the Canberra Rex Hotel, and the bequest of her home to house art (the Penrith Regional Gallery) is documented by a fascinating photographic historical record and supporting art works.

Traditionally, FOOD Week in Orange is a veritable smorgasbord, but why not take some time out this week to bring your friends to the gallery, to indulge in an artistic feast. 

In adjacent spaces, you can experience public art and private art, big pictures and small, stunning panoramic views of the Australian landscape, as well as a jewel box of the most exquisitely intimate meditations on mysterious places you could ever wish to see, but above all, if you visit you will appreciate the determination and vision of a great director, who made it his duty to present thought-provoking art to our community and make our place not only a beautiful destination, but, truly, a better place in which to live.