Short Stories

Stephanie Tabram, born in the United Kingdom, presently living and working outside of Hobart is one of Tasmania’s most collected artists. Tabram has been painting for more than thirty years, having completed her studies in Sydney in 1989. Her exquisite paintings speak of the Tasmanian landscape like no others. They are the landscapes of only this morning and yet, are evocative of the quality of image reserved only for memory. The paintings are lit —like the heaving Australian sky— from within. The detail and perfection of shadow and reflection goes beyond the photographic, her paintings are truly aglow.

Tabram’s work plays masterfully with the eternal nature of the traditional landscape painting and the instantaneous and transparent quality of film. Her images — though still, private, almost lonely —are pregnant with suspense. Tabram lets us linger in the last of the golden light on the dry grass before the clouds roll over - and then in the thick air of those swelling clouds the moment just before the storm breaks - and then in the silence of the empty highway, silver with the recent rain and lined with puddles as still as glass.

Tabram has held more than 15 solo exhibitions in both Tasmania and Victoria. She has been selected to exhibit in numerous group exhibitions throughout Australia, including in recent years, the Glover Prize on seven occasions (People Choice Winner 2009), the City of Albany Art Prize (Highly Commended 2010), and the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award twice (Highly Commended 2011). Her work is held in many national and international private collections as well as Artbank.