Explore art works previously on display as part of Art in Unexpected Places.
Previous displays
Art in Unexpected Places by Bella Taylor
Bella Taylor an Australian multimedia artist based in Wollongong, NSW. She blends graffiti-inspired design with various visual media to create bold and dynamic works. Passionate about the power of art to uplift and inspire, her practice explores colour, movement, and form across painting, sculpture, and digital media.
Currently studying design at the University of Wollongong, Bella documents her creative journey on her Instagram page, BBTdoodles. Her work is influenced by street art, pop culture, and the world around her, reimagining ideas with a playful and distinctive approach. She has painted murals at James Fallon High School and on free graffiti walls in Wollongong, with aspirations to become a professional muralist. Through her vibrant and energetic style, Bella seeks to create art that sparks joy, invites engagement, and offers a refreshing visual escape from the everyday.
Locations:
- 211 Princess Highway, Rotary Park Albion Park Rail
- Shellharbour Primary School - Mary St, Shellharbour
- Lake Entrance Road (Wattle Road intersection).
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: August - October 2025
Art in Unexpected Places by Tim Baker
Baker is a documentary photographer based in Coalcliff, NSW. His work is informed by a genuine curiosity toward the people and world around him. Baker often explores juxtaposition and duality as a means to make sense of it all, with his keen eye and enthusiasm for a good story usually leading to a photo unfolding right in front of him.
Baker takes a humanist approach to photographing strangers candidly, choosing to portray them as true to life as he sees it.
In 2024 he released his debut zine "There's Sunscreen in the Holy Water" which was shortlisted in PHOTO 2024's Photobook Prize (pre-press category). A show of the same name was held at Clifton School of Arts.
Baker recently completed a 12-month residency with Wollongong City Council’s Creative Studios program and is a finalist in Galah’s 2025 Regional Photography Prize.
Locations:
- 211 Princess Highway, Rotary Park Albion Park Rail
- Shellharbour Primary School - Mary St, Shellharbour
- Lake Entrance Road (Wattle Road intersection).
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: May - July 2025
Art in Unexpected Places by Ian Morrison
Ian Morrison is a local artist from Albion Park. He studied and worked as an Architect before further studies in theology led to his 11-year role as an ordained Anglican Minister.
Ian has always admired bold colours and shapes incorporating them where he could to create excitement and joy within his architect designs. After finishing working as an Architect Ian started painting as a hobby and outlet for creative energy. His place of residence (Dapto, the Blue Mountains, and now Albion Park) has offered inspiration for developing his landscape scenes.
Ian enjoys creating images, with a focus on shape and colour, that resonate and trigger fond memories of holiday locations and places of great sentiment.
Ian says ‘from stunning sunrises, to majestic hills, God’s creation provides every bit of inspiration that is needed for beautiful art. It isn’t hard to look too far to see wonderful backdrops we have in the Shellharbour Region that have been a delight to capture in different ways.
It is great to spend time in this wonderful environment. All of the artworks I have made have been inspired from photos I have taken while riding my bike around the Shellharbour region.’
Locations:
- 211 Princess Highway, Rotary Park Albion Park Rail
- Shellharbour Primary School - Mary St, Shellharbour
- Lake Entrance Road (Wattle Road intersection).
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: February - April 2025
Art in Unexpected Places by Melissa Ritchie
Melissa Ritchie is a local artist who was born in Georgia, USA, and came to Australia as an infant. She has lived in the Shellharbour region for over 25 years and paints from her home studio.
Predominantly an oil painter, Melissa is known for her realist style still life paintings featuring a colourful array of everyday objects. She has been a finalist in many of Australia’s major art prizes including the Archibald Prize, Doug Moran Prize, Portia Geach Memorial Award, Kilgour Prize, Shirley Hannan Portrait Prize, Lester Prize, Brisbane Portrait Prize and the Percival Portrait Prize. She has won the Postcodes from the Edge Art prize twice, and been highly commended in many awards.
Melissa says her paintings ‘capture a moment in time where many represented items are meaningful beyond the composition. Many of my still life paintings feature a piece of folded paper or origami alongside modern everyday objects and heirlooms that pay homage to memories of my childhood. I’ve also painted iconic, locally owned family businesses in my urban landscapes, that celebrate our local region and local personalities. From nanna’s tea set and mum’s crystal vases, to 80s toys before wifi and the local corner store that sells the best mixed lollies… I’m a sucker for anything that brings on a sense of nostalgia’.
Locations:
- 211 Princess Highway, Rotary Park Albion Park Rail
- Shellharbour Primary School - Mary St, Shellharbour
- Lake Entrance Road (Wattle Road intersection).
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: November 2023 - January 2024
Art in Unexpected Places by Lisa-Marie Vecchio
Lisa-Marie is a Brisbane-based graphic designer and muralist, illustrating art that encourages and uplifts. Her designs are recognised as colourfully eye-catching, created with the intention of communicating hope, joy and empowerment.
Lisa says of these artworks:
"As a firm believer in affirmation therapy to help me through moments of negative self-talk, so these artworks reflect my feelings and common phrases I've pondered on in my journey with overcoming anxiety and fear. There’s still some stigma around openly discussing topics like mental health, and I am all about carving out a safe space for it. Visuals play a big part - using bright colours and imagery like squiggles can take the sting out of discussing such hard topics. I believe everyone has a need to be seen, heard and valued and creating artwork is how I meet that need for myself and others."
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park
- Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: August 2024
Art in Unexpected places by Chris Smith
Chris Smith is a Sydney based emerging artist with a strong connection to the south coast. Smith develops bright, vibrant and colourful work that represents scenes at the beach reflecting movement, joy and playfulness.
We see people painted within some landscapes reflecting the lifestyle of many locals and those who holiday in this region. The artworks allow the viewer to connect to a time and place in their own lived experiences that allows for a little escapism.
A thread within each painting of this series features little seagulls. Perhaps you can find them if you’re travelling on the bus and visit the following bus shelters.
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park
- Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: May - July 2024
Art in Unexpected places by Edwina Green
Edwina Green is a First Nations artist who grew up between the Western suburbs in Melbourne, and Queenstown, Tasmania.
Green’s practice is informed by her connection to culture and ties to reclaiming intergenerational disconnection. Green investigates narratives of perception, historical re-framing, and the post-colonial paradigm and its impact on people and place. She uses a multidisciplinary approach across the mediums of sculpture, installation, film, and painting.
The artworks on display include; The Badary series (learn, yarn, listen, play, pause). Green says these images ‘explore a playful connection to kin; simple phrases, and ways that our badary (little ones) can understand, and engage in.’ She explains they are ‘all elements necessary for a strong cultural bond’.
The image haz una canasta mis flores ‘looks at colonial languages, cultural material, and how Australia as a nation, prioritises being a single language country, despite holding 500+ different languages both First Nations and those that are living away from their homelands.
While the final image of the Map of Australia depicts First Peoples language group as according to the AITSIS map. ‘It is a reminder of who's country we live, work and exist on, and the diversity and complexity of language groups across this country.’
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park
- Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: January 2024
Art in Unexpected places by Gennifer Anderson
Gennifer Anderson is a local Shellharbour-based artist who creates ‘abstract ethereal’ works using a variety of mediums and materials. Often working experimentally, her work begins in abstract, as she scours for materials with history, such as wood, recycled paper, ribbon, thread or dried paper. Anderson combines these with wax, resin, acrylic paint, pencils, pastels and other mark-making methods to scratch and scrape the artwork surface.
Drawing from her lonely experience of moving to the Illawarra in the early 1980’s, much of Anderson’s work focuses on the concept of belonging. Telling stories through texture and depth through layering, she achieves captivating colours and finishes, reflecting the natural and manmade world.
There is something new to discover on close inspection, no story is ever completely finished.
Anderson says, “There is a little bit of my own story in every piece and my story is often a mirror to yours… I find we all just want to belong and my greatest hope is that my imperfect art will speak to the imperfect heart helping it to feel it has come home.”
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park (across from house number 295)
- Lake Entrance Road (Wattle Road intersection)
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- Mary Street, Shellharbour (at Shellharbour Primary School)
Date: October 2023
Art in Unexpected places by Michael Black
Michael Black is a Sydney-based artist with a distinct, dynamic and expressive style that explores human experiences and how classic story models symbolically parallel our own life. Utilising mixed media painting and drawing, Michael provides us with a collection of abstract landscape scenes.
Michael Black’s artworks explore his response to found landscapes and experiences. His work allows him to capture direct moments in time through the use of a variety of mixed media techniques and his philosophy presents the idea that individuals all have sacred moments, experiences, and places of significance in their lives. These moments are celebrated in this display, as Michael’s painting practice invites the viewer to be transported to the sacred space within their own consciousness.
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park
- Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: July 2023
Art in Unexpected places by Simon Theuma
Simon Theuma is an underwater and wildlife photographer from Shellharbour NSW, Australia. He was born on the Mediterranean island of Malta. Surrounded by the sea, from a young age, the lure of what lies underneath instilled in him a passion of everything marine.
His underwater photography journey started in 1999, exploring the islands of Malta and Gozo and continued on expeditions to the Red Sea, the Great Barrier Reef, Truk Lagoon, Komodo, Raja Ampat, Thailand and the Philippines.
Simon works as a Vocational Education Trainer and regularly conducts photography workshops.
In 2020 Simon had the opportunity to exhibit his underwater Fine Art prints in the solo exhibition ‘Ornate by Nature’ and ‘For the Love of Whales’ as part of a group exhibition.
With his images, Simon hopes to inspire a greater appreciation of the natural beauty of our oceans and to raise awareness for the wellbeing of our planet.
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park
- Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: April 2023
Art in Unexpected places by Patrick Shirvington
"My work investigates the relationship to the natural world through drawing, believing the practice of drawing is fundamental to the cognitive process and to opening doors to the unseen.
I tell my story with mythical symbols, whether from the brush on a large canvas to the more intimate illustrations in children’s books, I feel the unknown is more important than the known, as it awakens our dreams and intuition.
Through our dreams we delve deeper than the mere surface. My artmaking looks at the natural world surrounding us, firstly bringing our attention to the picture surface, followed by a deeper revelation."
Patrick Shirvington is an accomplished children’s book illustrator with a Master of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design UNSW.
His picture book, Can You find Me?, written by Dr Gordon Winch, was shortlisted for the Wilderness Society Environment Award for Picture Books (Australia), a CBCA Notable book, with Patrick being nominated for the Crichton award for illustration. Patrick’s books have now been published worldwide.
Locations:
• Princes Highway, Albion Park
• Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
• 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
• 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: February 2023
Art in Unexpected places by Clare O'Toole
Dharawal-based artist Clare O’Toole has been exhibiting since 2017 and is a Wollongong local. Clare has a multidisciplinary practise, focusing on painting, sculpture, photography and drawing.
Clare’s practise embodies still-life compositions from everyday consumer products; drawing inspiration from the pantry to the grocery store. Clare enjoys recreating iconic packaging, in a unique and vibrant style, inspired by the likes of pop artists such as Andy Warhol and David Hockney.
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park
- Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: October 2022
Magical Realism by Leaf Klevjer
"In a time of huge personal and global suffering, walking and taking photos has been a practice which has saved me again and again. I use my camera phone because having it handy is a way that I can stay attentive to beauty, light, form, line and shadow all the time. Simple tools remind us that we are the ones who generate the creativity. My work is an invitation to us all to stay open to the magic which is all around us, in our homes and streets." - Leaf Klevjer
Locations:
- Princes Highway, Albion Park
- Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 40 Lake Entrance Road, Oak Flats
- 128 Shellharbour Road, Warilla
Date: March - May 2022
Art in Unexpected Places by Hannah Jensen
"My artworks illustrate my connection to country, drawing inspiration from the land on which I was raised. I use significant symbols, colours and shapes to represent my perception of Country within the local context of Dharawal Country.
My work depicts significant meeting places and local native flora that make up the local landscape on which I live." - Hannah Jensen
Locations
- Prince Highway, Albion Park (across from #295)
- Lake Entrance Road (Wattle Road intersection)
- 128 Shellharbour Road
- 40 Lake Entrance Road
Date: December 2021 - February 2022
Last updated : Wed 5 Nov 2025