Chris Stevenson Australian, b. 1945

Chris Stevenson has lectured for several decades in Visual Arts at Sydney tertiary institutions, including Macquarie University.

For the last two decades she has worked in a co-operative art space in Sydney’s inner-west. During that time she has had eight solo shows and has been selected as a finalist in many group exhibitions in Sydney and surrounding areas. Her recent move to a small farm in the Megalong Valley has given her new inspiration, especially the Cox’s River and the landscape surrounding the farm. 

Cezanne, the artist admired by so many abstract artists, observed: “art is not about imitation, it’s about finding equivalence.” Building a layered surface in oils or acrylics, that simultaneously conceals and reveals the energy of a powerful river landscape, is integral to Stevenson’s process.

Stevenson’s fascination with the river probably began in childhood where she frequently explored the Georges River in southern Sydney.  The Cox’s river, west of the ranges, is always subject to drought, fire and flood. The presence of trees, rocks and bush influence the ever-changing character of the river and its shifting moods. Stevenson’s paintings always have an emotional intensity, linking past with present and investigating the dynamics of presence and absence.

Chris Stevenson is represented by Brenda Colahan Fine Art, Sydney