The Golden Hour

Sharon Collyer's exhibiton The Golden Hour is a poetic reflection on the inevitability of change and the life-affirming power of presence. Inspired by the beauty and feeling of her surroundings, Sharon’s work represents her deeply felt, sensory experiences of the world. As autumn descends on the Southern Highlands, where Sharon lives and works, a sea of colour is revealed. The leaves of deciduous trees turn from green to shades of acid yellow, burnt orange, fire red and deep purple. As the sun begins to set, washes of warm light bathe this changing landscape; a time of day known affectionately as “golden hour”.

For Sharon, this liminal space between day and night is a reflective time, latent with personal significance and poetic potential. She says, “the light and atmosphere in the evenings has an electric, molten-gold quality to it. It’s as if some magic has descended, begging us all to stop and pay attention, reminding us of something bigger than ourselves.” These moments of presence invite a greater appreciation for the complex beauty that surrounds us every day, and are the sparks of inspiration from which Sharon begins her work.

In this body of work, Sharon expands on her unique language of gestural abstrac1on. She utilises a variety of materials, including ink, watercolour, pastels and oils, to create layered works which vibrate with energy and movement. She seeks to capture the experience of golden hour and the changing of the seasons through subtleties of colour, form and texture. Driven by process, Sharon allows the work to develop intuitively and guide her towards an outcome. She strives for balance in her compositions, just as she seeks balance and harmony in her life.