The Hundredth Shearing Shed

Christine’s first shearing shed was at “Charlotte Plains” near Cunnamulla.
Thirty -five years later, in a career that has taken her across Australia’s heartland, her hundredth is the iconic shed at “Deeargee”, Uralla.

The “Deeargee” shearing shed was once part of “Gostwyck”, one of the first sheep runs established on this part of the New England. The octagonal, pyramidal section of the shed, built in 1872, is attributed to the architect Horbury Hunt. Designed for blade shearing, it was only seventeen years later, in 1889 that the woolshed was extended.Twenty-seven Wolseley Shearing Machines were imported from England, creating a need for a long board – machines that would change wool production in Australia forever. In 1903 the shed was extended again with the addition of the brick woolroom.

Christine would like to thank the current owner of “Deeargee” and their families, for their hospitality and enthusiasm about this project.

The Exhibition

Works from this series were exhibited as part of Christine’s solo exhibition at NERAM (New England Regional Art Museum) in Armidale Feb8 – March17, 2019. The exhibition was entitled The Hundredth Shearing Shed and included paintings from several other series from the New England as well as the “Deeargee” paintings.

The Process

This series was created in 2018-2019, after Christine spent time at the shed Easter 2018. She created a short video of that time.

Read More

Christine blogs semi-regularly. There were many stories to tell about this project. Read more here and here .

Radio National Program

That Easter, after Christine had been at “Deeargee”, she had an extra night in Armidale. Staying in the caravan park she accidentally met Ed Ayers from  The Arts Show on Radio National. A few months later she took him and his partner to Stanthorpe to see a shed there (Armidale was too far for Ed to come back to, to do the story). The program went to air February 13. Listen here. 

The Artwork

Many of these works have been collected into private collections on the New England, however in the spirit of presenting a cohesive body of work the sold and available have not been separated. A large proportion of these works are being exhibited at the New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale as part of the exhibition The Hundredth Shearing Shed, (Feb 8-March17. 2019) therefore any sales of those particular works, during that 5 weeks, will be organised through the gallery. Please contact Christine directly if you are interested in  information about any of these paintings.