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Sarah Thornton-Smith

@sazts

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curious about colour, convos + connections©
NWOP 26 5/9/26-22/11/26 @mprg_vic

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NWOP finalist Sarah Thornton-Smith chats with Curator on Tour, Tash, about Rapture 2025, a work inspired by the sense of wonder she feels in the Australian bush. Made from 74 suspended pieces, it invites light to filter through just as it does in the landscape.

National Works on Paper 2025 is on until 22 November. FREE ENTRY, Tues-Sun, 11am-4pm. 🎨

Video: @mickrussell_
Artwork: @sazts
Interview: @curator_on_tour

#NWOP2026 #MPRG #MorningtonPeninsula by @sazts

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20 days ago

Rapture grew out of my time spent walking and observing the Australian bush — a landscape that once felt quite unfamiliar to me, but that over time has become a place of discovery, connection and gratitude.

In making the work, I wanted to hold onto something of that experience: the way the landscape can slowly reveal itself as you move through it, and the unexpected moments of beauty and wonder that can appear along the way. Rapture is a wall installation of 74 individually monoprinted lengths of hosho paper, suspended in seven gradated levels from soil to canopy. Each piece carries its own marks, colour and textures, while together they begin to form a larger landscape.

I became particularly enamoured with the translucency of hosho. Light passes through the paper, allowing what is printed on one side to meet what is held on the other. Colours, shapes and textures begin to weave between the pieces, creating something that is never quite still.

The making was also a process of learning to let go — to allow chance, layering and the unexpected to become part of the work. Those moments of discovery in the studio often reminded me of walking in the bush, where you never quite know what the landscape will reveal.

For me, Rapture holds a deep sense of gratitude — for this landscape I have come to love, for the opportunity to make, and for the journey of becoming more attuned to a place I now call home.

I feel incredibly honoured to see Rapture amongst the 68 selected works in National Works on Paper 2026.

National Works on Paper 2026
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
5 September – 22 November 2026

If you’re in Victoria, I hope you get the chance to spend some time with the exhibition. ❤️

#awagamihosho #NationalWorksOnPaper #NWOP2026 #MorningtonPeninsulaRegionalGallery #AustralianContemporaryArt

I feel incredibly honoured to see Rapture amongst the 68 selected works in this year’s exhibition. If you’re in Victoria, I hope you get the chance to spend some time with the show. ❤️ taken in Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery by @sazts

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a month ago

What an opening! ✨

I am so happy to have had the opportunity to attend the opening of National Works on Paper (NWOP) 2026 at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery on Friday.

It was such a joy to finally see Rapture installed and to experience it amongst the 68 selected works — and even more special to meet so many of my fellow artists, guests and the wonderful team at MPRG.

I feel incredibly honoured to be one of the 68, and very grateful that Rapture gets to have this moment. ❤️

Congratulations to Adam Lee (NWOP 2026 Major Acquisitive Award), Emma Bingham (Emerging Artist Award) and to all my fellow finalists — it was such a privilege to see the breadth of approaches, ideas and possibilities that paper can hold.

A very heartfelt thank you to @mprg_vic and everyone involved in bringing NWOP together. And to all those who have supported my practice and Rapture along the way - a heartfelt thank you. 🫶

Feeling very grateful, very happy, and still taking it all in. ❤️

National Works on Paper 2026
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
5 September - 22 November 2026

#NationalWorksOnPaper #NWOP2026 #MorningtonPeninsulaRegionalGallery #ContemporaryArt #sarahthorntonsmith taken in Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery by @sazts

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a month ago

And just like that, my residency at @midlandjunctionartscentre comes to a close.

I am feeling super grateful for this concentrated period of making, research and experimentation. Artists spend a considerable amount of time engaged in the many other activities that surround a practice — administration, commissions, applications and various other commitments, including life itself. This residency arrived at a timely point, offering the opportunity to step away from some of those demands and slow down, recalibrate and pay attention to the act of making itself.

Big thanks must go to the team at Midland Junction Arts Centre for extending the opportunity and for being such a joy to be with each day I was there.

And thank you to everyone who popped in to say hello, stopped for a chat, visited the studio, or followed along online. It was lovely to share the residency as it unfolded, in person or from afar. 😊

I leave with a body of work, many questions, and much to return to.

#artistresidency #sarahthorntonsmith #colourwaves #gradients #learningsomethingnew taken in Midland Junction Arts Centre by @sazts

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a month ago

It’s already past the halfway mark of this residency here at @midlandjunctionartscentre and I’ve been tidying up the studio space a little for the open studio day tomorrow at 11am onwards.
I have particularly enjoyed having the space - the space to give form to ideas, the space to make, and tend to one’s creative health. I didn’t start with a very clear idea of what I was embarking on but I did start with a simple ask, that each day as I stepped past the threshold, that I would try and stay in the present and enjoy what my heart, mind and spirit wanted to make, or … print in this instance.
In this residency I continue working with hosho from @awagamifactory_jp and have been monoprinting these gradients of hues I have been enthralled with.You know, the skyscapes here in Boorloo Perth have always held my heart.
So I hope you are able to join me tomorrow or in my last days here at Midland Junction Arts Centre. I will be here until 30 August. Message me if you’re interested in popping in 😊

#artistresidency #sarahthorntonsmith #hoshoawagami #colourwaves #worksonpaper taken in Midland Junction Arts Centre by @sazts

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a month ago

These past two weeks have been spent in between bliss and a return to making. Artists spend quite a bit of time doing ‘other stuff’ and time away from the concentrated effort of making. So this residency @midlandjunctionartscentre is timely and gratefully welcomed as a time of ‘rest’, recalibration and research.
I have a thing for gradients as you know, so I decided to start this residency with monoprinting gradients. I wanted to explore mixing of hues in etching inks and see how they translate in prints. Testing and learning valuable lessons along the way but each day at the print room started with this:

arrive before you begin
attend. tend. return.

Anyhoo, I’m generally in my studio space or print room until 30 August. If you’d like to come for a visit and a cuppa, get in touch and we will tea up a time 😊

#artistresidency #midlandjunctionartscentre #perthartist #sarahthorntonsmith #colourwaves taken in Midland Junction Arts Centre by @sazts

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2 months ago

Get @reshare_app • @midlandjunctionartscentre ARTIST IN RESIDENCE | SARAH THORNTON-SMITH⁠
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SHIFTING FIELDS⁠
Wed 22 Jul - Sun 30 Aug 2026⁠
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In this residency, Sarah Thornton-Smith continues her enquiry into monoprinting as a site of material and perceptual exploration.⁠
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If you would like to visit Sarah in her studio, please email info@midlandjunctionartscentre.com.au to book a time. ⁠
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Galleries are open between 10am-5pm Tue-Fri and 11am-3pm Sat & Sun.⁠
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Learn more about Sarah’s residency via link in bio⁠
https://www.midlandjunctionartscentre.com.au/air/shifting-fields by @sazts

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2 months ago

symbiont series began as a quiet reflection on the idea of home - not as a fixed place, but as something sensed, carried, and remembered through the body.

These works emerged through listening: to music, to rhythm, to the subtle echoes of memory held in colour, touch, and repetition. Certain songs have long acted as pathways back to myself, bringing forth fragments of places, atmospheres, and moments that continue to shape my understanding of belonging.

From the humidity and birdsong of childhood memories in Singapore, to the blue skies, eucalyptus, and shifting soundscapes of Perth/Boorloo, home reveals itself to me in fleeting sensory encounters.

Rather than describing home, symbiont traces its echoes - the ways it accumulates through lived experience, relationship, and attention.

symbiont is showing in Echoes of Home curated by @sarahsoulay.art , alongside @kristy.scaddan and @yasamin_khadembashi at @rockinghamartscentre_friends until Sunday 17 May 4pm.

#rockinghamartscentre #contemporayart #paperart #sarahthorntonsmith #perthhillsartist taken in Rockingham Art Centre by @sazts

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5 months ago

Echoes of Home opened on a sunny day at Rockingham Arts Centre this past Saturday.

I’m grateful to be part of this exhibition, curated by Sarah Soulay @sarahsoulay.art , sharing my Symbiont series alongside Kristy Scadden @kristy.scaddan , Yasamin Khadembashi @yasamin_khadembashi and Sarah Soulay.

Thank you to everyone who came and spent time with the work—those shared moments of looking and being together felt important. Thank you also to Sarah Soulay for the invitation, and to Clare Stroud @cpmkirk for her care in helping bring the installation into the space. Big thanks must go to the team @rockinghamartscentre_friends for their hospitality and care in hosting this exhibition.

Echoes of Home continues until Sunday 17 May at Rockingham Arts Centre, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–12:30pm and 1pm–4pm.

#sarahthorntonsmith #contemporaryart #perthart #rockinghamartscentre #paperart taken in Rockingham Art Centre by @sazts

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5 months ago

TOMORROW | ECHOES OF HOME OPENING EVENT

Come to the official opening of ‘Echoes of Home’.
Explore the amazing work and hear from the artists Yasamin Khadembashi, Kristy Scaddan, Sarah Thornton-Smith and Sarah Soulay.

When: Sat 2 May | 2-4pm
Where: Rockingham Arts Centre
RSVP: via link in bio

Portrait of Kristy Scaddan by Rebecca Mansell
Portrait of Yasamin Khadembashi by Aaryn Bath taken in Rockingham Art Centre by @sazts

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5 months ago

Beyond honoured to receive the news that my work is a finalist in this year’s National Works on Paper!

Congratulations to my fellow finalists, and thank you to the judges and the MPRG team for the enormous work behind the selection process.

Get @reshare_app • @mprg_vic 📣National Works On Paper 2026 Finalists!⁠
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For more than fifty years the National Works on Paper (NWOP) has presented a survey of contemporary art and celebrated the medium of paper in all its forms.⁠
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There were 932 artists from across Australia who entered NWOP 2026, with 68 works selected for the shortlist. Working across painting, printmaking, drawing, video, sculpture and weaving, the shortlisted artists highlight the versatility of paper, revealing its capacity to carry both intimate narratives and broader social ideas.⁠
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Thank you to our esteemed judging panel Anne Ryan, Curator of Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Teho Ropeyarn, Artist, 2022 NWOP Finalist, Raymond Arnold, Artist, 2018 NWOP Finalist, and Rebecca Owens, Curatorial Lead, MPRG

Exhibition will be on display 5 September - 22 November 2026, with prizes and acquisitions to be announced at the opening.

#worksonpaper #sarahthorntonsmith #nwop2026 #contemporaryart #morningtonpeninsularegionalgallery taken in Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery by @sazts

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5 months ago

I am so pleased to contribute “Inflorescence I” to the Curtin Art Degree Show 30 x 30 auction fundraiser - it’s a real joy to be part of this.

The online exhibition opens FRI 1 MAY 26 via @curtinbfagrads along with an on-campus exhibition opening at 6pm held at Project Research Space 202.165, Curtin University, Bentley.

Funds raised go towards the 2026 Graduate Show. Place a bid on your favourites - and please share this with others who might enjoy a look and the chance to collect some amazing art.

Online bidding closes 8 MAY 26.

For more details, see and follow along @curtinbfagrads

#curtinbfagrads #artauction #originalart #sarahthorntonsmith taken in Fine Art at Curtin University by @sazts

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5 months ago