Luke Baker won the 2025 Luminance Young & Emerging Artist Prize for his painting, Little Bay. “I am a 16-year-old artist living in Port Macquarie. I have been painting for as long as I can remember. I paint realistic architectural and seascapes of places I connect with, inspired by the beauty around me.”

Katie Chambers is a 17-year-old emerging photographer from Port Macquarie. “I enjoy capturing and showcasing the beauty of local landscapes, especially the coastline, where light, movement, and atmosphere constantly change.”

“I am a proud Aboriginal woman born and raised on the Mid North Coast. Art is my outlet, the way I can process the world around me. My work is deeply personal, shaped by place, identity, healing and the quiet moments that stay with us.”

“I really enjoy creating art that is inspired by nature, especially birds and wildlife, because there is so much beauty in the small details people often miss. I like using watercolour because it can be unpredictable, which makes every artwork feel unique. Through my art, I try to create pieces that feel personal and reflect the things I notice and appreciate in the world around me.”

“I am an emerging artist. I like to draw and paint and I’m also learning to do printmaking. I attend Phoenix Art Centre in Bowraville 3 days a week and also work at home on my art most days. I consider myself a young artist that is enthusiastically learning everything I can about art and making culture so that I can progress to being a full time artist.”

“I am an 18-year-old emerging artist based in Wauchope. I grew up in Sydney before moving at the age of 14. I am a proud Aboriginal woman from the Biripi people and Worimi people mob. I have been painting and drawing since I was able to hold a pencil, developing a strong passion for visual storytelling. My work is influenced by my culture, identity, and connection to community and Country. In 2025, I was recognised for my dedication to the arts, receiving an Outstanding Achievement award in Performing, Creative, and Visual Arts at the Dungang Awards.”

“I'm an 17-year-old HSC artist at SCAS who dabbles in all mediums and subjects. ‘I'm not too much, I'm simply more’.”

“I have been drawing and painting ever since I can remember. I believe that everyone is creative in their own way, and that art is a beautiful form of communication between the artist and the viewer. My mother who was an award-winning artist introduced me to the art world and really nurtured my love for art and creativity.”

“I have been painting and drawing my entire life. I have been a student at Drawn to Art, being mentored by Jane Whitfield since I was in infants classes. I am in year 9, I study Visual Arts as an elective and hope to make it as part of my career.”

Alycia Lipovac is a current Bachelor of Fine Arts student at the National Art School. She grew up in Port Macquarie and was a Luminance Gallery Young and Emerging Artists Prize finalist in 2025, and won the Wauchope Lasiandra Festival Art Prize in 2022. She has previously been included in group exhibitions at Roto House, Long Point Vineyard, Wauchope Art Gallery, Macleay Valley Community Art Gallery and Sunset Framing. Since studying, she has been a Waverly Woolhara 9x5 Landscape Prize finalist and exhibited in the Potluck Group Show at Schmick Contemporary.

Dhavve Gaanish Manoharan is an emerging portrait photographer based in Port Macquarie. Dhavve’s personal practice explores the possibilities and understandings of light. Driven by an experimental spirit, he consistently aims to seek a unique perspective through his photography.

“My name is Wren McDowell. I am 14 years old. I have always loved making art. As a kid I remember being inspired by the illustrations in children’s books. Art has always been a way for me to find serenity and stillness in a chaotic world.”

“I created this piece with a song that carried a message, Worth it All by Citizen Soldier, this work was my first attempt in finding my own art style.”

“I have been navigating through the difficult years of growing up. The highs and the lows, the ups and the downs. Some days I just need to cry and this artwork, Hidden Within, is a vision of those days.”

David Brooker is a local artist born and raised in Wauchope. After spending many years painting people, he shifted his focus to native wildlife. Inspired by Australia’s natural environment, his work features realistic animal portraits set against patterned or textured backgrounds. These are used to slow the viewer down and encourage a closer, more personal connection with each subject.

Myffie Coady is a self-taught artist based in Port Macquarie, NSW. Myffie has received 20 art awards, including two distinguished Grand Champion prizes. Encouraged by her grandmother to explore drawing at a young age, Myffie’s connection to nature - its flowers, animals, and seasons - continues to shape her work.

Rachel Cross Rachel is a Dunghutti artist whose work is deeply inspired by her surroundings. Rachel’s contemporary style of Aboriginal art explores childhood memories and life journeys, blending tradition with a modern perspective. Her love for colour and intricate patterns shines through in her work.

Stu Doherty lives and paints in Port Macquarie. His work observes moments of unexpected beauty from the landscape that surround his studio where the sea meets the rock on Birpai land. His practice is predominantly watercolour, gouache and graphite on paper, focusing on the landscape and flora of coastal NSW.

Jo makes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, installations, soundscapes and writes poetry. Her latest exhibition at Luminance Gallery is Shifting Territory: a group exhibition with Wendy Stokes and Malcolm Harding.

Jo’s visual art is represented in state and private collections around Australia and overseas.

Originally from New Zealand, now living and working in Port Macquarie, Jon Dorne finds inspiration in nature and the world around us.

Stewart Hambrett captures the essence of a moment and expresses the unpredictability of life. Stewart has been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions, winning over 40 accolades including a number of first prizes.

Malcolm Harding’s latest exhibition, Shifting Territory, is a group show with Wendy Stokes and Jo Davidson.

Malcolm employs techniques of chance, decalcomania and frottage to create organisms such as cells, amoeba, planets or stars. His work explores the similarities between artistic abstraction and scientific representation.

Suzannah Jones lives on a farm in the Dungog Shire, NSW, on Gringai country beside the Dooribang (Williams River). Her work explores the intersection of landscape and memory, reflecting on how formative experiences shape perception and how mark-making fosters therapeutic connection to place.

Yvonne Kiely studied fine art at Dublin’s National College of Art and Design, and fashion at the National School of Art in East Sydney. She has spent the past three decades on the Mid North Coast exhibiting as a painter and working as an art tutor. Yvonne’s paintings have featured in solo and group exhibitions, including Glasshouse Regional Gallery in Port Macquarie.

Stephen Killick’s Cartographies of the Absolute catalogues history, oscillating and repeating - anticipating the need for change. In his hands we share a journey that touches and echoes our own, as humans trying to make sense of a world that is at once tangible and removed; the push pull of modernity that may provide physical comfort but induce existential terror.

Corina Latimore is a proud Birpai artist, born, raised and living on Country. In 2022 she was the honoured recipient of Student of the Year for Creative Design Ideation, TAFE NSW Gili Awards. From the ocean to the mountains, nature plays a large part in Corina’s art. Corina’s first appearance at Luminance was in Essence of Country for NAIDOC Week 2025.

Angela Marr is a Birrbay woman and the creative director of Cultural Industries, a National Design Agency member, a Supply Nation registered business, and an Indigenous Art Code member. Angela’s first appearance at Luminance was in Essence of Country for NAIDOC Week 2025.

Adam Postrach is a digital artist based in Port Macquarie. His work is surreal, dreamlike. He uses digital painting and collage techniques to create fantastical worlds and characters. He finished Vocal Arts at the Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw, Poland.

Chris Proctor creates art that finds beauty in imperfection. Luminance Gallery hosted his first solo show, If I Had Known Above the Mountains Lies Eternal Sunshine I Never Would Have Stopped Climbing, from 5 April - 26 April 2025.

Wendy Stokes’ latest exhibition at Luminance Gallery is Shifting Territory: a group exhibition with Jo Davidson and Malcolm Harding.

Wendy is exhibited widely, in major public institutions including Glasshouse Port Macquarie and in respected commercial galleries. Her artwork is held in significant private and public collections including National Gallery of Australia and Art Gallery NSW.

Kay Thurston was born and bred in the NSW inland city of Wagga Wagga. Kay's work is a deep reflection of her connection to the natural world. Inspired by the intricate beauty of native flora, she creates detailed pieces celebrating the delicate patterns, textures and rhythms found in nature. 

Tony Williams paints what he calls abstract landscape. He grew up in the rugged country of the Colo region west of Sydney, where he developed a love of the Australian bush and country.