Birds and Trees is an exhibition of Artist Books and Sculptured Books by Amanda O’Sullivan.  Amanda’s work displays a sense of calm and rest, revealing an intimate and intriguing avenue into Amanda’s artistic style.

Amanda has drawn inspiration from her suburb of Upper Mount Gravatt and the surrounding bush land of Toohey Forest. Amanda’s explorations into her geographical location have continued to inspire her current work and expand on her unique representations where the images cross boundaries between internal and external, real and fantasy.

 Amanda’s ‘Bird’ books are explorations of depth and texture by means of a limited neutral palette. They have a unique, clean style that draws upon traditional techniques resulting in an intricate final product. There is delight in the fact that one can open one of the bird books and see the completed book which in effect, permits a ‘reading’ of the whole book at once. It is only by turning the pages that a sense of the narrative is fully realised.

Engaging with both negative and positive space, Amanda interprets her findings in a unique way. Her star books play with bird shapes and echo stained wallpaper from time past, while her canvas books are explorations into shape and colour. Each page bears a new surprise and a dialogue unfolds as the reader engages in her books.