‘Vibrant Visions’   

Inspired by the beauty of land and sea

Paintings by Marion Chapman and Jo Reitze sculpture by Tessa Wallis

31st January  to 3rd March 2026

Meet The Artists: 3-5pm, Sunday 8th February 2026

‘VIBRANT VISIONS’ celebrates the beauty of nature, gardens and flowers. Bulleen Art &
Garden is the perfect location for these three award-winning artists to exhibit their joyous paintings
or sculptures that will delight all garden and art lovers.

Jo Reitze

Jo Reitze is based in Surrey Hills. She majored in painting under A.W. Harding at Melbourne State College. Jo is a Fellow of the Victorian Artists Society and Past President of MSWPS. Her teaching career culminated in her coordinating Art at Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College for 20 years. In 2005 she established Jo Reitze Paints your Garden, painting numerous gardens on commission.

Since retiring early, Jo has also been Artist in Residence at Lon Retreat & Spa and at Cloudehill Gardens, where she was filmed painting for ‘Put Colour in your Life.’
Jo’s over forty awards include both The McCubbin Oil Painting Award and the Best Landscape/ Seascape Award in Australian Guild of Realist Artists 50th Anniversary Exhibition last year, MSWPS Jo Bennett Award for Works on Paper in 2024 and the prestigious A.M.E. Bale Prize for Works on Paper in 2022. Recent short-listings include the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize 2021 and Polish Art Foundation Contemporary Drawing Prize 2023. Reitze’s work is represented in Civic Collections in Victoria including those of Melbourne City, Whitehorse and Monash Councils as well as private collections in Australia and overseas. (Full list in Profile)
SHORT ARTIST STATEMENT
“As a keen gardener, my joyous paintings in oils or gouache or pen drawings celebrate nature and the restorative quality of gardens and gardening. My works are freely executed with lyrical mark-making to capture the essence of the scene rather than a mere photographic likeness. Many works are completed on location from direct observation while others are inspired by my iPad photographs. Strong tonal contrasts enhance the vibrancy of the colours while green hues unify the compositions. A close vantage
point is often selected to enclose the viewer in a beautiful setting .”

EXHIBITION HISTORY
I have exhibited widely in solo, joint and group exhibitions. (See Exhibition Page www.joreitzeartist.com.au)
I have sold numerous works up to $6000 in exhibitions as well as being commissioned to paint many
gardens in Melbourne and beyond as well as recently a large oil of a golf course 110 x 167cm.

Marion Chapman

Diploma of Painting, City & Guilds School of Art, London 1982
Sir John Cass School of Art, London 1978
Diploma of Medical Technology, RMIT 1972

Marion Chapman is based in Carnegie. After returning from studying and working in England,
she took commissions for painting people’s gardens as well as for her own pleasure. After rearing
two children she returned to her passion for art, focusing on landscapes and gardens. Marion is a
member of the Victorian Artists Society and MSWPS.
Marion has received a number of awards, as well as being highly commended. She received the
Annie Davison Oliver Award in 2023.
SHORT ARTIST STATEMENT
“I lived in England for 10 years and was inspired by the English landscape and gardens, working
within a strong tradition of drawing and tonality. Having adored flowers and gardens since I was a
child, and then having children of my own, has enabled me to see my own environment and
garden as a source of artistic material, without having to always go far afield. My goal is to
capture a sense of being or timelessness, the essence of life – whether it is the randomness of
trees and flowers, a landscape, life around me or even still life! My focus is on the diversity of
colour and shapes to provide a uniform whole, but also to seek out tensions that excite the
interest in the format. I attempt to reproduce my initial response or vision to what I see. My work
has evolved to become more colourful and free, the seeming randomness of lines in the picture
plane working to unify the elements.”
EXHIBITION HISTORY
I have exhibited widely in solo, joint and group exhibitions.I recently staged a successful solo
exhibition of 35 works at the Victorian Artists Society.

TESSA WALLIS

DESIGNER and CREATOR OF SCULPTURAL WORKS

Tessa works in bronze, ceramics and glass and paper. As well as sculpture she makes theatrical masks.

Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction. RMIT University. 2017Cert 1V Glass and Glazing Melbourne Polytechnic 2022 Part time courses in ceramics at the Carlton Arts Centre, Holmesglen TAFE, Bronze casting at the RMIT foundry and Glass casting at Melbourne Polytechnic (current).
CERAMICS, BRONZE and GLASS – INSTALLATIONS, COLLECTIONS/ SALES.
Grazier. Bronze statue (current) 2025
Lumen Dei (Light of God) 3D Glass 2024 St Monica’s Catholic CollegeVerbum Dei (Word of God) 3D Glass 2024 St Monica’s Catholic CollegeOrford Memorial 3D Glass 2023 Canterbury Uniting ChurchWe’re All in This Together (Covid vessel) Porcelain 2022 Mermaid vessel Porcelain 2022 Private collectionLyrebird vessel. Ceramic 2018 Private collection.Toad of Toad Hall Bronze 2016 Morris Cowley Private coll.The Larkin Family Bronze 2015 Private collectionReg Lindsay Standing Tall Bronze 2015 Cessnock Bowling ClubOldmeadow Memorial Bronze 2003 State Library of VictoriaThe Man from Ironbark Bronze 2001 State Library of VictoriaHuman Hands in Reproduction, Adaptation and Evolution. Porcelain Triptych 2013, Holmesglen TAFE collectionScorpion trophy Bronze 2011 Private collectionRats of Tobruk insignia Silver 2011 Private collectionBookworms; Tribute to Albert Ullin Ceramic 2010 Kew LibraryWine bottle with grapes 60 panels Glass 2008 ACI Annual Dinner
EXHIBITIONS
Bronze medallions, FIDEM conference Munich (October 2025)MSWPS Changing Perspectives Vic Arts Soc. Annually 2018-2024
Klytie Pate Ceramics Biennial Award Mansfield 21 for 20 (1921)
Encounters Skepsi @Whitehorse Artspace 2020MSWPS Changing Perspectives, Vic Arts Gallery 2019Unfolding Wisdom, Swell Centre 2019A Sacred presence, Swell Centre 2018Graduate Exhibition RMIT 2017Talking Hands, Pop up RMIT 2017Around the Table, First Site Gallery RMIT 2016How the Object Talks, RMIT 2015Face to Face, Chapel on Station Gallery Box HillHuman Hands in Adaptation, Reproduction, Evolution. Holmesglen TAFE 2013Teapot Tips, Julia Gillard Teapot, Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre 2011Bookworms, Dromkeen Homestead 2010 now at Kew Library.Masks, Swiss Italian Festa, Daylesford Convent 2010