A piece of Bullawa Creek has found a temporary home at Gunnedah Bicentennial Creative Arts Gallery.

Mix media artist Lisa Marple found inspiration from her home at Bullawa Creek, which is between Mt Kaputar National Park and the Pilliga Forest.

The property borders on a national park making the many visitors all the more wild.

Inspiration from the farm is rife in Lisa’s artwork through the motif of horses and the eye-catching feathered works hanging from the gallery’s ceiling. Further two-dimensional works decorate the walls.

Many items found in the bush were used to create the works which make up the exhibition, #Bullawa Creek Love.

Lisa has been an artist her whole life and has been exhibiting for the last 30 years.

This is her sixth solo exhibition, but art lovers from the area may recognise her work from the flood themed display at the gallery last year, To My Returning.

Arts North West approached Lisa about the flood exhibition. That was where she met Gunnedah Cultural Precinct’s Jade Punch who encouraged her to apply for a solo exhibit at the gallery.

“It would be the first exhibition where I’ve been inspired by my external environment because all of my other [ones] have been about my internal world,” Lisa said.

“I like elevating those very ordinary things and trying to look at them in a new way.”

She could not choose a favourite work when asked, likening it to choosing a favourite child. However, she finds further inspiration from stories about gods, goddesses and myths.

Lisa’s move to the area had been an unexpected life change. She was living in a town near Canberra when she took a drive to rescue a horse from Bingara. It was her first experience travelling through the region.

“I just fell in love with all that area,” she said.

She moved herself and her children, shocking everyone in her old town.

“They thought I was completely crazy,” she said.

“I just found this little farm at Bullawa Creek and I had a spiritual connection to it as soon as I saw it and felt ‘this is my home’.”

Taking photos of her new home and sharing them to social media was so inspiring she wanted to create an exhibition.

“I just wake up every day there and feel very privileged to be able to live there,” Lisa said.

It has been almost two weeks since the opening and will be available for the public to view until mid May, the exhibition being hosted by Gunnedah Shire Council.

Lisa took the opportunity to thank Arts North West for the microgrant she received which helped her create work for the exhibit.

Poppy Fuller, Lisa Marple, Emily Fuller and Jett Wiszlang at the opening night.

Brooke Henderson, Sharon Stoltenberg, Lisa Marple, Tess Lindsay and Ang Young.

Gunnedah Cultural Precinct’s Jade Punch.

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