Cilla Gault, Hand Me Downs, 2024, gouache and acrylic.
Ocean – Cradle of Life
Leven Regional Arts
Saturday 3 May – Sunday 20 July 2025
The sea is a defining feature of life on the Central Coast, and Ocean — Cradle of Life, is an exhibition that celebrates our connection with the ocean and the life it supports. Leven Regional Arts is named after the river which runs through Ulverstone and has a 150-strong membership of artists and art-lovers who live and work in this region. Responding to the theme of ocean life and the inspiration of the poem, LRA artists have created a beautiful exhibition of artworks in a diverse range of media and techniques.
Turquoise light shafts through from the sparkling surface
as transparent jellyfish dance a graceful jig below.
Dark figures hover and glide, ever watchful.
Silver scales flash by, trailing bubble clouds
among gentle giants, caressed by the currents, their deep voices rumbling on.
Reefs of chaotic colour.
Swaying grasses of subtle rainbow shades.
Miniscule eyes and mouths.
Juveniles hide among the knobbly, yellow ribbons in perfect camouflage.
Bleached, empty shell homes lie waiting in the sandy shallows.
A diver, flippers like a frilly tail, pushes through the viscous world.
In the dark garden depths fantastical, ancient creatures grope
Among fossils, frozen in stone.
The cradle of life, the spiraled engine of evolution
By Dawn Meredith, LRA member
Jan Harvey, Oystercatchers Catching – Fortesque Bay Tasmania, 2025, acrylic on canvas.
