Black Fig Gallery

Black Fig Gallery A curated art gallery in Alstonville, NSW - created for artists & for people who feel the room, and know when something belongs in it. Seasonal collections.

Considered curation. Conversations that matter.

💥 Open:
Wed - Fri 10am - 4pm
Sat - 10am - 2pm

I think one of the things I’m enjoying most about Black Fig is realising I don’t actually have to decide what kind of ga...
26/09/2026

I think one of the things I’m enjoying most about Black Fig is realising I don’t actually have to decide what kind of gallery it is supposed to be.

There are parts of the traditional gallery model that I really value - considered curation, good work presented properly, respect for the artist and for the person standing in front of it.

But there are other parts I have no interest in carrying forward.

I want people to walk in without feeling like they need to know anything about art. I want serious work beside playful things. Established artists beside people still finding their feet. Exhibitions, experiments, conversations, strange little ideas, community projects and things that probably don’t make much commercial sense but feel worth doing anyway.
I want artists to feel supported, and people who have never bought art before to feel like this place belongs to them too.

Black Fig is still becoming whatever it is going to become. And I'm here for that. I’m not particularly interested in fitting neatly into any side of the art world.

I’d rather cultivate something in the interval.

- Kalie Burgis - Curator, Artist & Gallerist.

26/09/2026

You have today till 2pm today and whatever is left Wednesday before this collection is gone forever!

WAYS OF LOOKING - October at Black Fig GalleryA predominantly black and white exhibition, with just a little colour.Feat...
23/09/2026

WAYS OF LOOKING - October at Black Fig Gallery

A predominantly black and white exhibition, with just a little colour.
Featuring work by Isabelle Hillier and a number of artists whose work asks for more than a passing glance.

October will be a little different at Black Fig. There will be things in the gallery that won't be advertised online, and parts of the exhibition you will only encounter by physically being here.

Ways of Looking is for those who actively engage with the gallery space - particularly those who have walked through the doors, looked closely, asked questions and supported Black Fig through its first year.

It is also for anyone who has ever stood in front of an artwork and thought, I don't know what I'm supposed to see.

There is no right answer.
Come in and see for yourself.

So how do you know what “better” art is for you?It’s not necessarily the most expensive work, the artist you’ve heard of...
19/09/2026

So how do you know what “better” art is for you?

It’s not necessarily the most expensive work, the artist you’ve heard of, or the piece that matches the sofa. (Please don't buy art to match your sofa, you're doing it wrong.)

A few ways to work it out:

Notice what you come back to.
If you’ve walked around the gallery and find yourself returning to the same work, pay attention to that. You noticed something before you had time to explain why. Think about why?

Imagine living with it, not just looking at it.
Where would it go? What would you see around it? Would you still want to look at it over breakfast, walking down the hallway, or after you’ve owned it for five years? Art in a home becomes part of ordinary life. How do you want your home to feel.

Give yourself permission not to completely understand it.
Sometimes the work worth living with is the one that leaves something unresolved. You don’t need an immediate explanation for why you like it. In fact, having a little left to work out might be the point. You get to like one part and continuously explore the rest.

You don’t necessarily need more art.

You need the pieces you’d miss if they weren’t there. Pieces that evoke thought and feeling. Pieces that are as unique as you.

What do you look for in an art piece?

Have you ever gone back to buy a piece of art and someone beat you to it?I hear about it all the time in the gallery. Th...
19/09/2026

Have you ever gone back to buy a piece of art and someone beat you to it?

I hear about it all the time in the gallery. This one in particular I know is going to disappoint someone who’s been in a couple of times umming and ahhing. But today someone else beat her to it.

I didn’t even get time to share anything about this work before it sold.
That’s the reality with original art. There isn’t a second one. So if you find something you really love, sometimes you have to do what this lady did: snap it up and put the little gold SOLD sticker on it yourself.

This is Jane Hewetson’s Youngman’s Creek – Still Waters. Jane’s work is grounded in landscape and what it actually feels like to be within it, particularly the changing qualities of water, vegetation and light. In this piece, the reflections almost take over the creek itself. What’s solid above the water gets broken up below into colour, light and movement.

Sorry to the other lady. 😬 But We do have more work by Jane, just ask and we can pull out what we have stored in our secret cupboards. 😉

18/09/2026

Oliver Hughes

Oliver Hughes is a Northern Rivers artist and musician whose ceramic practice centres on wood-fired, sculptural forms. His vessels move away from conventional symmetry, folding, compressing and opening into shapes that can suggest shells, weathered stone and other forms found in the landscape.

Wood firing is an important part of how the work resolves. Flame, ash and the atmosphere of the kiln leave their own evidence across the clay, resulting in surfaces that vary from earthy and dry to glossy, and varying neutral colours. The firing isn't simply a finishing process; it becomes part of what determines the final object. That's the magic of wood firing.

There is a physicality to Hughes' work. Finger marks, ridges, irregular openings and changes in thickness are allowed to remain visible. Rather than disguising the process of making, Oliver has chosen to let the organic form remain.

Hughes is also a musician, performing and recording within the Northern Rivers music scene. Across both practices there is an interest in making that allows room for unpredictability, where the outcome isn't entirely controlled before the work begins.

18/09/2026

Mim O'Grady
Untitled
Acrylic on archival paper (framed)
100 × 120 cm

O'Grady's work moves between landscape and abstraction, building a sense of place through layered colour, repeated marks and winding forms. Rather than mapping a landscape literally, the work reads as an accumulation of waterways, vegetation, earth and movement, where different systems seem to cross, divide and reconnect. Wild without borders.

Mim creates richly layered abstract paintings inspired by aerial perspectives of the Australian landscape - with particular attention to First Nations land management and pre-colonial practices.

Her use of colour is both intuitive and informed: deep earth pigments, oxidised textures, and fluid geological forms conjure the movement of rivers, the echo of deserts, and the hidden histories beneath the surface. Mim’s understanding of colour theory and material behaviour allows her to create balance within chaos - moments of calm within swirls of terrain and time.
Each work is a meditation on place. Not just a place seen, but a place felt.

18/09/2026

Inara Kent

Made in the Caldera
Handmade ceramic earrings & brooches

Made here in the Northern Rivers, Inara Kent's ceramic jewellery takes its colours, textures and patterns from the rainforest flora of the Byron Hinterland caldera.

Each piece begins in stoneware, is individually designed and hand sanded, then fired twice to 1200°C. No two are exactly the same. Even within a pair of earrings there are small differences, evidence that these have passed through someone's hands rather than a production line.

They're little pieces of local landscape made wearable. A thoughtful gift made here, by someone who lives here, or a small piece of the Northern Rivers to take home with you, for yourself or a gift from travels.

The earrings are lightweight, with nickel-free stainless steel and/or silver-plated alloy fittings.

Tara PearsonThe Sweetest SummerBronze40 x 12 x 11 cmA small moment of childhood made permanent in bronze. Ice block in h...
18/09/2026

Tara Pearson
The Sweetest Summer
Bronze
40 x 12 x 11 cm

A small moment of childhood made permanent in bronze. Ice block in hand and the other arm thrown triumphantly into the air. The Sweetest Summer catches that particular kind of happiness that needs almost nothing: something cold on a hot day and the freedom to enjoy it completely. There's a lovely nostalgia to the work without it becoming overly sentimental.

Tara Pearson
Butterfly Girl
Bronze
35 x 13 × 11 cm

Butterfly Girl is a much more inward moment. The girl's attention is completely held by the butterfly resting against her chest, while her open hand gives the figure a sense of gentleness rather than possession. There's something very familiar in that childhood fascination with small living things, and the instinct to stop everything for a moment just to look.

Tara Pearson
The Sweetest Summer
Bronze
40 x 12 x 11 cm

A small moment of childhood made permanent in bronze. Ice block in hand and the other arm thrown triumphantly into the air. The Sweetest Summer catches that particular kind of happiness that needs almost nothing: something cold on a hot day and the freedom to enjoy it completely. There's a lovely nostalgia to the work without it becoming overly sentimental.

Tara Pearson
Butterfly Girl
Bronze
35 x 13 × 11 cm

Butterfly Girl is a much more inward moment. The girl's attention is completely held by the butterfly resting against her chest, while her open hand gives the figure a sense of gentleness rather than possession. There's something very familiar in that childhood fascination with small living things, and the instinct to stop everything for a moment just to look.

Tara Pearson
The Sweetest Summer
Bronze
40 x 12 x 11 cm

A small moment of childhood made permanent in bronze. Ice block in hand and the other arm thrown triumphantly into the air. The Sweetest Summer catches that particular kind of happiness that needs almost nothing: something cold on a hot day and the freedom to enjoy it completely. There's a lovely nostalgia to the work without it becoming overly sentimental.

Suvira McDonald Winged Cubist Duet Ceramic, set of two.Almost tectonic in form, these vessels verge on Cubism and Brutal...
18/09/2026

Suvira McDonald Winged Cubist Duet Ceramic, set of two.

Almost tectonic in form, these vessels verge on Cubism and Brutalism. Their surfaces resist that severity, creating an interval between geometry and material in which each continually redefines the other.

Let us know what you like about Suvira's work.

Address

Shop 7, Alstonville Plaza/8-20 Robertson Street
Alstonville, NSW
2477

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm

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