What a great new gallery space and, as this exhibition attests, it's already being accessed by some of the better fine art graduates of this town. The eleven artists participating here demonstrate a good command of skills, allowing them to better articulate their concepts and provide the viewer with a rewarding experience of viewing art.

Painting is well represented. Di Cubitt and Mason Kimber offer images of the sea in water based paint. Cubitt looks into the blue from above to create an abstract pattern while Kimber has us walking on the edge of sea and shore. Mel Dare's large, thought provoking acrylics take us inside and ask us to reflect on 'the self' as a physical/metaphysical entity. Static suggests the body discovering the soul. The image reveals a well defined figure in sombre grey and black discovering the spirit within as a blaze of white and blue. Falling is a well balanced composition with the mysterious dark field to one side offsetting the collection of defined, albeit misplaced, sections of the body on the other. 

Eli Smith also reflects on the human condition with a series of three oil paintings, Alone in the Bathroom, depicting the upper torso of a male figure. In each pose, Smith realistically defines the subject with correct proportions and warm flesh. Also employing oil, Tori Benz presents a series of paintings entitled Moment. Each canvas hosts broad brush work that appears, on close inspection, to be an abstract dance of hues from a limited palette. Then, stepping back, an image emerges from the flurry of marks and colours and we discover people in the park, a mother and children, a boy and his dog. Benz's work demonstrates the word 'painting' as both a verb and a noun. Meanwhile Kirstine Sadler reveals how oil paint can imbue simple objects with a sense of importance. She selects images of wishbones from her series "Three Wishes and a Prayer" and depicts each with a reverence one expects when defining a litany of hopes and dreams while working oil on canvas.

Fine Art can also be made from traditional craft materials such as mineral sands or clay. Lindsay Harris exemplifies this fact by employing ochre to produce strong 'landscapes' that say more about the Earth then images of pretty scenery. Sand also produces glass paste that is well employed by Estelle Dean in her series Moments of Tension consisting of eight red pate de verre roundels folded into sparkling drops of imagination. Also appreciated are her well formed vase, platter and plate in green and black. And it was difficult not to handle the collection of small porcelain vessels, in sets of three, by Alana McVeigh. These works of cool matt white exteriors, some with simple raised patterns, and gloss glazed interiors in rich purple, green or black demand tactile inspection as they appear to fit neatly in the hand.

It's clear any material can be employed to make art and craft and these emerging artists prove the line between the two practices is blurred. Consider the colourful plywood constructions by Angela McHarrie. Here small pieces cut from ply, some plain - others painted, are arranged in tandem with a painted panel to create unique relief compositions that provide colour and dimensional interest. Then there is Coat of Amour, a wispy jacket constructed by Berenice Rarig from tussa silk and leaf skeletons. This stunning textile exhibit, along with Rarig's necklace of 'biblical proportions' proves beyond a doubt that all things, when manipulated by the hands of a creative and skilled artist, can make beautiful works of art.

Check out the gallery, it offers a new venue where talented new artists can display their efforts. That's something to see.