Tannya Harricks is a Sydney based artist known for her lush paintings characterised by gestural marks and painterly abstractions. Intent on capturing the energy of the subject through spontaneous gesture, she paints intuitively and without premeditation. The subject of her work is reimagined in the manipulation of colour and form with fluid brushwork.

Tannya has been a finalist in numerous Awards including recently the Paddington Art Prize (2023), Grace Cossington Smith Art Award (2024), Gallipoli Art Prize (2023), Muswellbrook Art Prize (2018) and is the recipient of the Waverley Art Prize (2013) and The Hornsby Art Prize (2012). Her work is held in private and public collections including Gold Coast City Council, Wollongong Private Hospital, Waverley and Hornsby City Councils.

Tannya has 29 years of experience as a designer, textile artist, illustrator and artist. She has illustrated 5 children’s books including Dingo (winner of Premier’s Literary award 2019), Kookaburra and Mallee Sky and has illustrated The Heartbeat of the Land by Cathy Freeman and most recently Night Watch.

Exposed & Protected

These paintings are from walks I have done in recent years around wild coastlines and mountains where nature (including me) has been wind-whipped and sun-kissed.

From Shetland and Fair Isle in the UK, where the North Sea meets the Atlantic.
To the East coast of Australia – camping beside the ocean on the Yuraygir trail. Facing both stormy and clear skies from Hastings Point on the NSW North Coast to Currarong on the South Coast. Collecting charcoal sticks from local back burning on the trail behind my studio – to the spiritual walk up and down Mount Qingcheng in China. Mountain top camping and waterfalls in Bouddi National Park walk where the wildflowers reveal their colour amongst the grey greens of the scrubby bush track.

In the studio, colour, weather and memory of the landscape is reimagined through the process of painting – layering, scraping, drawing, shifting, looking.

CV
Born 1972, Goulburn NSW

Education

Bachelor of Arts – Visual Culture, Curtin University
Certificate IV Education Support
Certificate IV Training & Assessment, Northern Institute
AWARD (Australian Writers and Art Directors) School, NSW
Diploma, Graphic Design, Randwick TAFE

Solo Exhibitions

2024 Feeling the Landscape, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney NSW
2022 Symbiosis, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney NSW
2021 Imperfection, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney NSW
2020 Flow, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney NSW
2019 Current, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney NSW
2019 Mallee Sky, Swan Hill Regional Gallery, Swan Hill VIC
2018 Shifting, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney NSW
2018 Dingo, Waverley Library Gallery, Bondi Junction, NSW
2014 Take me to the Coast, Bondi Pavilion Gallery, Sydney NSW
2014 Coastal Series, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney NSW
2012 Dogs and their People, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney NSW

Finalist Exhibitions

2026 Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre NSW
2025 Manning Art Prize: Naked & Nude, Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree
2024 Grace Cossington Smith Biennial Art Prize, Sydney NSW
2023 Paddington Art Prize, Redfern NSW
2023 KAAF Art Prize, Sydney NSW
2023 Gallipoli Art Prize, The Rocks, Sydney NSW
2022 John Villiers Outback Art Prize, Winton QLD
2021 Greenway Art Prize, Inner West Council, Summer Hill
2018 Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre NSW
2018 Hornsby Art Prize, Wallarobba Arts Centre, Sydney
2017 Manning Art Prize: Naked & Nude, Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree
2015 Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre NSW
2014 Benalla Nude Art Prize, Benalla Regional Art Gallery, Benalla, Victoria
2014 Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2014 Hornsby Art Prize, Wallarobba Arts Centre, Sydney
2014 Gallipoli Art Prize, Gallipoli Memorial Club, Sydney
2013 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Museum of South Australia, SA
2013 Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2013 Waverley Art Prize, Waverley Woollahra Art School, Sydney
2013 Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, NSW
2013 Hornsby Art Prize, Wallarobba Arts Centre, Sydney
2012 Gold Coast Art Prize, HOTA, Gold Coast, QLD
2012 Hornsby Art Prize, Wallarobba Arts Centre, Sydney
2012 Waverley Art Prize, Waverley Woollahra Art School, Sydney

Group Exhibitions

2021 Illustrated, Autumn exhibitions, Sydney Childrens Hospital, Randwick
2021 Tutors exhibition, ArtEst Art School, Sydney
2020 Visualising stories, Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, NSW
2019 Liquorice All sorts, Bondi Pavilion Gallery, NSW
2018 Laughter is the best Medicine, Sydney Childrens Hospital, Randwick
2017 Baradene College Art Exhibition, Baradene College, Auckland, NZ
2016 Internationart, Galleria 360, Florence, Italy
2016 Kings College Fine Art Show, Auckland, New Zealand
2016 VEFA Exhibition of fine art, Auckland, New Zealand
2015 Within and Beyond, Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, Sydney
2015 Studio Artists Exhibition: Art Month, Waverley Library Galleries, Sydney
2013 Summer group show, Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney

Awards

2013 Winner of open prize (acquired), Waverley Art Prize
2013 Winner drawing Prize, Waverley Art Prize
2013 Highly Commended, Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize
2012 Artwork acquired for the collection, Gold Coast Art Prize
2012 Overall Winner (acquired), Hornsby Art Prize
2012 Winner – Mayor’s prize (acquired), Waverley Art Prize
2019 Winner Childrens Literature, NSW Premiers Literary Award (Illustrator)

Residencies

2025 Fair Isle Artist Residency, Fair Isle, Shetland UK
2023 Nancy Fairfax AIR studio, Tweed Regional Gallery
2020 Drawing Marathon with Graham Nickson, NY Studio School, New York
2019 Bundanon Trust Artist in Residence Program, NSW
2013 Waverley Council Artist in Residence, Bondi Studios, Sydney

Picture Book Commissions

2024 Night Watch, Jodi Toering (Author), Walker Books Australia
2022 The Heartbeat of the Land, Cathy Freeman with Coral Vass (Author)
2020 Kookaburra, Claire Saxby (Author), Walker Books (Publisher)
2019 Mallee Sky, Jodi Toering (Author), Black Dog Books/Walker Books
2018 Dingo, Claire Saxby (Author), Walker Books (Publisher)

Collections

Wollongong Private Hospital (executive suites), Waverley City Council,
Hornsby City Council, Gold Coast City Gallery,
Private collections in Australia and Internationally