Leaves

Image courtesy of Margaret Rennie, detail

Leaves

Leaves is a ground-based textile installation that celebrates the beauty and resilience of South Australia’s dry land flora and fauna. Our collaboration responds to the restoring vistas of Greg John’s property at Palmer in South Australia, and was exhibited in the Palmer Sculpture Biennial in April 2026.

The work invites you to cultivate tough locals in your own environment. Elizabeth (Liz) Ports and Lisa Conolly invited other artists to work with natural materials and ink to express their concerns with our environment. The textile art works are joined to form a spiral that represents growth and suggests hopeful possibilities for the landscape if we work together.

The Palmer Sculpture Biennial opens on Saturday March 14, 2026, with gates open at 11am, music at 4pm, closing 7pm that day. After 14 March, the exhibition will be open on weekends at 11am – 5.30pm, and Wednesdays 2 – 5.30pm, until the last day on Sunday 12th April.

The exhibition is held on Greg Johns property 3.5km north of Palmer on the Devenport Rd. See Palmer Sculpture Landscape pinned location in Google Maps.

This photo shows the casuarina grove where the Leaves art work will be installed. More photos will be loaded after the installation is completed on March 13.

Artist contributions to Leaves

Below is an example of one work contributed to Leaves from each artist. Some artists provided multiple works, and if so these additional works may be viewed by clicking on the image.

Jenny Allport Paint on linen	Julie Ash Allocasuarina Verticulata, Ink drawing on cotton
Rita Bellati Weeping Sheoak, Embroidery, jute chord, ink on cotton sheet	Asha Bombara Monarto Mintbush 3, silkscreen stencil print on cotton
Declan Brown - tid.bit. Dance of the Fairy Wrens. Print on cotton.	Caroline Casserley Textile collage on cotton
Sally Caston Eco dye on cotton	Lisa Conolly Sewn textile collage, cotton thread, on canvas
Lesley Cooper Ink, fabric collage, thread on Hession	Catherine Dodson Ink drawing on cotton
Lee Dühring Casuarina 1, Fabric paint print on white actyll sheet	Karen Forde Ink drawing on cotton
Sue Gibbs Ink, wool on cotton	Kathryn Gleeson Lino cut print on cotton sheet
Lesley Goulden Lino print on cotton	Parafield Gardens High Year 8 Ink and pencil drawing on cotton sheet
Caroline Hamilton Embroidery cross-stitch, with wool	Rose Handke Eucalpytus dye with iron mordant
Shalini Kacker Ink drawing on cotton	Sue Last Eucalyptus leaves print
Jane Lemon Cotton thread on linen, hand embroidered	Sarah Marshall Embroidered ants on printed cotton (from Maggie Thomas).
Andrew Metcalfe Paint on canvas	Elizabeth Ports cotton mop, cotton, wool, on cotton mesh
Margaret Rennie Cyanotype print on canvas	Andrea Sainsbury Painting and textile collage
Maggie Thomas Print on cotton	Jen Wilson Cyanotype on cotton
Natalie Williams Paint on canvas	Therese Williams Ink drawing on cotton, wet in wet ink bleed with detergent
Kate Walters Ink drawing on cotton	Kristin Wohlers Australian Bilby, mosaic print and embroidery