Orange Regional Gallery recently marked four decades of being a place for creativity and connection in Orange with the launch the fortieth anniversary exhibition ‘40 Years 40 Works’. It was a fun and festive evening with a large crowd gathering to celebrate.

To mark this significant occasion, we invited the community to select an artwork for inclusion in the exhibition and to tell us why that particular work is special to them.

The response we received was exciting, intriguing, and surprising. Some well-known favourites were nominated but other artworks were unexpected and have not been seen for a while – all connected to stories that were a combination of short and sweet, long and considered, nostalgic, amusing, and at times deeply personal.

A panel of Gallery staff and community supporters selected the 40 works for display from the nominations. The resulting exhibition is a diverse mix of paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, and wearable art and encompass some of the earliest works acquired for the permanent collection to some of the most recent.

Local artists featured include Ros Auld, Harrie Fasher and Rachel Ellis, alongside Brett Whiteley, Emily Kngwarreye, Grace Cossington Smith, Euan Macleod, Lloyd Rees, Imants Tillers, Wendy Sharpe and others.

Visitors to the exhibition can also view a slideshow of images from over the years. They are likely to spot some familiar faces!

‘40 Years 40 Works’ will be on until 2 September. Orange Regional Gallery is open daily from 10am to 4pm. Entry is FREE.