Central West artist Harrie Fasher’s exhibition 'Before Dawn' opened recently at Orange Regional Gallery. Known for her extraordinary bronze, steel, and concrete sculptures, Fasher’s work has received glowing critical reviews, numerous awards, and enthusiastic community support.

Based in Portland (near Lithgow) Harrie’s studio and bronze foundry occupy the original 1902 Portland Cement works building, known as The Foundations. This vast site has allowed Harrie to produce her most ambitious work yet for her exhibition in Orange.

Thanks to a Creative Australia grant, Harrie has been running an inspiring mentorship program for younger artists that follows an apprenticeship model, whereby her team have been learning valuable skills on the job while they assist her to produce her new monumental works for the exhibition. As a result, the exhibition at Orange Regional Gallery is also an expression of communal work coming together to realise an ambitious vision.

We have been delighted with the response from our local and visiting audiences and it is always exciting to see an artist from our region actively supported by our community, while being celebrated by audiences from across Australia.

It has also been a wonderful experience for the whole gallery team to work with Harrie on the development of the exhibition.

We have developed a documentary about Harrie and her works in the exhibition which will be screened from this weekend in our Gallery Theatre. It will run alongside 'Before Dawn' so that visitors over summer will have an opportunity to hear from the artist and see images of the bronze work being poured and constructed. The video will also be uploaded to the gallery’s YouTube channel.

Orange Regional Gallery is open from 10am to 4pm daily (closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day) and entry is always FREE.