Traces of the Forest
Published on 19 August 2026
As winter draws to a close, Wangaratta Art Gallery welcomes a new series of exhibitions exploring the natural world and our connection to it. The first of these, Keeping Time, a series of large-scale works on paper by artist Ellen Lee, will open on Saturday 22 August, spotlighting the Banyula State Forest in northern Victoria.
The Echuca-based artist’s depictions of the Banyula State Forest emerge from a practice of sustained immersion in and careful observation of the site. She documents her experience of the reserve using watercolour, graphite, and pigment from organic matter such as leaf tannins and rust residue, building earthy, gestural pieces that map the rhythms of the bushland, from the echoes of birdlife to the contours of shadows. In this sense, Keeping Time represents the artist’s record of the subsuming, meditative effect of nature and its movements.
In witnessing the Banyula State Forest through this lens, audiences are invited to connect with place by refocusing their attention to the constant, subtle transformations in the ecosystems closest to them. As Ellen Lee notes:
“My creative process mirrors these gradual changes with layers repeatedly developed, eroded, and reworked, each one making their own statement on the paper. Marks are washed back and drawn over, allowing previous traces to remain beneath the surface. The cyclical process reflects the environmental transitions of overnight rain, patterns of well worn paths and repeated use, shifting waterlines, and the continual reshaping of the land.”
Wangaratta Art Gallery Director, Rachel Arndt says of the exhibition:
“Keeping Time emblematises a slow, contemplative approach to craft that is threaded through many exhibitions here at Wangaratta Art Gallery, and is so crucial at this junction in time, when the instantaneous and the inauthentic are everywhere. In Wangaratta we are so fortunate to be situated on the doorstep of an incredible range of publicly accessible conservation areas, such as the Warby-Ovens and Mount Buffalo National Parks, and Lee’s works remind us of the innate power of these spaces, and our obligation to them.”
Keeping Time is a continuation of Lee’s explorations of local habitats, each rendered in muted palettes, inviting deep reflection. Her first solo exhibition of her impressions, titled Landscape; of sight, of sound, was shown at Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) in 2023. The following year, Lee was awarded The Theodore Urbach Landscape Painting Prize & Studio Scholarship, and SAM has subsequently acquired Morning Transitory (three), a work that Lee created during this residency, inspired by Lake Victoria. Keeping Time extends Lee’s conceptual commitment to regional landscapes in mesmerising detail.
Keeping Time will be on display in Gallery 2 from Saturday 22 August until Sunday 18 October.
The official launch for Keeping Time and Tannic Bonds, another exhibition coming soon to Wangaratta Art Gallery, will be held on Saturday 19 September from 4:30pm. All are welcome.
For further information, please contact Gallery Director, Rachel Arndt on r.arndt@wangaratta.vic.gov.au
Image 1: Ellen Lee, Landscape; of sight, of sound, 2023, watercolour, graphite, and natural pigment on cotton paper, 200 x 339cm. Photo: Leon Schoots.
Image 2: Work in progress. Photo: Ellen Lee.
Image 3: Ellen Lee. Photo: Leon Schoots.