George Baldessin’s studio is still alive and buzzing with creative energy, forty-four years after the artist’s abrupt and tragic departure. George died at the age of just 39, but left behind him a substantial legacy. This was not only his exquisitely poignant works of art, but also his hand built stone studio furnished with choice printmaking equipment including his iconic motorised etching press. As well as this material legacy, he left us a wealth of goodwill, generosity of spirit and enthusiasm for making art, especially prints.
The beginnings of the Baldessin Studio in its current iteration were established in 2001 by George Baldessin’s widow, Tess, once she had returned from France after 17 years in chosen exile. The Baldessin presence was reawakened on all fronts, led by Tess and greatly assisted by Stuart Purves of Australian Galleries. Here was an opportunity to reanimate the studio that had slumbered since 1978 under its growing cloak of cobwebs and dust.
Designed and run by artists, for artists, the studio operates as a not-for-profit organisation that values its enduring role in the arts community as a centre for ideas and production. George’s legacy of cultivating creative experiences lives on in the studio in the bush at St Andrews, which continues to welcome artists every day of the week.
“Artists are special people and Baldessin Studio welcomes them just as George did in his Winfield Building studio in the 1970s. Even without the master’s physical presence, there is an underlying seriousness of creative purpose among the light and cheerful atmosphere.
The team at Baldessin Studio understands and respects artists and their particular sensibility, it is the yearning for reality, which is itself the yearning.” –
Tess Edwards Baldessin, August, 2022
This vibrant group exhibition presents works created at the Baldessin Studio by 29 contemporary artists, both established and emerging, working across a wide range of styles, genres and techniques.
A conversation with Tess Edwards Baldessin and Silvi Glattauer
Legacy of the The Baldessin Studio 2pm Saturday 5 November 2022
Image above: George Baldessin Personage, window and factory smoke No 2 1972 2nd state etching, aquatint and colour roll on …
Image above: Orest Keywan That Line 2023 steel 168 x 271 x 190cm Congratulations to Orest Keywan, Michael Snape and …
Image above: Andrew Antoniou Weird & Wonderful 2024 charcoal on paper 82 x 88 cm Congratulations to Andrew Antoniou who …