Maggie Jeffries is an emerging artist based in nipaluna/Hobart, lutruwita/Tasmania. Jeffries current practice focuses on botanical based painting to investigate connection to place and how memory built through layers of experience. As such, Jeffries works become a complex collage of personal reminiscence, using paint to recall encounters made through plants that represent tethers to sites of growth. Jeffries practice also involves working with artists living with disabilities (artists with all abilities) through mentoring, tutoring, collaboration and community engagement.
‘I am passionate about celebrating the work of these artists, promoting inclusion in the contemporary arts scene in lutruwita/Tasmania, as well as facilitating artwork directed by any individual who communicates their stories and truths through art.’
Jeffrries was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and Fine Arts from the University of Tasmania in 2020, majoring in psychology and painting. Since graduating, she has immersed herself in working alongside and in collaboration with artists with all abilities. In 2020, Jeffries received an artist fellowship to visit and work for Creative Growth, an organisation working with over 150 artists with disabilities in California, USA. Also in 2020, Jeffries started working with the City of Hobart 2021 Ability to Create annual exhibition, which showcases artists with all abilities and celebrates diversity in the Hobart arts scene. Jeffries has continued to contribute to this exhibition for the past three years, collaborating on installations and individual artworks with the artists she supports. In 2021, Jeffrries was selected as a recipient of the King Island residency, preceding her inaugural solo exhibition at Despard Gallery. After completing her Honours in Painting at the School of Creative Arts and Media in 2022, Jeffries was selected for the Rosamond McCulloch studio residency at the Cite Des Arts Internationale in Paris as well as the Country Glover residency at Patterdale, lutruwita/Tasmania. Jeffries second solo exhibition titled ‘Blue Honey’ is scheduled for September 2023.
Exhibitions
