The Wedderburn artistic community is an informal group of Australian contemporary artists based around Wedderburn, New South Wales, on Sydney sandstone bushland about 60 kilometres south of Sydney, close to the Georges River.
Artists based around Wedderburn include Elisabeth Cummings, Roy Jackson, John Peart, David Hawkes,[1] Suzanne Archer, David Fairbairn, Michael Bright, Teresa Bell and others.
The artistic community around Wedderburn was started in 1976, after the gift of 10 acres of land from local landowners Barbara and Nick Romalis,[5] to an original group containing Elizabeth Cummings, Joan Brassil, Roy Jackson and Fred Braat.
[8] The Wedderburn artists often seek inspiration from the Australian bush landscape, and the artistic tradition associated with it, including from Indigenous Australian art - for instance, Roy Jackson said "If someone asks me what has influenced me most in my work I simply point to the landscape of this place" and Elizabeth Cummings "I’d been away from Australia – in Europe – and what I missed most was the bush… It’s a physical thing of Australia that's so… so different from Europe.
[6] During another fire in 2013, John Peart was overcome by smoke while trying to protect his studio, leading to his death.