In many vineyards across Australia wandering visitors will find rose bushes, planted neatly at the end of row-after-row of low-running grape vines. Pristine punctuation marks in a sea of lush greenery, these decorative details also have a practical function as a barometer for vine disease. If a rose is sick, so too will be the vines.

Rosa Purbrick (herself named after the hardy rose species) has kept watch over vines all her life. Born in Mildura, she grew up in a large Italian family with a heritage steeped in home made vintage. Her father produced his own potent ferment, renowned for its unique 'kick' and designed, no doubt, to 'fine' out his daughters' potential suitors. Rosa remembers picking clustered bunches of grapes and heaping them into old 'diptins'. She and her siblings would weave vine leaves through the perforations to keep themselves entertained on hot summer afternoons when energy levels dropped and heads became hazy with the hum of insects.

Fate came to Rosa in the form of a husband robust enough to withstand her father's home made vintage. She married winemaker Alister Purbrick in 1982 and thus joined the oldest and most revered of Australia's wine legacies – Tahbilk Vineyard beside Victoria's Goulburn River.

As an artist, Rosa's life and work are synchronised with the vineyard's seasonal changes. Her imagery is etched in tune with the shifting moods of the landscape – from its blushed springtime mornings, to its crisp autumnal dusks and silent winter nights. For many years her paintings aimed for naturalism in carefully arranging close detail of foliage and colourful blooms. Many of these lyrical still-life compositions were translated onto wine labels for the property's Dalfarras range of wines – dedicated to Rosa's maiden family name - Dal Farra.

From these early pictorial idylls, Rosa has moved forward to a fresh arena of experimentation, one that links her more intimately with the 'living energy' of the vineyard. She now paints closer to the earth and allows the sun to dazzle her gaze. This submission to a more emotional relationship with her environment has sent her imagery spinning into a dervish of distinct yet related avenues. Pictures leap from one medium to another – from slick oil finish to porous paper texture – as the subject itself refracts and warps between figuration and full abstraction.

These divergent strains 'converse' with each other, as if to suggest a debate about the physical qualities of wine and its age-old entaglement with the human 'spirit'.

- Anna Clabburn, October 1999

2018: S.A.M Drawing Wall #30 - Shepparton Art Museum
2015: Dalfarras Label Retrospective - Tahbilk Gallery Cafe
2012: Embossed - ARB Gallery Gasworks Art Park Melbourne
2007: A Sense of Place - Fortyfivedownstairs Gallery Melbourne
2006: Works on Paper - Tahbilk Wetlands Gallery Victoria
2004: Tahbilk:Earth:Water:Seeds:Trees:Vines:Wine - Glen Eira Gallery Melbourne
2002: Vine Fascination - Mildura Art Gallery
2002: Recent Works - Mitchelton Winery Gallery
2001: Vine Fascination - Shepparton Art Gallery
2000: Vine Fascination - Australian Stock Exchange Building, Melbourne
2000: Vine Fascination - Mitchelton Winery Gallery
1995: Pictures - Mitchelton Winnery Gallery
1993: Recent Works - Blaxland Gallery, Myer, Melbourne
1991: Dalfarras Wine Collection - Australian Galleries, Melbourne and Sydney
2018: 20 Years of Splinter Artists - Riverlinks Shepparton
2015: Best Of Friends - Shepparton Art Gallery
2015: Hop for Hope - Yarra Valley Chocolaterie
2013: Venice Italy Journals - LaTrobe Street Gallery Melbourne
2012: New York U.S.A. Journals - LaTrobe Street Gallery Melbourne
2010: Exchange - RMIT School of Art Gallery Melbourne
2010: Embodied Landscapes - Shepparton Art Gallery
2009: Shift - Red Gallery Melbourne
2008: Botanica '08 - Pigment Gallery Melbourne
2008: Among Friends - Shepparton Art Gallery
2008: 20 x 20 Exchange Project - Printmaking Studio, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology; National Art School, NAS Sydney Australia
2006, 2004, 2002: Fleurieu Peninsular Biennale - McLaren Vale Prize Finalist - McLaren Vale S.A.
2005: Fusion - Fortyfivedownstairs Gallery, Melbourne
2005: She – Who Inspires - The Walker Street Gallery, Melbourne
2001, 2002: Motor Works Art Expo - Motor Works Gallery, South Yarra, Melbourne
2000: Swan Hill National Print & Drawing Acquisitive Awards - Swan Hill
1999: Guthrie Street Art Exhibition - Shepparton
1998: Australians in New York - Gelabert Studios, New York, USA
1997: Australians in Paris - Miromesnil Fine Art, Paris, France
1996: Exhibition of Pastels and Oils - Noel Stott Fine Art, Melbourne
1996: Small Works Christmas Exhibition - Libby Edwards Gallery, Melbourne
1995: Who 2 - Shepparton Art Gallery
1994: Flowers - Capricorn Galleries, Melbourne
1994: Echuca Art Show - Echuca
1992: Burke Hall, Hamilton and Glen Waverley Art Shows - Melbourne and rural Victoria
1993, 1994, 1995: Shepparton Kiwanis Art Show - Shepparton
1991, 1992, 1993, 1994: Horsham Rotary Art Show - Horsham
1992,1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997: Pastel Society of Victoria Annual Exhibition - Melbourne
1994, 1995: Shepparton Artist Society Annual Exhibition - Shepparton
2008: Xmas Salon 2nd Prize - Fire Station Press Melbourne
1994: Horsham Rotary Art Show - Horsham - "Best Work on Paper"
1994: Echuca Art Show - Winner of "Best work on Paper"
1994, 1995: Shepparton Kiwanis Art Show - Shepparton - Highly Commended
1994, 1995: Shepparton Artist Society Annual Exhibition - Shepparton - "BMW Best Painting Award"
1993: Shepparton Kiwanis Art Show - Shepparton - Winner of "Shepparton News Award"
1993:Horsham Rotary Art Show - Horsham - Highly Commended
Four Points by Sheraton - Sydney, Australia
Shepparton Court House Collection - Shepparton, Australia
U.S.A. Embassy - Canberra, Australia
Ontario College of Art - Toronto, Canada
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - Victoria, Australia
Curtin Institute of Technology - Western Australia, Australia
National Art School - Sydney, Australia
Shepparton Art Gallery- Victoria, Australia
Dalfarras Wine Labels -Victoria, Australia
McPhersons Wines - Sydney and Victoria, Australia
Brown Forman Corporation - Kentucky, USA
Albergo San Martino - Lucca, Italy
Chapoutier Wines - Burgundy, France
Ready To Make Her Mark by Tara Whitsted - Weekend Life, Shepparton News - 03/02/2018 pg3
Local Chosen to Celebrate 30th Drawing Wall by Darren Lee - The Advisor, Shepparton - 14/02/2018 pg2
Gallery Gallop by Jeff Makin - Herald Sun, 06/08/07, p. 89
Inspired by a vineyard - Moorabbin Leader, 10/10/04
Different themes come together in paired exhibitions - Sunraysia Daily, 01/10/02
Recent works at Mitchelton Art Gallery - The Weekly Times, 24/04/02
Patterns of bacchanalian style by Catherine Lambert - Sunday Herald Sun, 25/06/00, p.90
Rosa’s vine time by Paul Sellars - The Weekly Times, 21/06/00
Glasses raised to art - The Weekly Times 12/04/00, Country living, p.93
Art of the vine - The Shepparton News, 15/08/97
Exhibition showcases local work - Mildura Midweek, 30/09/97
The art of wine by Jeffery Babb - The Melburnian, Aug/Sept, p.25
People Profile, Art; Wine of life by Pam Western - The Shepparton News, 03/04/95
Nagambie artist exhibits at Mitchelton Winery by Sunni - Euroa Gazette, 05.12.95, p.10
Rosa’s labels by Mark Nunan - The Seymour Telegraph, 22/11/95
Making wine an artform - Articles - June/July 1993, The Newsletter from Artistcare Australia P/L
Days of wine and Rosa’s Garden by Jane O’Connor - Herald Sun, 22/06/93, p.33
Epicure – the doings by Jeni Port - The Age, 06/07/93
Live Talk Back with Elaine Canti - Radio 3LO, 25/06/93
Family spirit egotist style, by James Haliday - The Weekend Australian, 22/08/91

Contact

If you are interested in purchasing any of Rosa’s works, or enquiring about exhibitions, you can contact Rosa via form or email.