The Paintings of Criss Canning

Criss Canning is one of Australia's finest and most celebrated still-life artists. Criss has explored flowers, textiles, and decorative objects in her paintings over five decades.

For thirty-five years, she has lived in a charming 1860s farmhouse with the adjoining gardens at Lambley, a highly regarded nursery near Ballarat. Her husband's great love of gardens and flowers has offered Criss visual inspiration at every turn. She paints again and again the poppies, irises, and sunflowers that grow in the garden at Lambley. She explores Australian native plants, especially the banksia, in all its forms. Criss is also a collector of jewel-toned glassware, vases, tea sets, and vintage kimonos.

With newly commissioned photography and essays by Georgina Reid, Jenny Zimmer, Julie McLaren, and Criss herself, The Paintings of Criss Canning strives to capture the garden, the studio, the house, and the collections that are the basis of all Criss's paintings. In an attempt to see what the artist sees, photographer Eve Wilson photographed the house and garden that make up Criss Canning's world, showing just how closely art can imitate life.