'CRISSCROSS'
A SOLO EXHIBITION by Sarah Parkes
8 FEBRUARY - 31 MARCH 2026
Lon Retreat Gallery
Open Daily 9am-4pm
ALL WORKS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO VIEW & PURCHASE THROUGH THE LITTLE SHOP OF LON
OPENING EVENT - Sunday 8th February, 1-3pm
Drinks & snacks available with drinks proceeds going to our Artist's charity of choice - Bass Coast/South Gippsland Wildlife Rescue + Shelter
ABOUT SARAH PARKES..
Sarah Parkes is an artist who weaves and knots narratives of place and home into her sculptural rope works, creating a personal topography of her life and surroundings. Dialogues of care, comfort and the domestic are interwoven with explorations of place and the natural world. Sarah’s endless curiosity informs her drive to explore, experiment and push the boundaries of knotting in both her artworks, commercial interior installations and commercial products.
Living on Gunai/Kurnai country in South Gippsland has had a deep impact on Sarah’s work, with a renewed focus on technique and materials. From creating rope with a DIY machine to incorporating salvaged and waste materials, Sarah continues her explorative approach to making.
Sarah Parkes is well known for her commercial work under the brand name Smalltown with a focus on timeless and unique designs made with integrity and craftsmanship. Smalltown has operated for 17 years delivering a diverse array of large scale, site specific commissioned projects. Recent commissions include Mecca, APT River Cruise Ships, StandardX Hotel, Charter House, Hilton Hotel Melbourne, Hyatt Regency Sydney, and many other bars, restaurants, office spaces and private clients internationally and Australia wide. Smalltown also produces a bespoke product range that include plant hangings and lighting design.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION..
CRISSCROSS is an exploration of the environment that inspires Sarah Parkes Gunai/Kurnai country in South Gippsland.
Using rope, paint and discarded silage (the plastic used to cover hay bales) Sarah’s deeply emotive weaving expresses the landscape that surrounds her daily life. Inspired by regional life and the colours, textures of South Gippsland her work also offers a commentary and consideration of the value of waste in a world grappling with how to be sustainable. In Sarah’s woven silage works she is converting a discarded waste product into an object of beauty that has character and feels organic.
“CRISSCROSS describes both the mix of work in the exhibition and the way I approach my practice. The show brings together works made at different times, using a range of materials and techniques. I often move between these, crossing from one material or process to another.
The title also refers to patterns and intersecting lines, seen in the woven silage and knotted rope. These crossing points are where things shift - where waste materials become useful or beautiful again, and where art meets agriculture, and the natural meets the human-made.
In Sarah’s rope weavings her contemplation of domestic crafts presented as sophisticated and resolved artworks are a pleasure to experience. Each piece involves hours of knotting and weaving and pieces are then hand painted in her home studio. “
Sarah’s work reflects the confidence and playfulness of an artist who has dedicated decades of their life to perfecting their craft.
The exhibition at Lon Gallery sits on 200 acres of agricultural and conservation land - the perfect setting for this body of work that explores the daily rhythms of a regional life on the land.
