Across The Spectrum

With many thanks to Tori Swedosh, gallery director and Warrandyte Diary

This July, Across the Spectrum brings two of Warrandyte’s most respected artists—Denise Keele-bedfordand Walter Magilton—back into the gallery spotlight together. Running from Monday, July 7 to August 2 at NaNY Gallery, 148–150 Yarra Street, the exhibition showcases the breadth of their individual practices while celebrating a shared life firmly rooted in creativity and connection. Though their mediums and messages are very different, their shared commitment to art, place, and community forms a striking dual portrait of lifelong creativity through contrasting but equally compelling practices.

Married later in life, Keele-bedford and Magilton represent a rare convergence of artistic independence and deep mutual respect. Both are highly regarded in artistic circles far beyond Warrandyte, but their home and hearts remain firmly rooted in Warrandyte. Keele-Bedford, whose career spans international residencies and multidisciplinary installations, brings a more conceptual and global perspective to her work. Magilton, on the other hand, although originally a contemporary sculptor, is beloved for his evocative landscapes, capturing the moods and textures of the Australian bush with painterly sensitivity.

Denise Keele-bedford is best known for her multidisciplinary installations that explore themes of cultural identity, language, and transformation. Her practice—often expansive, layered, and conceptual—has been informed by years spent working between Australia and China, where cross-cultural experiences have profoundly shaped her visual language. A graduate of RMIT, her work often combines drawing, printmaking, and sculptural elements into immersive environments that invite viewers to reflect on belonging, movement, and memory.

By contrast, Walter Magilton’s art emerges from direct engagement with the landscape. A master of oil and pastel, his plein air paintings capture the ever-changing moods of the Australian bush, especially the terrain and waterways of the Yarra Valley. Known for his skill in depicting atmosphere and light, Magilton’s career spans decades of observation, teaching, and exhibiting. His dedication to capturing the land is both painterly and personal, steeped in a deep reverence for place.

Although Keele-bedford’s work has been exhibited across Australia, China, and Europe, she maintains a strong presence in the Warrandyte community, both as an artist and advocate for the arts. She is a co-founder of the Warrandyte Artisans Group,  a showcase and network for local artists.

Magilton, meanwhile, is a respected figure among landscape painters and art educators. He has been instrumental in shaping the local arts scene, co-founding regional groups and leading workshops across Victoria. His canvases, often painted outdoors in all seasons, are meditative and richly detailed—offering viewers a sense of quiet immersion in nature. His work is an homage to patience and place, often painted in the elements and finished in his home studio.

While their artistic styles differ—Keele-bedford leans to the conceptual and contemporary, as Magilton favours the observational and naturalistic—their lives and practices intertwine in meaningful ways. Living and working side by side in Warrandyte, they share a love of process, curiosity, and an appreciation for the unique landscape they call home. The Peace Wall at Warrandyte Uniting Church on Taroona Avenue is an example of their design collaboration. Overseen by artists Mary-Lou and Chris Pittard, the mosaic engaged more than 1000 participants.

For both, the act of making art is inseparable from a way of living. “Art is how I process the world,” Keele-bedford says. “It’s an extension of language, memory, and time.” Magilton agrees, in his own way: “I just keep painting. That’s how I understand where I am.”

Together, these two artists—one reaching outward across cultures, the other with a deep appreciation of the land—offer a compelling reminder that art remains both universal and deeply personal. In Warrandyte, their presence enriches not just the cultural landscape, but the very way we see and reflect on the world around us. Viewers to Across the Spectrum will be moved between the cerebral and the serene—two visions, grounded in observation and experience. Both artist’s work invite viewers to slow down, to observe, and to connect—with the environment, with culture, and with emotion.

Their story is more than a tale of artistic achievement; it is one of mutual respect, life connection, and shared purpose. Together, Denise Keele-bedford and Walter Magilton remind us that creativity knows no age, and that the deepest forms of art often emerge from fulfilled and shared lives.

Across the Spectrum is running at NaNY Gallery Open daily, 10am–4pm from July 7 – August 2, 2025148–150 Yarra Street, Warrandyte

PURCHASING: Please contact Walter or denise via their Mobile Phone OR email.

BANK ACCOUNT:

BSB:   633000       ACCOUNT: 119713832    NAME:  DENISE KEELE-BEDFORD

Please include Artwork Title In Description and your name in Reference

Check out the article in M & N Bulletin June 2025:

https://warrandytediary.com.au/homepage/bulletin/