Garden Symphony

Artwork Description
Garden Symphony is a tribute to Bernard, our resident magpie, and to the many small creatures that together create the gentle, ever-present music of our garden. The work celebrates these daily rhythms — the calls, movements, and quiet interactions that form a living symphony often taken for granted.

Influence / Context
Following the Black Summer bushfires, my husband rebuilt our garden habitat from scratch, creating a refuge for returning wildlife. As the garden came back to life, I began sketching the birds and creatures that now visit and reside there. This ongoing observation and connection to place directly informs my practice, with Garden Symphony emerging from gratitude, recovery, and coexistence.
This work was a finalist in The Basil Sellers Art Prize 2024.

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Kath Unsworth is a visual artist based on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Working primarily in pen, ink, coloured pencil, and collage, she explores the space between close observation and imagination through depictions of native birdlife and garden ecosystems. Her practice is deeply shaped by her surroundings—lush bushland, shifting seasons, and the birds who arrive and depart on their own terms.

Kath first became known for intricate black-and-white pen and ink drawings, where fine line and pattern invite slow looking. In recent years she has expanded into coloured pencil, using light, colour, and contrast to convey mood and emotion. A pivotal moment in her artistic journey followed the Black Summer bushfires of 2020. After losing her rental home and witnessing the devastation of local habitats, her work gained a renewed sense of purpose.

Since then, Kath has focused on honouring resilience in nature and encouraging care for the small, often overlooked details of the everyday world. This shift led to coloured pencil works on black paper, creating an intimate, emotive counterpoint to her earlier monochrome pieces. Her current body of work documents the gradual renewal of her garden and the return of birdlife in Quaama, a long-term project.