Bowling for your 36th Birthday, 2025

This painting is an ode to an iconic building, the Northern Bowl, in Corrimal where I proudly call home. In capturing this 1960s bowling rink interior I have paid particular attention to the vivid and kitsch colours, and the drastic curved windows as an architectural feature. I have aimed to keep the work playful yet inviting for the audience to linger and discover detail and texture. I especially like the silkiness of the tiles and the way the shadows play across the floor. The title “Bowling for your 36th Birthday” reminds us that we are never too old to have fun, to indulge our inner child.

Nicci Bedson lives and paints on Dharawal land in the Illawarra region where she has firmly established her art practice since graduating with a Masters of Creative Arts at University of Wollongong in 2009. Bedson has exhibited extensively in group shows and arts prizes around NSW. Her paintings feature house fascades, homes and iconic buildings from around the Illawarra and beyond, focusing on the unique architectural styles of the Mid century and post war period. Her subject also extends to interiors and still life capturing ordinary moments through her vivid realism.