Situated in the heart of Darlinghurst, Sydney Eora, Stanley Street Gallery is a platform dedicated to championing some of Australia’s most exciting early-career artists and pioneering contemporary craftspeople.
Alumni from Sydney College of the Arts, directors Liza Feeney and Merilyn Bailey founded the gallery in 2012 as a mixed studio and gallery space for their art practices. Following successful exhibition programming a progressive stable of painters, sculptors, jewellers and experimental media artists emerged. For the past 12 years the directors have cultivated a focus on contemporary practices that hold a deep recognition and appreciation of material knowledge. This reflects a broader commitment to encouraging connections between process, materials and meaning.
Representing some of Australia’s most regarded craftspeople as well as the groundbreaking new voices of Agus Wijaya, Jacquie Meng and Jackson Farley, Stanley Street Gallery aims to present thought-provoking work that looks to the future of contemporary art in the Asia-Pacific region. The exhibition program offers carefully curated Australian and International artists who push the boundaries of discipline and concept, fostering dialogue between leading material practitioners and genre pushing early-career artists.
Image (Left to right): Reiana, Liza, Merilyn, Claire, & Michelle, 2023, Photo Docqment (Artwork featured: Amy Dynan)
SSG Team
Liza Feeney & Merilyn Bailey
Gallery Directors
Liza Feeney and Merilyn Bailey are the co-founding directors and lead curators of Stanley Street Gallery. They met studying Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts and since have both individually pursued contemporary jewellery practices. This personal history lends to a distinctive appreciation of craftsmanship and sensitivity to material. They aim to foster a space that nurtures a synthesis of technical excellence and conceptual rigour that challenges conventions of artistic medium and discipline.
Reiana Aramoana
Office Manager
An experienced administrator and analyst, Reiana manages the ins and outs of gallery operations, coordinating IT solutions, data and client communication. She studied film and television production at Charles Sturt University and has a background in television schedule editing, metadata management and programming.
Claire de Carteret
Social Media Manager, Writer, & Curator (formerly)
Claire works as a curator, copywriter and social media manager. She has curated three exhibitions with the gallery: Is it Black & White (2021), A place where we can be together (2022) and Loss of Horizon (2022) as well as writing exhibition essays for selected represented artists: Jackson Farley, Amy Dynan, Shaun Hayes and Margaret Ackland. Outside of the commercial sector, her independent curatorial projects include: Fork Project (2017-2019), TRAILS x Anti-Annual (2020, Kudos Gallery) and Errant Form (2023, Tiles Gallery). In 2021 she graduated from UNSW with a double bachelors in Fine Arts and Politics and in 2023 recieved first class honours from Sydney College of the Arts for her ceramic research 'Becoming Better Friends with the Eels'.
Michelle Chanique
Creative Consultant & Curator (formerly)
Michelle Chanique is a Sydney based artist, curator who was born in Santiago, Chile. Chanique works across photography, video, and sculpture, and is fundamentally preoccupied with taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. Chanique holds a Bachelor’s degree from UNSW Art & Design, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from UNSW Art & Design in 2020. She has exhibited widely in Sydney and Melbourne and has been commissioned by Fairfield City Council to produce video work. She has recently finished a residency with the Woollahra Council.
Image 1: Installation view, my very first painting show ever, Jackson Farley, 2022 | Image 2: Installation view, Tata Reka, Agus Wijaya, 2022 | Image 3: Installation view,
It was a difficult conversation, Toni Messiter, 2023 | Images by Docqment