Brocade - Group Exhibition of Three Sisters

Join us for the opening of Brocade, a group exhibition by sisters Alice Pulvers, Sophie Pulvers, and Lucy Pulvers, on Saturday, 16 May 2026, from 1–3pm at Rochfort Gallery, 317 Pacific Highway, North Sydney.The exhibition runs from 13 May to 19 June 2026.Alice Pulvers Alice was born in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in both Tokyo and Kyoto. She was educated in Japanese schools until she moved to Sydney in 2000. Alice began drawing and painting from an early age. When Alice was 15, she travelled to Paris, and the art she saw there made a lasting impression on her. This experience and her other travels have influenced her development as an artist. As an artist, Alice is interested in the way we as humans experience the natural world and our sense of reality. The way Alice mixes elements of naturalism in rich two-dimensional schemes is reminiscent of the way Japanese art flattens and arranges landscapes and figures in works of art. A characteristic of Alice’s work is her unique and intense use of colour. Alice intermixes realism and ‘unrealism’ in her own particular way to create imagined landscapes. Over the years, Alice has exhibited in many solo and group shows and has been a finalist in prizes such as the Portia Geach Memorial Award, Mosman Art Prize, Kilgour Prize, and the Naked and Nude Art Prize.Sophie Pulvers Sophie was born in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in both Tokyo and Kyoto with her two sisters, also artists, and her older brother. She was educated in Japanese schools until she moved to Sydney in 2001 and is bilingual and bicultural in Japanese and English. Sophie continues to be a frequent visitor to Japan. Sophie has always been fascinated by the natural world, and this is reflected in her work, in which she most often paints animal subjects. Sophie’s work reflects the experiences of her childhood growing up surrounded by both traditional and contemporary Japanese art. Much of Japanese cultural and artistic inspiration is drawn from the natural world and natural materials. As well as painting animal subjects from life, Sophie has reinterpreted the animal subject etchings and paintings of the 15th/16th-century German artist Albrecht Durer. Sophie has also created a series of large works inspired by renowned Japanese artists such as Ito Jakuchu, Maruyama Okyo, and artists of the Kano School.Lucy Pulvers Lucy was born in Kyoto, Japan, and grew up in both Tokyo and Kyoto until moving to Sydney in 2001. Lucy was educated in Japanese schools and is bilingual in Japanese and English. In 2014, Lucy was awarded the Thea Proctor Scholarship at the Julian Ashton Art School. Lucy paints in both oils and watercolours. Lucy’s paintings are an exploration of the inner emotional life of human beings. Lucy uses geometry, strong colour, and bold lines to give her works an emotional power. Japanese aesthetic culture has had a major impact on Lucy's work. This year, for the sixth year in a row, watercolour paintings by Lucy have been selected for inclusion in the annual Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours exhibit at the Mall Galleries in London. In 2020, Lucy received the ‘President’s Choice Award’ and in 2024 the ‘Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award’ for works in the Mall Galleries exhibit. Lucy has participated in many solo and group shows and has been a finalist in prizes such as the Portia Geach Memorial Award and the Mosman Art Prize. Read more details