Soula Mantalvanos | Artist, designer & gallerist Melbourne Australia
Soula Mantalvanos | Artist, designer & gallerist
Italy is never enough for me. There’s not enough Burrata, cicchetti, grilled squid, cornetti, salata mistas, Prosecco (hello Franciacorta!), tartare, overall exceptional hospitality, and that Olive oil – I still can’t believe they leave the bottle on the table. I don’t get enough of searching for the next Via or Vicolo, the next urban, hillside or valley scene, [...]
That translates as a casual hello from where I write in beautiful Italy. To be more specific, I’m in Cortona in the magnificent Tuscan hilly home of dear friends… having been welcomed back again. Where would artists be without their dear friends and patrons? While Theo and I take an annual break and I gather some new sketches [...]
QG Focus Soula Mantalvanos Passaggi: A Painted Season DATES Exhibition dates: Aug 7 – Sep 8, 2025 Join the QG Mingle list to receive exhibition previews and private opening invitations (or sign up to my list in the form below). Passaggi: A Painted Season traces a personal journey through Central and Northern Italian towns and laneways—places rich with stone, [...]
Exhibitions dates: 19th Jun – 13th Jul Public QG Mingle: 22nd Jun from 2 – 4pm Queenscliff Gallery proudly presents Homage to Impressionism, a group exhibition featuring the posthumous honeymoon etchings of Sir Arthur Streeton. […]
Aaah, the freshness of a new year. Although this might not be published by the end of January, I started drafting it at the beginning of the year. Time flies, especially when Queenscliff Gallery's (QG) doors are open seven days a week. It's tough and not. Being grounded is quite lovely. Doing the same thing ritualistically has a soothing side. That the summer has been fruitful makes up for missing out on leisurely pleasures and the FOMO. My health issue first introduced me to the joys of cancellations. I often had to ground myself and keep life simple to survive. Then, a dear friend, the late Michael Leunig, affirmed the experience with a divine poem, JOMO—the joy of missing out.
I am thrilled to present and announce more official information about Silent Narratives, my upcoming exhibition at Queenscliff Gallery (QG). And I’ve got a special invitation for you, so read on! As the director of QG, my main task is to curate exhibitions and manage social media. I’m in awe of the artists Theo and I are so [...]
Who wants to face the end of a beautiful and most inspiring holiday? But I have to say this has felt like the longest holiday. It was that fourth week we terrifyingly committed to, fearful of leaving our beautiful Queenscliff Gallery that made the difference. It was also the non-planning approach to this trip. It meant we landed [...]
I'm settling into the routine now: walk, draw, eat, drink, rest, and start again. This is what I like to call work/life balance. As I mentioned in Phase One Italy: Nurture, an artist never stops working, but it's a joy in this environment, especially if/when the work created sells. Some added bliss to this trip is that I can enjoy short journeys, whether by car or Italy's fabulous rail system. For example, Montepulciano is a 40-minute drive from Cortona, where Theo and I are based. I can't get to Melbourne from Queenscliff in that time, and the road is nowhere near as picturesque or stimulating.
After two years of trying to realise this Italian adventure, we arrived in Milan on September 5th, albeit with heavy hearts from the loss of our mother (my mother-in-law) and, soon after, one of my dearest uncles. Feeling far from celebratory, we decided to skip Venice. We thought to first nurture ourselves, so we took a quick Milan tram ride for an espresso in the glorious Marchesi in Milan's Galerie Vitoria Emanuele II.
Demand is everything to every business person. I am a businessperson. I sell products, mainly art, so demand is everything to me. This is the one defining factor of a successful artist—demand. You might see artworks that are good, bad, excellent, and/or awful; none of that influences sellability. The buyer drives success. Commitment to an art piece—whatever its subject, execution quality, medium, size, shape, or form is what makes demand. This is how representation works. A gallery is a shop. The shop's audience calls the shots and defines the stable. If the audience doesn't buy the art, the shop closes. As an artist and gallery owner, I feel much pressure to perform and sell! I can't take up the precious space of another artist. This week, I received tremendous encouragement—I sold work before my December exhibition at Queenscliff Gallery (QG).
