Rita Hall - Artist - part of 'atelier - Stirling Hills Artists': Lisa McAskill views the new exhibition in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia

It's difficult to tear yourself away from the stunning views of the city and the gulf beyond… but that's what you have to do when you visit Rita Hall's artist's studio nestled among the gumtrees high on a hill in Crafers.

Step inside and you enter a world of artistic extremes - a variety of objects that have featured strongly in Rita's long and distinguished career. They include a collection of unusual hand-made pillow-like parcels that presented their own unique challenge. Their gentle folds and the patterned texture of the ribbons and lace fascinated Rita and led her to experiment with a complex process of printing, drawing and painting.

Rita's painstaking attention to detail allows her to capture the softness, texture and tonal changes of her fabric subject in lifelike detail. They appear tactile - three-dimensional - but they are two-dimensional artworks.

Having exhausted her wrapped pillows Rita began looking for another form of still life - a search that took her to the South Australian Museum's bird collection.

Rita Hall: "First time I opened the draw and looked at them I was just overcome by their sadness in a way but also their power and they were so brilliant…"

This former art teacher entered a new era of work and with the Museum's collection containing 55-thousand specimens there's no fear of her running out of subjects.

Rita Hall: "Sometimes they are just very whimsical and I lay them on different angles but a lot of them don't have wings - I mean their wings are actually folded so they've just become kind of a cylinder almost but even then they are very interesting in combination with one and other."

Rita says the actual bird almost becomes almost incidental as she develops her drawings into a series of shapes, textures and shadows. She also acknowledges that some people find her work quite confronting.

Rita Hall: "I find I have to explain to people why should a dead bird be any different to a dead leaf. I know it's a living creature but in a way by turning them into artworks I feel as though I'm also giving them another life and another celebration in a different form."

Until now you've had to make an appointment to see Rita in her Crafers studio but now you can come and meet Rita and see what inspires her on the fourth Sunday of each month.

She's one of one 7 hills artists taking part in Atelier - French for artist's studio. On the fourth Sunday of each month they open their studios to coincide with the popular nearby Stirling Markets.

Rita has draws full of work here and she encourages you on an open day to come in and take a wad out and have a look through. There's certainly no shortage of material as you thumb though 30 years of Rita's work.

All of the seven artists making up atelier are within 10 to 20 minutes of Stirling and they open their studios on the fourth Sunday of each month… that means the next open is next Sunday between 10 and 4.

Pick up a brochure and map from the Stirling Markets in Druid Avenue or the Stirling Library anytime. And keep an eye out for Rita's retrospective exhibition to be held at the South Australian Museum in June.

'Atelier - Stirling Hills Artists' studios open 10am-4pm on fourth Sunday of each month. Contact: 8339 4627

Published 15th February 2009