Seaford artists, Barbara and Edgar Gambin are in perfect alignment as creatives and life partners. She is a jeweller. He is a painter. He sees the beauty and exquisite craftmanship in her one-of-a-kind creations and she sees the painterly skill and razor-sharp insight in his. He is the dreamer, she is the realist. Their easy rapport and open honesty reward both.
Barbara came from Poland under Communist rule; Edgar came from Malta. Yet they met and fell in love in Melbourne where they have lived and worked together ever since. They chose to live in Seaford because they both grew up by the sea she by the Bay of Gdansk, he on the Mediterranean. Their Seaford home, garden and studios are filled with light, art, sculpture and love.
While Barbara grew up in a place where the expectation for children was to listen and obey, she never felt oppressed. She enjoyed a free-spirited childhood spent with neighbourhood kids. The political landscape was largely unnoticed by her until applying for a passport in her late teens and finding out she wasn’t allowed to leave the country. Barbara vowed then to say goodbye to her homeland when the opportunity arose.
Edgar had an idyllic childhood in Malta. In high school, he was educated by Jesuits who instilled values of self-discipline, completion, service and gratitude which still stand him in good stead. His mother loved to paint. She helped fund Edgar’s education by selling her oil paintings. He learned to paint by observing his mother and from reading art books about the great masters, such as Caravaggio.
Barbara went to art school at the Academy of Fine Art of Gdansk, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Painting. She used to sell her drawings of Gdansk at the summer markets. There, Barbara met a jeweller who taught her silversmithing. She fell in love with it and left painting behind. She’s worked as a professional jeweller since.
Edgar came to Australia in 1973 at 19 filled with a sense of adventure. He spoke English, had family in Australia and had professional skills that were an asset to the country so emigrating was easy. Barbara came to Australia in 1982 at 26, fulfilling her vow to leave Poland. She came through Austria as a refugee and nine months later she came to Melbourne.
The couple met in the art department at a Melbourne advertising agency. They got married in 1987 and bought their house in Seaford because it was an affordable suburb. They left the advertising agency in Melbourne after paying off their house but kept their city ties selling their work at the Arts Centre Melbourne Sunday Market for thirty years.
Barbara and Edgar also had a well-loved shop, Gambin, on Main Street in Mornington for thirteen and a half years. They became part of the local community and enjoyed the vibrancy of the main street and socialising with customers. Just before COVID, when the Arts Centre Melbourne Market shut, the couple moved to their new gallery at the Tyabb Packing House.
Edgar’s work is full of stories. “I don’t have the patience to write a book, so I paint books. My paintings are always in squares like the pages of a book,” he says. For instance, his painting, Dairy of a Digger, is divided into diary pages. It was a finalist in the 2024 Gallipoli Art Prize.
I love putting messages in my paintings. If I see an injustice, I have to draw or paint about it,” he says.
A huge fan of Salvador Dali, his influence is evident in Edgar’s own surrealist paintings. That said, he doesn’t get bogged down in a particular style. “My style is not fixed. I’m currently working with symbolism. I love putting messages in my paintings. If I see an injustice, I have to draw or paint about it,” he says.
He recently painted an incredibly detailed portrait of Barbara entitled The Silversmith which he entered into the Archibald Prize. It won the People’s Choice Award at the 2025 Sorrento Art Show. It too is divided into rectangular ‘pages’ that represent all of the elements of her craft and tools of her trade. It’s a fitting tribute to her lifelong dedication to jewellery making.
Barbara loves creating new work but also enjoys taking a client’s heirloom jewellery and making it into something new and original. She enjoys the puzzle of putting pieces together. She delights in taking raw elements and polishing them into organic, shiny, new pieces. Her philosophy is simple, “If it looks good, it is good,” she says. Barbara mostly finds her inspiration in nature.
One thing is clear; this couple has lived out their dreams. They have an enduring love, friendship and partnership. They have created work that expresses their passion, purpose and drive. They have also touched all of the communities they have been a part of. Now that’s a legacy.
Meet the Gambins and see their captivating work at their gallery in Tyabb Packing House.
IG @gambinart (Barbara)
@edgargambin
W gambinart.com.au
Peninsula Essence February 2026