Updated July 28, 2017 15:17:29

Photo: Artists and poets were asked to capture the landscape through landscape and its stories. (Supplied: Matthew Newton)

Collaboration is not something that comes easily to most artists, but the curators of a Tasmanian exhibition believe it can produce "extraordinary" results.

In 2016, a group of eminent Australian artists were paired with some of the state's most respected writers and taken to The Big Punchbowl Reserve on Tasmania's Freycinet Peninsula, tasked with capturing the landscape and its stories.

The 250 hectare area is owned by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, a non-profit group that acquires privately-owned land purely for conservation purposes.

Co-curator of the exhibition Carol Bett said Poets and Painters began in the early 1990s as her late husband, Dick Bett, brought his love of art and poetry together, "a bit indulgently".

"I think poets and painters is somewhat of a Hobart institution now — in fact, a Tasmanian institution," she said.

"In past years we've paired poets and painters together and sent them out to find their own focus. This time we thought by using the recent acquisition of the Big Punchbowl land we could bring the work of the Land Conservancy to a wider audience."

Co-curator Pete Hay said collaboration did not come naturally for most artists or writers, but the results were often impressive.

"It challenges them, it stretches them and you get people making quantum leaps in their work," he said.

"Any cross-art collaboration is more than just one plus one — you get extraordinary synergies."

Photo: The 250 hectare reserve is owned by the not-for-profit group Tasmanian Land Conservancy. (Supplied)

Tasmanian Poet Ben Walter was paired with artist Richard Wastell, and said it was a wonderful experience.

"It's such a privilege to be working with someone who sees the world through a whole different medium," he said.

"We went out into the middle of The Punchbowl, the lagoon, and were standing there knee-deep looking at the reeds and looking at the insect life."

Mr Walter said the collaboration is focused on one particular poem highlighting the natural complexities the pair observed during the retreat.

"If you look with intent there's always something fascinating to be seen," he said.

Photo: Wildlife expert Sally Bryant points out an orphaned joey. (Supplied: Matthew Newton)

Photo: The Tender Indifference by Lucienne Rickard was based on the experience of coming across an orphaned joey. (Supplied: Tasmanian Land Conservancy)

Tasmanian Land Conservancy chief executive Jane Hutchinson said she hoped the exhibition would transport the audience to The Big Punchbowl.

"It's really intimate, it's got lots of fantastic little places where you can feel like you're completely alone and the artists have really captured that intimacy," she said.

Ms Hutchinson said the area had significant Aboriginal cultural heritage, which is referenced in many of the works.

"When you go on to this place it is a very spiritual place, so I think the ability for the artists and the poets to really capture the spiritual nature of this place is very special."

The exhibition runs at the Moonah Arts Centre from July 28 to August 19.

A limited-edition book of the works will be officially launched as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival program in September.

Photo: Sue Lovegrove's watercolour called Overflow 2 No.1 by Sue Lovegrove is part of the exhibition. (Supplied: Dick Bett Gallery)

Topics: arts-and-entertainment, national-parks, conservation, environment, tas

First posted July 28, 2017 12:32:35