artist-profiles

Unknowingly we all serve an apprenticeship for adulthood; carefully watching and learning how to behave in the “grown up” world. We take our cues wherever we can and do our best to understand what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman; taking our steps in the dance of life.

With all its complexities and choices, Life is our one big adventure.

It’s a grand game indeed. Let’s play…

http://miriamcullen.blogspot.com/

My creative practice is a weave of making, research and writing. I am concerned with self-reflection and symbolic representation. The way I make art is influenced by a strong interest in art history and various forms of literature. I like to make work in a series and reprise vintage objects.

Rod Armstrong

Bronwyn Austen

Karen Ball

Elise Benamane

Cathy Clapham

John Crawford

Miriam Cullen

Jan Farrell

Linda Galbraith

Sonia Gallart

Angela Gill

Elizabeth Hunter

Janice Jan

Heather Kepski

June Lotzof

Margaret Marjason

Terese Mcmanus

Kim Milne

Joanne Morris

Elizabeth Pozega

Judy Ringger

Annette Simpson

Rosanne Summerville

Karen Torrance

Trish Yates

Libby Van Schaick

As a printmaker I enjoy the discovery of experimenting with mixed media and by working experimentally. I find there is a wonderful controlled chaos to printmaking and because of this I am often changing the direction of my work. I try to capture everything into my sketchbook then choose which process will work best.

Most of my prints these days are printed as one-offs or very small editions. My recent works have led me to experiment with linocuts, using caustic soda and shellac. To this I add intaglio and relief overlays, which I find softens the hard edge of the linocut and allows a system of layers to be seen through the composition

In some definitions, samara is continuous flow: birth, life, death and rebirth and pertains to all living organisms. In its broadest sense, I find this a hugely appealing concept, one that presumes that all life, through the process of death and decay, eventually finds its way back to nature, giving birth to the

opportunity for new life.

My work revolves around this idea. I use materials that are delicate and fine, such as soft paper, lace and fine wire, often incorporating imagery from the insect world to illustrate the fragility, beauty and the transience of life.

Following the lead of Nature’s elegant forms, I attempt images that express my joy in finding peacefulness and sustenance in the world around me.

When there is no ‘Big’ Nature to be out in, I can find the same inspiration in the sublime landscapes of the microscopic. My drawing-based practice allows an instantaneous response to my subject, and my printmaking techniques allow me the multiple images I enjoy.

As a printmaker it is easy to be obsessed with excellence, but the ridiculous, as opposed to the sublime, has usurped my imagination.

I am tantalized by the images of clowns, circuses and sideshows and marginal characters, whether used or not in my work, influence my art and are sources for parody, satire, comedy, entertainment, irony, ridicule and symbolism for me. They are a metaphor for many things and allow me to reveal hint at or hide much while I satirize or mock.

I believe we have some deeply rooted need in our psychic for folly, foolishness, religion and magic and we all can behave irresponsibly in allowing for these characteristics to govern our behaviour. Wittingly or unwittingly it is possible for all of us to play the role of the fool or the clown..

For me art will always be a personal statement, they are my stories that I am telling myself. But we all have histories and experiences that overlap; at some level we are all living the same life, so I search for that rapport in my pictures.

My work often contains female or animal figures that I use as metaphor or to illustrate my current ponderings. Using them as motif and metaphor provides an artistic challenge that I enjoy and allows me to illustrate my meandering thoughts.

I hope my anecdotes; my moments of beauty or despair, will be recognised by strangers as part of our shared human existence.

The exploration of themes from the natural environment has long been part of my art practice.

Local Sydney bushland is the main focus of my artwork although arid, inland or coastal landscapes feature as well. I always interpret the forms, textures and shapes in a personal and intuitive way; often abstracting nature as my memories, environmental values, feelings and imagination merge to create my images.

I find etching, collograph and woodblock techniques exciting to explore and experiment with as they offer mark making that is only possible through printmaking. I enjoy combining these techniques to create my imagery.

Living in a Sydney bushland setting has enabled me to use my local environment as an ongoing resource hence trees, wood and wood grain patterns inform much of my artwork.

Inspired by many travels, notably treks through Tasmania, Cape York and the Kimberley, Jan’s seductive prints are the result of many layers and transformations. Whether it be the environment or the human form, Jan must feel an emotional connection with her subject. Her favourite media include collagraphs, etchings, solar prints and monotypes. The monotypes are lively and exciting and have a painterly quality.

This award-winning artist has exhibited widely, notably in Burnie and Gosford regional galleries and in La Roche-Guyen, France. Her works are held Australia-wide and overseas. Jan has studied with Ingrid Johnstone, Bernhardine Mueller, Tony Tozer, Michael Taylor, Mieke Cohen and Michael Herron.

Sonia developed a love for printmaking when completing her major art work for her HSC many years ago. She went on to become a Clinical Psychologist, but her love for printmaking never died and was rekindled when she commenced printmaking classes with Seraphina Martin at the Ku-ring-gai Art Centre.

She draws inspiration from nature and from the many photographs taken during trips both within Australia and overseas. Boats and water feature in many of her prints, as well as bicycles and bridges.

Etching is her favourite technique, however, she also enjoy collagraphs as they are more organic and allow her to express herself in a freer form.

I am interested in land/seascape abstractions and symbols, often from an aerial viewpoint with changes in viewing perspectives. This is probably a direct result of my previous professional experience as a surveyor. However the figure or parts thereof is sometimes a pervasive and often unintended guest in my images providing interesting and useful dichotomies.

I mainly use collagraph and polymer plate intaglio printing processes as well as the more traditional zinc/copper plate. Whatever method is appropriate. The infinite variety and challenge of mark making by combining various traditional methods with modern digital printing is also an ongoing interest and one that keeps me coming back.

I have always painted the scenery and flowers of places that I visited- if they projected the feeling that the place inserted into my heart, body and brain.

The variation of the texture, pattern and colour of the Australian landscape and native trees fascinate me and in particular the regeneration after the bush fires. Monotypes have taken over from the large intaglio prints I used to produce and I am currently working on a series of paintings and prints to crystallise my feeling of our landscape.

My art is heavily influenced by my travels and my counselling of refugees and migrants from very diverse cultures to my own.

As Degas said, “Art is not what you see, but what you get others to see.”

Through my art, I try to capture the simple things of life that make extraordinary issues manageable during hard times while also engaging the viewer to explore beyond what is on the surface. These “simple” things are just so important in any culture. They are universal in their significance to our survival. They could be about family or the beauty of our environment or connections between people from one or more cultures.