Background
I was born in 1967 in the west of England and came to Australia with my husband in 1998, settling in Alice Springs in 2000. After completing a BA and a PhD in Literature, and a period with the British Foreign Office, I began teaching in 1995, which I’ve been doing ever since. I currently lecture in Education at Charles Darwin University.
Art Practice
Plein Air at Honeymoon Gap
I paint in oils and while I have no formal training, I have developed my practice over the years through my involvement with the Central Australian Art Society and Studio 12 artists’ collective (life-drawing, plein-air painting, exhibiting).
I’m fascinated by the identity of things, what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins called their ‘inscape,’ the internal power that holds the elements together and makes the thing unique. My paintings are an attempt to represent the moment of glimpsing or ‘catching’ the inscape of the thing, be it a skyline, a person or a camel. They also explore the way light works both to shape and to convey identity and feeling. The quality of the light in central Australia still astonishes me after years here.
I’m fascinated by the identity of things, what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins called their ‘inscape,’ the internal power that holds the elements together and makes the thing unique. My paintings are an attempt to represent the moment of glimpsing or ‘catching’ the inscape of the thing, be it a skyline, a person or a camel. They also explore the way light works both to shape and to convey identity and feeling. The quality of the light in central Australia still astonishes me after years here.
Career Highlights
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2002
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 |
Began exhibiting with Leaping Lizard’s Gallery, Alice Springs
Chroma Encouragement Award for first time entrant, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs People’s Choice Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs, for Study in Blue Founding member of Studio 12, artists’ collective gallery, Alice Springs ‘Faces’ Section Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs, for Self Portrait Acquisition Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin, for Dugald ‘Gallery’s Choice’ featured artwork in Scoop Traveler NT Began blog documenting studio practice Group exhibition (Studio 12), Peta Appleyard Galleries, Alice Springs People’s Choice Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin, Ron's Landscape Solo exhibition, ‘Dappled Things’, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs Selected for exhibition in The Alice Prize, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Frames III Featured in NT Wrap, ‘Studio 12 Success’, Australian Art Collector, May/June Acquisition Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin, for Mona Featured in Art Notes NT, ‘Popular Portraitist’, Art Monthly, Dec/Jan Commissioned by TIO to paint portrait of Chairman of Board, John Flynn Began exhibiting with Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs Group exhibition (Studio 12), ‘Shift’, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs Accepted as exhibiting member of Portrait Artists Australia Group exhibition (Studio 12), ‘Skyline’, Olive Pink Botanical Gardens Gallery, Alice Springs ‘Faces’ Section Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs for Watching the Slow Dissolve Group exhibition (Portrait Artists Australia), ‘All the World’s a Stage’, VAS Galleries, Melbourne People’s Choice Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin for John Flynn Runner up in People's Choice Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs for Anna People's Choice Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin for Jim People's Choice Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs, for Betty and the Fence Joint exhibition, 'What Lies Beneath', CAAS Art Shed, Alice Springs Commissioned by Government House to paint official portrait of NT Administrator, Sally Thomas People's Choice Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs, for Girl in a Pink Dress People's Choice Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin, for Syd's Stories Solo exhibition,'Community: The People of the School', Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs Acquisition Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin, for Rolf's Paper People's Choice Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin, for Rolf's Paper Commissioned by the Northern Territory Government to paint official portrait of former Chief Minister Paul Henderson People's Choice Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs, for Buddy's Feed Solo exhibition, 'Desert Inscapes', The Studio@52, Ocean Grove, Geelong, Victoria 'Faces' Section Award, Advocate Art Award, Alice Springs, for Rajah in the Morning Commissioned by the Northern Territory Government to paint official portrait of former Chief Minister Adam Giles Acquisition Award, Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award, Darwin, for Hills: Kathleen Wallace and the Dancers |
In the old studio
Drawing Betty at Pyndan Camel Tracks
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Desert Inscapes Exhibition, 2017
Waterless Lithography, Judy's Studio, 2017
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Linoprinting, Judy's Studio, 2017
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Rajah and me, 2018
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Central Australian Art Society Plein Air at Ilparpa Clay Pans
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Central Australian Art Society Plein Air at Telegraph Station
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Advocate Art Award
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Peta Appleyard exhibition opening
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Central Australian Art Society Life Drawing
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Painting at Mbantua Gallery
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Dappled Things exhibition opening
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