Wild/flower Women III artists
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The 'Wild/flower Women III: Walking on Country' artists and curators:
Top: Judy Barrass, Zela Bissett, Joolie Gibbs Second row: Nicole Harper, Anne Harris, Barb Hart Third row: Maree Prior, Sandra Ross, Meaghan Shelton Bottom: Melissa Stannard, Ulrike Sturm, curators Nina Shadforth & Sue Davis (The exhibition will also include work by Kathleen McArthur). Most photos by Jazmyn Bowman |
Judy Barrass
Judy Barrass https://www.judybarrass.com/
Artist Bio
Judy Barrass works in a range of mediums, moving seamlessly between the digital and the physical and across disciplines from the traditional to contemporary. Her work is often grounded in place and time by observation of the world around her; blending her love of the bush with comment about how humans live in and relate to local and global environments. In a practice spanning many years, celebrating the familiar and working with materials relevant to the conceptual basis of her work has been an important element that resonates for her work, including that created for Wildflower Women III.
Artist Bio
Judy Barrass works in a range of mediums, moving seamlessly between the digital and the physical and across disciplines from the traditional to contemporary. Her work is often grounded in place and time by observation of the world around her; blending her love of the bush with comment about how humans live in and relate to local and global environments. In a practice spanning many years, celebrating the familiar and working with materials relevant to the conceptual basis of her work has been an important element that resonates for her work, including that created for Wildflower Women III.
Zela Bissett
Zela Bissett http://zela.com.au/ @susanzelabissett
Artist Bio
Born in Maryborough, Queensland in 1954, Zela identifies with three A’s – artist, academic and activist. Zela’s work combines visual arts with interdisciplinary fields incorporating literary and environmental elements. She completed a Diploma in Fine Art at Seven Hills College of Art in 1977 majoring in claywork and spent many years as a studio potter. In 1994, after children, Zela completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (QUT, 1994) and post-graduate Diploma in Education (1995) working in various roles with Education Queensland. Zela also has a Master of Environmental Education. In 2000 Zela was introduced to two media which have been influential in her subsequent practice: felting and making hand-made paper. She enjoys the combination of science and serendipity in these two media. She has won numerous awards for drawing, felted textiles, mixed-media sculpture, painting and book arts and been included in exhibitions in Australia and overseas.
Artist Bio
Born in Maryborough, Queensland in 1954, Zela identifies with three A’s – artist, academic and activist. Zela’s work combines visual arts with interdisciplinary fields incorporating literary and environmental elements. She completed a Diploma in Fine Art at Seven Hills College of Art in 1977 majoring in claywork and spent many years as a studio potter. In 1994, after children, Zela completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (QUT, 1994) and post-graduate Diploma in Education (1995) working in various roles with Education Queensland. Zela also has a Master of Environmental Education. In 2000 Zela was introduced to two media which have been influential in her subsequent practice: felting and making hand-made paper. She enjoys the combination of science and serendipity in these two media. She has won numerous awards for drawing, felted textiles, mixed-media sculpture, painting and book arts and been included in exhibitions in Australia and overseas.
Joolie Gibbs
Joolie Gibbs https://www.facebook.com/JooliesArtPages
Artist Bio
Born in Maryborough and raised in Hervey Bay, you could say Joolie Gibbs is parochial in her loving the Wallum environment. Now living in Gympie, Joolie has been influenced by her natural surroundings more than she realised. After completing her Masters of Art in Fine Art (MAVA) in 2014 at the Queensland College of Art, her practice become more environmental as she found meaning and new direction in her artwork through connections with the Mary River and the region. While being Gympie Regional Gallery Director for the last 22 years, Joolie found time to keep her practice alive by exhibiting, competing and having her work accepted for the touring Regional Art Awards. Using strong drawing skills and leaning to the integrity of natural inks, Joolie documents her immediate surroundings from insects, her 5-acre property, the Wallum, and the effects of floods as seen in her ‘Flood Language’ series. Often working on paper on a large scale (up to 9m), to minute drawings, she incorporates the macro/micro easily. Her environmental approach also includes mediums like papermaking and basketmaking.
Artist Bio
Born in Maryborough and raised in Hervey Bay, you could say Joolie Gibbs is parochial in her loving the Wallum environment. Now living in Gympie, Joolie has been influenced by her natural surroundings more than she realised. After completing her Masters of Art in Fine Art (MAVA) in 2014 at the Queensland College of Art, her practice become more environmental as she found meaning and new direction in her artwork through connections with the Mary River and the region. While being Gympie Regional Gallery Director for the last 22 years, Joolie found time to keep her practice alive by exhibiting, competing and having her work accepted for the touring Regional Art Awards. Using strong drawing skills and leaning to the integrity of natural inks, Joolie documents her immediate surroundings from insects, her 5-acre property, the Wallum, and the effects of floods as seen in her ‘Flood Language’ series. Often working on paper on a large scale (up to 9m), to minute drawings, she incorporates the macro/micro easily. Her environmental approach also includes mediums like papermaking and basketmaking.
Nicole Harper
Nicole Harper http://www.nicoleharper.com.au/ @nicoleharperart
Artist Bio
Nicole Harper has always had art in her life, however did not pursue art seriously until living on a remote cattle station with her family where she felt the desire to create something for herself. It was the landscape that instigated the return journey into art and this is still the inspiration for her work. Nicole is influenced by the landscape that surrounds her and extensively explores the theme of the ongoing vista in her work. Landscapes without human interference are her preference and she paints these in a spontaneous execution, primarily en plein air and from memory. Artists that Nicole takes inspiration from are those who interpret the landscape in their own way, find a unique code or calligraphy that captures the scene. Nicole prefers a loose approach to the subject and ideally the scene is created wet on wet, striving to quickly capturing the emotions and feeling of the landscape.
Artist Bio
Nicole Harper has always had art in her life, however did not pursue art seriously until living on a remote cattle station with her family where she felt the desire to create something for herself. It was the landscape that instigated the return journey into art and this is still the inspiration for her work. Nicole is influenced by the landscape that surrounds her and extensively explores the theme of the ongoing vista in her work. Landscapes without human interference are her preference and she paints these in a spontaneous execution, primarily en plein air and from memory. Artists that Nicole takes inspiration from are those who interpret the landscape in their own way, find a unique code or calligraphy that captures the scene. Nicole prefers a loose approach to the subject and ideally the scene is created wet on wet, striving to quickly capturing the emotions and feeling of the landscape.
Anne Harris
Anne Harris www.anniesworkroom.com.au @anniesworkroom
Artist Bio
Working with plants and deeply listening to the stories of place is the foundation of Anne’s practice. Initially training in fashion and textiles and later working with glass, she then returned to a research-based process that encompasses many mediums all derived from plants and the natural landscape. Textiles, paper and fibre, are all used to explore the properties of a particular plant, and from these investigations Anne creates work to share her responses and learnings. The wallum wildflowers and walking with women are an integral part of her current practice. The softening and delicate beauty contained within the hidden landscape of the unseen, is a source of inspiration and fascination. Looking at the herstory of place, using flowers and her European ancestral heritage Anee shares ‘the medicine of the earth to heal and become whole again and to create a sense of knowing and belonging’.
Artist Bio
Working with plants and deeply listening to the stories of place is the foundation of Anne’s practice. Initially training in fashion and textiles and later working with glass, she then returned to a research-based process that encompasses many mediums all derived from plants and the natural landscape. Textiles, paper and fibre, are all used to explore the properties of a particular plant, and from these investigations Anne creates work to share her responses and learnings. The wallum wildflowers and walking with women are an integral part of her current practice. The softening and delicate beauty contained within the hidden landscape of the unseen, is a source of inspiration and fascination. Looking at the herstory of place, using flowers and her European ancestral heritage Anee shares ‘the medicine of the earth to heal and become whole again and to create a sense of knowing and belonging’.
Barb Hart
Barbara Hart
Artist Bio
Barb has always viewed her environment with an inquisitive eye ... as a child she collected bugs, frogs and small creatures (dead or alive), feathers, seeds, flowers and nests, and this is still true today. Art studies (Diploma of Visual Art) after high school were a natural progression, majoring in textiles at the University of Southern Queensland, then called DDIAE. She later obtained a Graduate Diploma in Education, with the aim of helping another generation experience the gift of observation. Her belief is that observation is nine tenths of the creative process...the rest is practice. Barb has always created art, but in the past 25 years she has been more focused with group exhibitions and solo shows in the Wide Bay, Sunshine coast and greater Brisbane regions. Printmaking, textiles, painting and sculpture are all part of her creative toolkit, with the subject matter dictating which will come to the fore.
Artist Bio
Barb has always viewed her environment with an inquisitive eye ... as a child she collected bugs, frogs and small creatures (dead or alive), feathers, seeds, flowers and nests, and this is still true today. Art studies (Diploma of Visual Art) after high school were a natural progression, majoring in textiles at the University of Southern Queensland, then called DDIAE. She later obtained a Graduate Diploma in Education, with the aim of helping another generation experience the gift of observation. Her belief is that observation is nine tenths of the creative process...the rest is practice. Barb has always created art, but in the past 25 years she has been more focused with group exhibitions and solo shows in the Wide Bay, Sunshine coast and greater Brisbane regions. Printmaking, textiles, painting and sculpture are all part of her creative toolkit, with the subject matter dictating which will come to the fore.
Maree Prior
Maree Prior (1959-2019)
Maree (Edmiston) Prior was an artist, educator, conservationist and a fierce advocate for the Cooloola environments and communities. After studying a Bachelor of Arts and Education, Maree worked as a teacher and artist, as well as a diver (who worked on several marine with archaeological expeditions), a Councillor with Gympie Regional Council, and project officer for various environmental groups including Noosa Integrated Catchment Association, Cooloola Coastcare and Burnett Mary Regional Group. Maree’s artwork included painting, prints and wearable art that detailed her love of the wallum. She also created works that challenged and provoked, including her ‘Tread Lightly’ sand track installation on Rainbow Beach, the intention of which was to raise awareness about the impact on tiny creatures such as crustaceans of constant vehicle travel on beaches. Maree used all means possible across her life and many projects to protect and promote the natural environment and was a true Cooloola ‘wild/flower woman’.
Maree (Edmiston) Prior was an artist, educator, conservationist and a fierce advocate for the Cooloola environments and communities. After studying a Bachelor of Arts and Education, Maree worked as a teacher and artist, as well as a diver (who worked on several marine with archaeological expeditions), a Councillor with Gympie Regional Council, and project officer for various environmental groups including Noosa Integrated Catchment Association, Cooloola Coastcare and Burnett Mary Regional Group. Maree’s artwork included painting, prints and wearable art that detailed her love of the wallum. She also created works that challenged and provoked, including her ‘Tread Lightly’ sand track installation on Rainbow Beach, the intention of which was to raise awareness about the impact on tiny creatures such as crustaceans of constant vehicle travel on beaches. Maree used all means possible across her life and many projects to protect and promote the natural environment and was a true Cooloola ‘wild/flower woman’.
Sandra Ross
Sandra Ross www.sandraross.com.au @sandrarossart
Artist Bio
Sandra Ross is a visual artist who primarily works in 2D media. Her work often examines personal loss and grief by using imagery of an imagined natural world as a metaphor. As an educator for over 35 years, Sandra has kept many visual diaries from her own observations. She encourages others to develop their own art practice by offering short courses and workshops, because she believes drawing from life is fundamental to an art practice. Currently living in Gympie, Sandra completed a Bachelor of Education (Art) from City Art Institute (formerly Alexander Mackie CAE) Sydney in 1982, and a Master of Art, Visual Art from Queensland College of Art, Brisbane in 2002. Sandra has exhibited throughout Australia and has won numerous awards both locally and regionally. She divides her time between working towards entering competitions and developing her own art practice, while working part time at the Gympie Regional Gallery in Education and Public Programs.
Artist Bio
Sandra Ross is a visual artist who primarily works in 2D media. Her work often examines personal loss and grief by using imagery of an imagined natural world as a metaphor. As an educator for over 35 years, Sandra has kept many visual diaries from her own observations. She encourages others to develop their own art practice by offering short courses and workshops, because she believes drawing from life is fundamental to an art practice. Currently living in Gympie, Sandra completed a Bachelor of Education (Art) from City Art Institute (formerly Alexander Mackie CAE) Sydney in 1982, and a Master of Art, Visual Art from Queensland College of Art, Brisbane in 2002. Sandra has exhibited throughout Australia and has won numerous awards both locally and regionally. She divides her time between working towards entering competitions and developing her own art practice, while working part time at the Gympie Regional Gallery in Education and Public Programs.
Meaghan Shelton
Meaghan Shelton www.meaghanshelton.com @meaghan_shelton
Artist Bio
Meaghan Shelton identifies her foundational discipline as painting, however her practice is trans-disciplinary, including photography, fashion, sculpture, film and installation. With a painting major from her Bachelor of Fine Art/ Visual Art (RMIT), and Master of Fine Art/Research (QUT), the ineffable or unspoken aspects of female experience drive her practice as she seeks to unveil historical blind spots as means to decolonize and unromanticise history. Shelton was commissioned in 2016 by the Sunshine Coast University Hospital to create Veriditas, a body of works focused on diverse habitats of the endemic flora of the region, and the healing powers of nature, conceptually bringing the outside in. Hinterland based, she has volunteered with groups such as FIDO and NICA in environmental protection and monitoring. She was a selected artist for Habitus/Habitat (Caloundra Regional Gallery 2008-2010) making ephemeral installations and creating and when I sleep which then featured in a two-year travelling exhibition. This project was groundbreaking in that it was the first time the Environmental Protection Authority and Arts Queensland had collaborated.
Artist Bio
Meaghan Shelton identifies her foundational discipline as painting, however her practice is trans-disciplinary, including photography, fashion, sculpture, film and installation. With a painting major from her Bachelor of Fine Art/ Visual Art (RMIT), and Master of Fine Art/Research (QUT), the ineffable or unspoken aspects of female experience drive her practice as she seeks to unveil historical blind spots as means to decolonize and unromanticise history. Shelton was commissioned in 2016 by the Sunshine Coast University Hospital to create Veriditas, a body of works focused on diverse habitats of the endemic flora of the region, and the healing powers of nature, conceptually bringing the outside in. Hinterland based, she has volunteered with groups such as FIDO and NICA in environmental protection and monitoring. She was a selected artist for Habitus/Habitat (Caloundra Regional Gallery 2008-2010) making ephemeral installations and creating and when I sleep which then featured in a two-year travelling exhibition. This project was groundbreaking in that it was the first time the Environmental Protection Authority and Arts Queensland had collaborated.
Melissa Stannard
Melissa Stannard https://www.facebook.com/Melissa-Stannard-Artist-Jeweller @melissa.stannard.artist
Artist Bio
Melissa is a constant gatherer, a collector of the lost and found. Storytelling is an important part of her culture and heritage as a Gamillaraay and Yuwaalaraay woman and a way that she is able to express, share, and bring awareness to issues that often confront, from personal narratives and lived experiences to cultural and collective traumas. Dadirri & winangali, indigenous ways of deep listening to country and self are integral to Melissa's processing these stories and connecting with place. Melissa enjoys working with materials that have had a previous life and works across a range of mediums including jewellery, assemblage, sculpture, print, painting, drawing, and environmental arts. Her local environment, with its mountains, wallum heaths and lakes is her space to retreat to. Within this landscape exist whole microcosms, these tiny worlds and the marginal zones of the mangroves and wallum provide endless inspiration for her work.
Artist Bio
Melissa is a constant gatherer, a collector of the lost and found. Storytelling is an important part of her culture and heritage as a Gamillaraay and Yuwaalaraay woman and a way that she is able to express, share, and bring awareness to issues that often confront, from personal narratives and lived experiences to cultural and collective traumas. Dadirri & winangali, indigenous ways of deep listening to country and self are integral to Melissa's processing these stories and connecting with place. Melissa enjoys working with materials that have had a previous life and works across a range of mediums including jewellery, assemblage, sculpture, print, painting, drawing, and environmental arts. Her local environment, with its mountains, wallum heaths and lakes is her space to retreat to. Within this landscape exist whole microcosms, these tiny worlds and the marginal zones of the mangroves and wallum provide endless inspiration for her work.
Ulrike Sturm
Ulrike Sturm www.ulrikesturm.com @ulrike_travels
Artist Bio
Ulrike has a love for the simplicity of black and white images. Her visual arts practice is predominantly in the field of printmaking (linocuts, engravings, etchings and artist books). She completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts and Master of Fine Arts at the University of Sydney (Sydney College of the Arts). In recent years, she has experimented with larger scale handcut works using adhesive wall vinyl. Ulrike lectures in the Bachelor of Visual Arts program at the South Bank campus of TAFE Queensland (in partnership with the University of Canberra). Her work has been exhibited in many solo exhibitions within Australia as well in numerous group shows nationally and internationally. Ulrike’s prints and drawings have featured in a range of publications and journals.
Artist Bio
Ulrike has a love for the simplicity of black and white images. Her visual arts practice is predominantly in the field of printmaking (linocuts, engravings, etchings and artist books). She completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts and Master of Fine Arts at the University of Sydney (Sydney College of the Arts). In recent years, she has experimented with larger scale handcut works using adhesive wall vinyl. Ulrike lectures in the Bachelor of Visual Arts program at the South Bank campus of TAFE Queensland (in partnership with the University of Canberra). Her work has been exhibited in many solo exhibitions within Australia as well in numerous group shows nationally and internationally. Ulrike’s prints and drawings have featured in a range of publications and journals.
