Our first shared studio was in NSW (Performingdesign) in 1998. We produced work for the corporate world and theatre, scenic art, sculpting/prop making, costume & mask, designing/making, public art, graphic design.
Now in our Castlemaine studio our art practices nudge alongside each other, often with a shared eye for inspiration, interpreted in our own way.
PAULA
After graduating from National Art School in 1974, work with Australian Opera began what was to be a long career path, painting and sculpting for theatre. Here I discovered the breadth of possibilities and richness of large scale. Many techniques both expressive and functional have greatly influenced my art practice.
The natural world is my inspiration. Walks… same tracks always different… crepuscular darkness, early morning light changing, veils of mist, wind, water’s depths, its mirrored surrounds, a confusion of seeing which accentuates a feeling of mystery. The creek, the weather, the rhythm of the seasons, the detailed changes. These are the source of my collected impressions to reassemble in the studio. The layering action of nature resonates.
An evolving visual language using paint, ink, dyes, muslin, bamboo, cast paper, stitch or clay.
In recent times I have made series of works, often involving paper, a sustainable fragile material, cast, constructed, manipulated or layered as a medium rather than a substrate.
The qualities of paper cut, rearranged, layered and lightly held could express or suggest the delicate nature of things, the fragile nature of our existence.
My current work involves multiples, intricately cut, constructed with bamboo support to create form for light and shadow play.
GREG
My training and early work as a biologist/ecologist, has led me to use the imagery and insights of science in my artistic output. The imagery is grounded in the patterns, textures and minutiae of the bioregion in which I live. They are also informed by my knowledge of biological structures, the energies and relationships found in ecosystems, within the micro and macroscopic.
My art practice involves photography, drawing and printed textile (stitched and sculpted). The early abstract drawings/painting led on to realising such designs in patchwork and quilt making. A long term fascination with the techniques of quilts and textile screenprinting has evolved into a body of work that uses digital printing to integrate these techniques with my recent drawings and photography.