Libby Hobbs describes her work as ‘haptic’ – following no particular style or theme but rather exploring her individual whims and interests. “I find that this approach leads to happy individual and innovative creations and as an artist it’s exciting to see where my imagination leads me.” Libby says “I feel I have always been on a spontaneous artistic journey. By osmosis I seem to absorb colour from my love of textiles and ceramics and my naive style has been influenced by my family and animals - quirky ideas which might find their way into ordinary life encompassing textiles, ceramics and mosaics.”
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After a career as an education writer, Lynne decided in 2002 to pursue her long held interest in art. She graduated from the Sydney Gallery School with an Advanced Diploma in Fine Arts. With a Distinction in Painting she won the Artist in residence Prize at Sydney Olympic Park Armoury at Newington, Sydney. She won the works on paper prize at Glebe Art Show and she has been selected as a finalist in a number of contemporary art prizes in Australia including the Norvill Prize for landscape in 2010 and 2012. Lynne currently works at May St Studios in St Peters in Sydney. Her work is represented in private collections in Sydney, Beijing and Scotland. Lynne is interested in how our ideas about the landscape are historically and culturally formed. She explores the impact of humans on the natural environment and responds to the marks and scars that we leave as we move through the landscape. She experiments with a variety of mixed media producing works on paper, board and canvas and likes to think of her work as constructions rather than paintings. Her work has an enticing meditative quality inspired by the environment but often evoking an emotion or thought rather than depicting a specific landscape. She hopes her work will encourage viewers to recall their own particular special places and consider their relationship with this unique landscape. Kerry Thompson agreed this week to put her bright and gorgeous artwork in our show this week - woo hoo! Take a look at a samll sample of her work in our gallery. If you'd like to take an advance peek at all her paintings, please contact us. Here's Kerry's Story: In 1973, after studying zoology in Toronto, Kerry ventured to Australia with a guitar and a backpack, got a shock eating Vegemite and became a rural veterinarian. Seven moves and a baby or two later saw her reach Sydney in 1984 where she gave birth again and became an Australian. Not having quite enough excitement with three kids under four she brought home a wacky dog and ended up taking him to a dog training club to help him get his act together. She drew some cartoons for their newsletter which people seemed to like, and accidentally fell into being an award-winning cartoonist drawing for publications including The Sydney Morning Herald and Medical Observer, and twice being voted Best Single Gag Cartoon Artist by the Australian Cartoonists' Association. Kerry approached publishers in 1990 with hopes of drawing for children's books and has now illustrated about 24 including Ark in The Park by Wendy Orr which was Children's Book Council Book of The Year, Younger Readers 1995, Nim's Island also by Wendy Orr which is published worldwide in 21 languages and has been made into a movie of the same name starring Jodie Foster in which Kerry appears for 1 ½ seconds (Kerry was hugged by Jodie Foster and kissed by a sea lion; a sequel, "Return to Nim's Island" has also been made but Kerry isn't in it even for 1 1/2 seconds), and My Sister Has a Big Black Beard from the unique and amazing brain of Duncan Ball, friend of Selby the Talking dog. Kerry has both written and illustrated two books under her nom de plume (Millard): Gordon's Biscuit, Penguin Books (which was read on Play School – how exciting is that!!??) and Quincy and Oscar, ABC Books. Kerry is working on turning "Gordon's Biscuit" into an eBook. Several years ago Kerry leaped onto canvas with acrylic paints to create works bigger than her usual cartoons and illustrations, using as much colour as she wants, going in whatever direction the painting takes her, without a deadline. She has chosen to paint as “Thompson” although many were signed “Millard” before she chose to paint under her original name. The response to her paintings since first offering them for sale in September 2009 has been exciting with a number of galleries requesting works and Kerry being offered numerous exhibiting opportunities. Since 2009 she has participated in 27 shows and exhibitions, has had work travel to Seoul, South Korea to exhibit, and has had a work hanging in NSW Parliament House, and has been filmed and interviewed by Graeme Stevenson of Colour in Your Life while creating a painting. Kerry’s TV episode is available to view on Youtube, and is airing in N.Z., the U.K., on Virgin Airlines, and discussions are underway with a number of other countries. She has also created the "Little Firefly" pop-up gallery and studio which appears temporarily in different locations from time to time. Kerry has had varied life experience including travelling to Russia with Patch Adams and a group of clowns from 13 countries to play with kids in hospitals and orphanages. She had to fly from Sydney to Moscow on her own...with a stopover in Bangkok ... dressed as a clown. But that's another story... |
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