The Garden Curator

Garden designer | Landscape designer | Landscape illustrator

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Artist Statement & CV

Artist statement

Delicate, ethereal and finely detailed, Colleen’s works encourage the onlooker to slow, look closely, engage the imagination and connect with the cycle of life around us. Her meticulous art making process requires her to do the same.

Drawing on her background in horticulture and landscape design, Colleen’s unique art practice is a celebration of nature, both wild and cultivated.

Her delicate three-dimensional paper sculpture and mixed media works are reminiscent of herbarium and entomology specimens. Each finely drawn, painted and assembled piece is mounted onto paper using entomology pins, giving the appearance of floating. The delicate nature of the works and transient play of shadow signifies the fragility of the subject.

Colleen's inaugural solo exhibition, Into the Wilder at the Corner Store Gallery, Orange NSW, was a sellout.

ARTS PRACTICE

  • November 2017 | current. Full time artist
  • 2010|2018 Landscape designer specialising in hand rendered landscape plans

AWARDS

  • Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Top 100 Paper Artists 2019 (International)
  • Finalist, Little Things Art Prize, Saint Cloche Gallery NSW 2019
  • Finalist Pro Hart Outback Art Prize Broken Hill Regional Gallery NSW 2019
  • Finalist and winner of the Viewer’s Choice Award Little Things Art Prize Saint Cloche Gallery Paddington NSW, 2018
  • Recipient of the TNSW State Medal for Excellence in Horticulture 2010

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

  • Shows for 2021 to be advised

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • The Shadow of Wings Suki and Hugh Gallery Bungendore March/April 2020
  • Into the Wilder Corner Store Gallery. Orange NSW 2019. Inaugural solo exhibition and a sellout

DUO/GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • Rekindled Saint Cloche Upstairs Paddington NSW 2019 (with Ingrid Bowen, Samantha Mackie, Jane Gerrish)
  • Essentiae Gallery One88 Katoomba May 2019 (with Peter Worsley)
  • Unfurl Corner Store Gallery Orange NSW 2018 (Inaugural exhibition with sculptor Peter Worsley, a sellout)

EXHIBITIONS BY INVITATION OR APPLICATION

  • Locals Only Corner Store Gallery Orange NSW 2020
  • Here and Now Orange Regional Gallery NSW 2019
  • Finalist, Pro Hart Outback Art Prize Broken Hill Regional Gallery NSW 2019
  • 8 x 10 Corner Store Gallery Orange NSW 2019
  • Artisans in the Gardens Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney NSW 2018
  • Finalist and peoples choice winner - Little Things Art Prize Saint Cloche Gallery Paddington NSW 2018
  • Blue, Corner Store Gallery Orange NSW 2018
  • Just a Square Darling Mills Gallery Mittagong NSW 2018

COMMISSIONS

  • Numerous private commissions have been undertaken with works held in private collections in Australia and the USA

Media

  • Country Style Magazine feature story art issue 2020
  • Living Arts Canberra 2020
  • Beautiful Bizarre Magazine top 100 Paper Artists published 2020
  • The Garden Clinic publication feature story Autumn 2020
  • Company Podcast, interview with Skye Manson 2019
  • Rural Women's Day Inspiring Rural Women feature 2019
  • The Planthunter Feature story and interview with Georgina Reid 2019
  • Central Western Daily newspaper article 2019
  • Rekindle Podcast panel interview with Robert Gerrish 2019
  • The Gardens Magazine Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens 2018
  • Discover Central West Magazine article 2018

Memberships

  • Member by invitation The Journeyperson arts collective Orange NSW
  • National Association for the Visual Arts

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My fellow teens of the 80's, do you remember the s My fellow teens of the 80's, do you remember the song Electric Blue by Icehouse...mullet clad boy loves girl, girls sees through boy, boy broken hearted..."help me baby what can I do"? You get the drift. The song has been on replay in my mind since the Echinops ritro Veitchs Blue came into flower this year, and I think I'm equally as smitten with it as the boy with the girl, though considerably more satisfied with the outcome than the poor chap experiencing unrequited love. When you love a plant, most of the time they love you back, tenfold. Gardening is a bit of a love story, complete with awkward moments along the way, occasional arguments and a lot of give and take,  though thankfully with a happy ending. 😘😘
PS apologies for the Electric Blue earworm...
Australian native plants for Australia Day. Our i Australian native plants for Australia Day. 
Our indigenous flora so perfectly represent all that is wonderful about this incredible nation.  Beauty. resilience, tenacity,  adaptability, strength. Despite adversity. these plants exude optimism. Our family today consciously celebrates all that we have, not the things we don't. We look forward, not past, we show gratitude, not complaint. And we wholeheartedly reflect that compared so many on this planet, each and every one of us are merely custodians and  privileged to live in this country. We have so much to be thankful for.
Turn on the sound for an early morning moment befo Turn on the sound for an early morning moment before the heat rises, serenaded by the birds and the sheep. 
Daybreak this week has involved a walk to the dam to start the pump that fills the tank that waters the garden and troughs....rain has eluded us for a month or more now and the crispness of our inland Australian summer is here. There is nothing like watching inky navy storm clouds roll across the hills, the perfect pairing with paddocks that have shed their emerald, gilded now with unpolished gold. They'll come.
Happy weekend to you all♡♡♡
Big news! I'm so excited to let you know that my f Big news! I'm so excited to let you know that my first exhibition for 2021 will be at the fabulous Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney! This group show commencing late April, will be all about fungi, and will include a line up of sensational artists. It's such a privilege to be invited to participate at such a wonderful event in a beautiful and iconic location. Stay tuned for posts of works available as they evolve in the studio over coming months. I'm so looking forward to being back at RBGS!
Baubles- if you've been following for a while it'l Baubles- if you've been following for a while it'll be no surprise that a good plump bauble (or many) are favourites here. The voluptuous Alliums as featured in my last garden post, Echinops for sure, the buds of Japanese windflowers, and in these images,  the fabulous Sanguisorba which have rapidly become one of my most loved perennials.  The 2nd, 3rd and 4th photos show the lovely deep purplish red of Sanguisorba officinalis and S. Tanna, the 1st image the mass of Sanguisorba Pink Tanna (all taken over the last week or two, hence the now absent but much desired storm clouds). I love their oblong blooms, bumblebee sized,  teetering atop thin stems.  Gorgeous cut for vases, fabulous among grasses and just really satisfying. They're not ostentatious or particularly showy, but really that's not what it's all about. The collective mass of baubles is just as lovely as a big blousey bloom, just as effective but with a little less ego. Hmmmm....
Questions about the other treasures in the photos welcome, as always ♡♡♡
On a day when the sun is scorching and the wind fr On a day when the sun is scorching and the wind frying, when plants are wilting and humans drooping, it feels at odds to be working on perky Penny Gum in the studio. At least one of the crew is still fresh as a daisy despite the conditions!
Just giving the Alliums another moment in the spot Just giving the Alliums another moment in the spotlight before their curtain falls. Drumroll please!#gardenplanning

© Copyright 2019 Colleen Southwell

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