Grant Thomas
Miniatures.
Born in Jamestown, South Australia, Trevor was educated in both South Australia and Victoria. Completing teaching studies in Ballarat, he was fortunate to study painting. The head of the Arts Department was Gareth Samson (an Australian abstract expressionist). Under Samson’s tutorship, Trevor had several successful exhibitions in BaIIarat. Trevor’s work in this era was figurative and often involved the use of Hessian and rice paper to add feel and texture to the canvas.
Trevor was invited to continue an art career at Swinburne Institute; however, he passed this opportunity and followed a teaching career, ceasing painting for some thirty years and not recommencing until 2004. Since then, he has varied his subjects from figurative paintings to landscapes and cityscapes as application and process continue to change. The dominant aspect of his art is to create a sculpture on canvas and to tell a story.
In recent years Trevor completed a series of shipwrecks and lighthouse paintings from images around the world. Other works depict his interest in Ned Kelly, trips to Kakadu and cities throughout Europe and the Middle East. Paris and Venice visits resulted in works reflecting his love and intrigue of these cityscapes. Being local to the district, Trevor spent many years fishing and exploring Warrnambool’s historic Shipwreck Coast. The process of painting and over painting and dragging colour over rough surfaces intrigues him and he encourages observers to touch as well as see his art. He enjoys the journey of painting and telling a Story. His artistic influences include Keifer, Bacon, Sansom, Monet, Klimpt, Nolan and Jackson Pollock.
Vida has been a professional artist/printmaker for over 30 years. Early in her career her favoured mediums were screen printing and etching. However, in the last 15 years she has concentrated almost exclusively on linocuts. She has a very distinctive style with her brightly coloured strongly designed works - mostly hand coloured.
Upon joining the Wildlife Art Society of Australasia many years ago her images naturally took a turn in that direction. This enables her to combine a love of bird-watching, photography and travel with her work. She spends approx. 2 months each year on various field trips within Australia and overseas collecting material for new images. This has involved many trips to outback Australia and inspirational places such as Antarctica, Madagascar, Asia, Iceland and most recently Africa. She finds observing all types of wildlife exhilarating - even those she observes daily on her 5-acre bush block. She hopes that by creating beautiful images of the natural world she may cause people to reflect on how amazing our planet is.
Her work can be found in galleries throughout Australia. She has won over 150 prizes in art competitions and exhibits regularly in group and solo shows. She was voted "Wildlife Artist of the Year" by the Wildlife Art Society of Australasia in both 2014 and 2015 and is featured in "Inspiration Wild: An Artistic Celebration of Nature and Environment" published by the Wildlife Art Museum of Australia Foundation. Her work is featured in the 2017 Australia Geographic Art Calendar
Richard Weatherly is an iconic Australian artist, conservationist and innovative farmer. He uses art as a platform to contribute to the conservation and restoration of the environment, global sustainability and land care. His life work has been acknowledged with prestigious awards and achievements including an Order of Australia Medal (OAM).
Richard is well known for being a conservationist and innovative farmer. His love of birds and the natural world was fostered during a rural childhood. His parents and grandparents had kept lists of the bird species on the family property, but it was under Richard’s stewardship that the numbers of species almost doubled. He and his wife Jenny established over twenty wetlands and revegetated the denuded habitat with trees and a rich selection of understorey plants.
While studying history at Cambridge, Richard had carved two sculptures from a broken walnut gunstock. These were spotted by a London gallery, exhibited and sold. Richard followed this up with two solo exhibitions of his paintings, having taken the opportunity to study with some renowned British artists. The die was cast: to the dismay of his parents, he decided to become an artist.
Richard’s latest work includes the release of his new book, ‘A Brush With Birds’. More than just a bird book, or an art book, ‘A Brush With Birds’ takes you on an adventure to faraway places and gives an insight into the rich history and life experiences of it’s author.
Miniatures.