About the Artist
STELLA CLARKE
Master of Visual Arts
BA Hons., MA, PhD
mobile: 0475521501
email: stella.clarke@outlook.com
I am a British-Australian painter, with an artistic and academic background. I was born in East Anglia, studied and taught at various UK and Australian universities, and have lived in different places around Australia. I now live amongst trees, in the quiet of a bush block, ornamented with wildflowers and birdsong. It is an inspiring place to create, to see the year turn, through chilled and misty winter, bright wattle time, and into the blue and gold of summer days. I see Eucalypts through every window of the studio, catching the glow of late afternoon light, or glistening after rain, and there is always the company of wildlife. I feel very lucky to have been able to make this studio gallery space here, where I can welcome visitors and share my work.
I don't have to go far to find a pocket of the landscape in which to immerse myself, to exercise my senses, to notice all the intricacies of the sights and sounds around me. I also love to visit our beautiful and unique Victorian coast. When I experience each landscape's complex tapestry of interconnected natural things, I often think of Henry Thoreau's words, 'man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone'. I wish we could all afford to leave more of nature alone to recover and thrive; but in the meantime, I make as little impact as I can while I walk quietly amongst the community of creatures and plants, observe my surroundings, and try to translate my responses into art, I take photographic, plein air or written notes, which I later use as a reference point for composition and interpretation in the studio. I work in a variety of media including watercolour, oils and charcoal. My aim is to work as sustainably as possible, to create visually stimulating and emotionally resonant works, which are a homage to the ecological intricacy and life of places I love.