The featured artist at The Gallery in Mogo until the end of February, is prizewinning painter and sculptor Laureen Phillips.
Although always loving art, Laureen was persuaded by her parents to study “the more practical” secretarial studies while at school. Art,in that era, was often considered “a waste of time”. Laureen worked in the medical field (admin) but, while she loved the daily contact with people, she eventually return to art, enrolling as an adult student with the Australian School of Art - at the art school was where... “I found where I needed to be”.
Laureen says, “I love colour and texture and enjoy the freedom of collage.” So while at art school she developed a willingness to experiment with different materials, media and abstraction and a strong sense of design.
“Always looking for the essence of the subject”, Laureen likes to work from realism towards abstraction using her favourite mediums of watercolour and acrylics.
Laureen being fortunate to have been exposed to other cultures and countries, at first with her parents in Malaysia, and then in the UK with her husband’s career in the armed forces. She has had extensive overseas travel for both pleasure and work, which she has found to be a great inspiration for her art.
Laureen retired to the South Coast from Canberra with husband Roy in 2005 and has been a very active member of the art community ever since – being one of the partners that ran The Old School House gallery (T.O.S.H.) on Beach Road and is now Coordinator of The Gallery in Mogo.
With sea views from her studio, Laureen calls on the continual contrast of land, sea and sky for inspiration in her artworks. She finds the colour and strong patterns of the spotted gums and patches of rainforest a particularly strong source of imagery.
The solitude and tranquillity of the studio feeds the creative process for Laureen, as it does for many artists. In addition, she says, “the ever-changing effects of natural forces on sea and sky provides me with a great serenity”.
Laureen has both sculpture and paintings on display and has also exhibited in Canberra, Braidwood and Sydney.
The Gallery,a co-operative venture of CABBI, which is a society open to local arts and crafts
practitioners. People interested in finding out more about CABBI should drop in to The Gallery or phone 02 4474 2243.
