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Artist - MEG BENWELL Artist
Statement
I am eighty-two and have
been painting since the 1940’s. By the time I was twenty-eight I had been
married twice and my third child was born. My work developed slowly, a
sort of journey of discovery, and still is.
My painting comes from sketching
from life, in forests and other areas of Australian landscape. I sit in
a quiet place listening to bush sounds, while closely observing the mysterious
beauty of twisting eucalypt limbs, gracefully draped leaves and beneath
my feet is a carpet of bark, fallen branches and seed pods, which give
off sweet aromas. Heady stuff for me!
With sketchbook on knee I
work using coloured or black felt pens. Sometimes birds, insects and animals
join me, which livens up the scene.
In the studio the hard work
begins. A painting starts to materialise in my mind. I use a drawing to
start a painting, brushing in the first outlines. I am never sure how a
painting will develop. Colours excite me. It is all a tricky business and
is worth taking risks.
I am represented by Gallery
101, Collins St, Melbourne and am working for a show in 2008.
MEG BENWELL – CV BELOW |
Previous
Star Artists
Meg Benwell
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015 Pink
Hanging Rock oil on canvas 99 x 112cm Meg Benwell
2006
016 Long Forest
oil on canvas 191 x 152cm Meg Benwell
2006
028 Blue Forest,
Red Ground oil on canvas 76 x 78cm
Meg Benwell 2006
020 Pink Grampians
Wild Flowers oil on canvas 76 x 91cm
Meg Benwell 2006
030 Forest Pool
With Cockies oil on canvas 43 x 53cm
Meg Benwell 2006
031 Bare Cliffs
And Sea oil on canvas 43 x 53cm
Meg Benwell 2006
MEG BENWELL – CV
BIOGRAPHY
1925 Born in St Kilda, Victoria
STUDIES
1942-45 National Gallery School of Art, Melbourne (VCA)
1955-56 Attended Friday afternoon classes with George Bell
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1950 Book Club Gallery, Melbourne
1965 Three Sisters Gallery, Brighton
1970 Munster Arms Gallery, Melbourne
1982 Drummond Street Gallery, Carlton
1984 Distelfink Gallery, Hawthorn
1986 Distelfink Gallery, Hawthorn
1988 Distelfink Gallery, Hawthorn
1990 Rathdowne Street Gallery, North Carlton
1993 Retrospective, Presented by Shepparton Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
at
-Caulfield Art Gallery,
Caulfield
-Shepparton Regional Art
Gallery, Shepparton
-Benalla Regional Art Gallery,
Benalla
1999 Gipps Street Gallery, Richmond
2003 Overview, Gallery 101, Melbourne
2006 Natural Connections, Gallery 101, Melbourne
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1953-70 Melbourne Society of Women Painters & Sculptors
George Bell Contemporary Art Society
Victorian Artists Society, East Melbourne
1979 Women’s Art Forum, Hawthorn City Gallery
Australian Women Artists,
Niagara Gallery
1983 Diamond Valley Art Award, Diamond Valley Civic Centre
1984 Castlemaine State Festival Drawing Prize, Lyttleton Gallery Castlemaine
Inez Hutchison Art
Award, Beaumaris Art Group
1985 Women’s Art Forum Exhibition, ROAR Studios, Fitzroy
St Kilda Arts Festival
Exhibition, Linden, St Kilda
1986 Diamond Valley Art Award, Diamond Valley Civic Centre
1987 Inez Hutchison Art Award, Beaumaris Art Group
1989 Inez Hutchison Art Award, Beaumaris Art Group
Heritage Art Exhibition,
Linden Gallery, St Kilda
Important Modern Painters
from the 1930’s to the Present Day, Eastgate Gallery, Malvern
1991 Inez Hutchison Art Award, Beaumaris Art Group
1992 Australian Women Artists, Capricorn Gallery, Fitzroy
The George Bell Group,
Affa Gallery, Bendigo
Outside/Inside, Charles
Nodrum Gallery, Richmond
Inez Hutchison Art
Award, Beaumaris Art Group
1994 From Artwork to Book Cover presented by the 6th
International Feminist
Book Fair, Vic Health Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria
Lauraine Diggins Fine
Art Gallery, Caulfield
1995 Acquisition Award, White Friars College, Donvale
Aspects of the Landscape,
Lauraine Diggins Fine Art Gallery
Women on the Walls,
Mornington Peninsular Regional Art Gallery
Bias Binding Exhibition,
Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria
Save Albert Park 9
x 5 Exhibition, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Gallery Artists, Lauraine
Diggins, Fine Art Gallery, Caulfield
Bias Binding Exhibition,
Cowwarr Art Gallery, Gippsland
Spring Festival of
Drawing, Mornington Peninsular Regional Art Gallery
1996 Women’s Work, Distelfink Gallery, Armadale
1997 Embellish an Egg, Mornington Peninsular Regional Art Gallery
Nillumbik Art Award,
Eltham
Mulch and Metaphors
– The Garden of Contemporary Art
Mornington Peninsula
Regional Art Gallery
1999 Nillumbik Art Award, Community Arts Centre, Eltham
The 2Pr Group Exhibition,
Span Galleries, Melbourne
2000 Decorating The Exquisite Corpse, Travelling Exhibition,
Bendigo Regional Art
Gallery, Victoria
2002 Art Fair 2002, Royal Exhibition Building, Represented by
Gallery 101, Melbourne
The 2Pr Group Exhibition,
Span Galleries, Melbourne
The 2Pr Group Exhibition,
Central Goldfields Gallery, Maryborough
2003 The 2Pr Group Exhibition, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2004 The 2Pr Group Exhibition, Dialogue – Dialogia, Monash University
Centre, Prato, Italy
COMMISSIONS
2004 Victorian Tapestry Workshop
2006 Victorian Tapestry Workshop
BOOK COVER PAINTINGS
1989 Drusila Modjeska, Inner Cities, Penguin Books, Australia
1993 Suniti Namtoshi, Feminist Fables, Spinifex Press, North Melbourne
COLLECTIONS
Art Bank Australia
Shepparton Regional Art Gallery
Private Collections
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1985 150 Victorian Women Artists by Women 150, Visual Art Board.
1988 Women’s Art Register Bulletin, Vol 1/3, October-December.
1991 Max Germain, Dictionary of Australian Women Artists.
Meg Benwell, Retrospective,
Shepparton Regional Art Gallery, Exhibition Catalogue.
Janine Burke, An Appreciation.
1993 Joe Pascoe, Notes on Artwork.
1994 The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Alan McCulloch and Susan McCulloch
Juliet Peers, More
Than Just Gum Trees.
1995 Women’s Art Register Bulletin, No. 23 June, Women’s Art Register
Bulletin, No. 24 October,
Bias Binding Exhibition,
Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Exhibition Catalogue.
1999 Juliet Peers, The 2Pr Group Exhibition, Exhibition Catalogue.
2000 Decorating The Exquisite Corpse, Catalogue.
2001 Juliet Peers, Unchain My Art, Art Link – Australian Contemporary
Art Quarterly Vol 20 #4, December
2006 The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art Alan McCulloch,
Susan McCulloch and Emily
McCulloch Childs
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