9 - 28 September 2010
about the exhibition
Wendy Teakel is a painter and sculptor whose work expresses a strong connection to the history and sense of place of rural landscapes.Her recent work focuses on the cultural archaeology of our farmed environments, exploring the ways in which the rural landscape is marked by the transient habitation of both people and animals. Inspired by the remnants of past farming lives, Wendy reviews our ever changing relationship with the land and the evidence of our existence, endeavour and even failure. The artist explains: “Weathered gateposts stand as markers for fence lines long removed, the residual geometry of a farm house or the unlikely formality of a grove of elms or pines adrift on a hillside are… indicative of past traditions of working and living on the land.” Wendy believes that the conservation of untouched pockets of bush is essential to our physical and spiritual survival.
Wendy Teakel completed her postgraduate studies in sculpture at the Canberra School of Art at the Australian National University in 1985. She remained at the art school as a lecturer, and in 2008 became the Head of the Sculpture Workshop. She has received many awards and has been a finalist in the Canberra Art Award (2004), the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong (2009), and the Country Energy Art Prize (2010). Wendy has a growing profile in Southeast Asia established during Asialink residencies in Thailand in 1996 and 2001. Her work has been acquired in many collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, Australian National University, Canberra Museum and Art Gallery and Chiang Mai University in Thailand.
