16 February – 5 March 2017
about the exhibition
Dianne Fogwell’s prints and paintings draw inspiration from the resident birds and trees that are integral to the cyclical passage of the habitat around her Canberra studio. Dianne always approaches each print as an ‘exploration’ building up a work like a memory that develops and grows upon itself. After carving images of trees, birds and flowers in lino, she allows the works to develop organically in layers to create a distinct atmospheric quality. The title ‘Renascent’, with its Latin origins meaning to be born again, sheds light on the interpretation of this new series of work. Dianne has come to a new understanding of, and has found beauty in, the constant changes that occur in our local environment imposed by urban development. Each tree is unique, weathered, beautiful and threatened but standing strong against an ever changing habitat. She comments, ‘… the print and painting come together and are part of the surface story – some things stay, others disappear and reappear anew. I have endeavoured to capture the understanding that all things pass in both nature and ourselves but nature is capable and adaptable and able to regenerate into something beautiful and divergent.”
In a career spanning more than thirty years, Canberra artist Dianne Fogwell has had many solo exhibitions locally and interstate, and participated in group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including the 1st Seoul International Artist Book Fair in South Korea. She has made a major contribution to the arts community in Canberra through her art practice, teaching, curating and establishing press and print studios. Her work is represented in many public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia, Artbank, Australian War Memorial, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago (USA) and the National Museum for Women in the Arts (Washington, USA).
