Working primarily as a formalist artist, for twenty years I worked exclusively in abstract landscape painting, thinking about the relationship between land and the elements that shape it – weather & climate.
In 2015, due to circumstantial factors, I began the transition to figurative subjects, remaining focussed on the more formal aspects of painting rather than narrative. Working primarily from life the figurative works are a more psychocentric drafting of interior landscapes, scored and laid down by experiences and emotions.
Download Carmel’s Professional CV here
Born in Sydney
2024
- Finalist / Salon des Refusés, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
- Finalist / Rick Amor Drawing Award, McCelland Gallery, Melbourne
- Finalist / Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney
2023
- Finalist, Professional Create (Art), London International Creative Competition (LICC), Online
- Journey through Lands / Solo Exhibition, SAS Gallery, Sydney
- DECADE, SAS Gallery Ten Year Anniversary, Salon Exhibition
2022
- 40 x 40 Project / Wagner Contemporary, Paddington, Sydney
- Semi-Finalist / Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, Moran Arts Foundation
- Finalist / Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney
- Ephemeral Strokes / SAS Gallery, Sydney
- Judge / Young Creatives Award 2022, Inner West Council, Sydney
- Domestic Mayhem / Exhibition with Chris Dolman, SAS Gallery, Sydney
Exhibited: 40 x 40 Project, Wagner Contemporary, Domestic Mayhem, SAS Gallery, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre, ephemeral strokes, SAS Gallery
2021
- Finalist / Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney
- Judge / Young Creatives Award 2021, Inner West Council, Sydney
- Finalist / The Vincent Art Prize, Duckrabbit, Sydney
- In The Grove / solo exhibition, Scratch Art Space for Art Month Sydney
- Finalist / Adelaide Perry Art Prize for Drawing, Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney
- Finalist / Online Salon, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Prize, Brisbane
- Director & Artist at Scratch Art Space
- Tutor for life drawing, colour theory and drawing beginners
Exhibited: Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Finalist, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Adelaide Perry Art Prize for Drawing, Finalist, Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney / In The Grove, SAS Gallery, Sydney / The Vincent Prize, Duckrabbit Gallery, Sydney
2020
- Winner / Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Traditional Category, Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney
- Winner / The Vincent Art Prize, Duckrabbit, Sydney
- Research camping trip to Lake Mungo
- Presented four part Drawing demonstration videos for Marrickville Library
- Director & Artist at Scratch Art Space
- Tutor for life drawing, colour theory and drawing beginners
Exhibited: Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Finalist, Campbelltown Arts Centre, The Vincent Prize, Duckrabbit Gallery, Sydney
2019
- Presenter, My Art My Way 2019, Professional practise presentation on how to prepare documentation for exhibition submissions.
- Adjudication Panel, The Inner West Urban Edge Art Prize, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney.
- The Other Guy, Season II, Artwork hired for a character in Season II.
- Travelled to Japan and USA.
- Director of Scratch Art Space.
- Tutored Drawing I for beginners, Drawing II Composition, Colour Mixing for Beginners, & Open Studio sessions at Scratch Art Space.
Exhibited: Ephemeral Strokes, Group Exhibition, SAS Gallery / Inner West Contemporary Art Exhibition, EDGE Creative Trails Marrickville, SAS Gallery / IN/House 2019, Group Exhibition, SAS Gallery, Sydney.
2018
- Director of Scratch Art Space
- Tutored Drawing I for beginners, Drawing II Composition, Colour Mixing for Beginners, & Open Studio sessions at Scratch Art Space
- Refocused onto own practice.
2017
- Began a series of paintings around the concept of the Femme Fatale.
- Wrote Draw II: Principles of Composition and Painting for Beginners Courses.
- Wrote Life Drawing I and Life Drawing II: hands, feet and faces, both one day workshops.
Exhibited: Candour of Doubt, Group Exhibition, SAS Gallery / Drawn Together, Group Exhibition, SAS Gallery / IN House, Group Exhibition, SAS Gallery, Sydney.
2016
- Established Scratch Art Space as a Proprietary Limited Company
- Employed by Scratch Art Space Pty Ltd as Director, and continued to build an administrative and governance foundation for the business.
- Employed a Gallery Assistant and Curator to help develop the Gallery exhibitions.
- Devised and developed an education program for SAS.
- Wrote Drawing I: Elements of Drawing, a course for absolute beginners.
Exhibited: Harvest, Group Exhibition, SAS Gallery, Sydney
2015
- Began a double Diploma in Marketing & Management at MnM institute which I didn’t finish because the business was taking off.
- Continued to build up the marketing and administration for the Scratch Art Space art workshops & gallery.
- Wrote Colour Startup, a colour mixing for painters workshop.
2013-14
- Focussed on building a viable artist-run business and continued to develop and grow social networks and marketing strategies.
- Introduced one-day art workshops to Scratch Art Space.
- Started up a life drawing group, Drawn Together.
- My practise that had focussed on landscapes now shifted to figurative. To manage the transition a strategy to paint the figure as landscape was applied that eventually transmuted to focus on the emotional landscape of the human condition.
Exhibited: Pendulum: Actions of Gravity and Acquired Momentum, collaborative installation with Melissa Silk, SAS Gallery / Marrickville Photography Prize, Highly Commended, Sydney / SAS Stockroom Show, SAS Gallery / Three Circles, SAS Gallery / Census, Solo Exhibition, photography, SAS Gallery, Sydney.
2011-12
- Re-branded Tooth Studios as Scratch Art Space (SAS) and installed an art gallery.
- The inaugural exhibition DeTour, a collaboration between myself and SAS Artist-in-Residence Joshua Rampage (USA), opened in September 2012.
- Selected for the Gallery Speed Dating Event, Art Month Sydney
Exhibited: DeTour, Collaborative installation with Joshua Rampage, SAS Gallery, Sydney / Ten Years Inside Out, Curator & participating artist, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney / Postcards from the North, ESP Gallery, Sydney.
2009-10
- Returned to MFA studies.
- Research visit to Sean Scully’s studio, New York City.
- Graduated in June 2010 with an exhibition Forecast, a series of works expressing the cycle of weather and landscape and their influence on the development of tracks & roads in Sydney.
- Presented a paper Emergence of Modern Abstract Art and the Concept of Nonduality, Science & Nonduality Conference, San Francisco
Exhibited: Forecast, MFA solo exhibition, KUDOS Gallery, Sydney / Tim Olsen Drawing Prize, Kudos Gallery.
2008
- Marriage dissolved.
- Deferred study for one year.
Exhibited: Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney
2007
- Returned to Sydney to undertake a Masters in Fine Art (Research) degree at UNSW Art & Design.
- Awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship.
- Continued to administrate and manage Tooth Studios, Sydney.
Exhibited: Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize / At The Vanishing Point Contemporary Art Gallery, Sydney / Harmony with White, Sabaai Gallery, Sydney.
2004–06
- Moved to Bermuda, administrated Tooth Studios remotely with a Studio Manager on the ground in Sydney.
- Painted full-time on New York Series Satellite & Manhattan Flora, and Two World’s Clash. A series of oil paintings gleaning data and information conflated with historical research, based on tracks and roads on the landscape.
- Travelled to Cuba, Europe, and multiple visits to New York City.
Exhibited: Migration Glass Eye, Brooklyn, New York / Bermuda Biennial, Bermuda National Gallery / Field of Vision: New York, The Lab Gallery, New York, USA / Computer Generated Art, Bermuda Society of the Arts / Conceptual Art Show, Bermuda Society of the Arts.
2002-03
- Lived in New York City for six months and undertook a three month internship assisting the Gallery Manager, at Artists Space, Soho.
- Submitted a review of the 2002 Whitney Biennial for Singaporean magazine, Vehicle: contemporary visual arts journal.
- Returned to Sydney and set up Tooth Studios in Marrickville, Sydney.
- Employed at NAS for the HSC Extension Course to teach Life-Drawing to selected NSW Visual Art Students.
Exhibited: Blake Touring Exhibition / Art on the Rocks, ASN Gallery, Sydney / Boxed ii, PKW Gallery, Singapore / NAP Annual Exhibition, New Arts Program, Kutztown, Pennsylvania, USA.
2000-01
- Graduated with First Class Honours and moved to Singapore.
- Set up a home-studio working in timber assemblages.
- Became a member of the Plastic Kinetic Worms collective in Singapore.
- Held first solo show, Funk, in Singapore.
- Travelled to Malaysia, Indonesia, Europe, and Yemen.
Exhibited: FUNK, PKW Gallery, solo show, Singapore / The Pig Show, PKW gallery, Singapore / Worm Festival II, PKW Gallery, Singapore / Blake Prize, S H Irvin Gallery, Sydney.
1997-99
- Secured a sessional teaching job at Kempsey TAFE for one semester.
- Moved to Canberra and studied for a Bachelor of Visual Art (Hons) with advanced standing.
- Employed for two years a sessional teacher at the National Institute of Design, Canberra.
Exhibited: Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of NSW / In-Between, Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree / Festival of Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Sydney / Canberra School of Art Drawing Prize / The Drawing Show, Artspace71, Canberra / 50 Years Now: Field Studies in the Snowy Mountains, Cabramurra Community Hall.
1995-96
- Married and moved to the Mid North Coast.
- Established a studio practice equipped for timber assemblages.
- Helped organise the inaugural Wauchope Arts Festival.
Exhibited: Waverley Art Prize / Logan Art Award, Brisbane / Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney / NAS Alumni Exhibition, Sydney / Essential Assets, The Studio Gallery, Bellingen.
1993-1995
- Secured a studio lease with three colleagues at Jones Bay Wharf, Sydney.
- Employed part-time casual.
Exhibited: Art for AIDS Exhibition / Waverley Art Prize / Portia Geach Memorial Award Exhibition / Alice Prize / Warringah Art Prize.
1990-92
- Studied full-time at the National Art School.
- Graduated with a Diploma in Painting with work that are primarily recycled timber assemblage reliefs.
1987-89
- Back in Sydney I was employed as a contractor at the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research
- Studied evenings, three subjects for a Certificate in Fine Art at the National Art School (NAS).
1984-86
- Lived in Midhope House a housing co-operative in Kings Cross, London, temping and bar work.
- Travelled to New York, Los Angeles, and four months through Mexico and Guatemala.
1983-84
Travelled through Central Australia to Darwin, onto Asia & Europe.
- Travelled through Central Australia to Darwin, onto Asia & Europe.
- Skied & worked a winter season in Val D’Isere, France.
1982-83
- Employed to transfer data from an analogue accounting system to a mainframe computer, Sydney.
1980-81
- Skiing, walking & working in Queenstown, New Zealand.