The Kimberley Collection Artists Profiles

The Kimberley Collection is an artist-run initiative, proudly sponsored by the Shire of Broome. This exhibition will bring together a group of professional artists from across the Kimberley to showcase their work. This artists’ collective run their art business in many different ways. Some of the artists teach, some are internationally acclaimed and have travelled the world representing their craft, some travel into the bush to collect reference information for their work, others are in the process of creating art to be published in a book, all of the artists work in different mediums. The artists will be running the exhibition so visitors are encouraged to come and speak with them about their work and their business process.

The exhibition will be open Thursday 4 to Sunday 7 August 2016 between 10am and 4pm at the Broome Civic Centre. Opening night on Thursday 4 August from 6.30pm to 9pm is open to all, with canapes, live music and a bar available.

Bec Morgan:

As a Broome-based artist, Rebecca has a unique and modern approach to her paintings while still incorporating traditional styles of art from her elders. She is a dedicated painter and is already gaining worldwide recognition. Rebecca has been selected as an associate artist for Nomad Two Worlds as the first Indigenous female artist. Rebecca has held exhibitions in Broome, Kununurra, Sydney, Perth (CHOGM) and Berlin-Germany.

Betty Rupe:

Betty has lived in the outback of WA most of her adult life, living in Broome, Leonora, Port Hedland and Karratha. Betty started painting in 1989 in Leonora inspired by Australia’s outback. She is driven by the amazing colours and landscape, its people and the incredible history of this amazing land in the north of WA.

“My paintings are about feeling and I strive to make the viewer experience the exhilaration, connection and harmony I feel through the image that I am portraying,” Betty says. “I believe that my emotion is in the paint as it is applied. With my love for horses, cattle and the Australian outback much of my work revolves around these subjects.”

Chrissy Carter:

Chrissy Carter explores many mediums in her art practise including face and body painting, photography and photo manipulation, screen print, oils, water colour, ink, pastel, ceramics and more. She draws inspiration from fairytale, folklore and mythology and much of her work is imagination driven. Her art is her passion and is a journey into her inner self.

Craig Rochford:

Craig was born in Broome and went on to work as a pearl diver. His mother was a talented potter which was the inspiration for Craig’s work with three dimensional sculpture. Craig has sold his sculptural works for more than 25 years, and 15 years ago extended his craft to include painting. He is a successful artist whose work is influenced by both the pearling history of Broome and the traditional owners of the area. Craig won the 2015 Kimberley Art Prize.

Edwin Lee Mulligan:

Also known by his traditional name, Warrda Lumbadij Bundajarrdi, Edwin was born in Yakanarra and is the grandson of world-renowned artist Jimmy Pike. Edwin is a multiple art prize winner and an amazing story teller who has worked with the Nomads Two Worlds Project and has held exhibitions in New York, Berlin and the Netherlands.

Elaine Tribbick:

“My earlier years as an artist were spent hand painting murals on walls,” Elaine says. “Painting scenes for children allowed me to express myself through a fantasy dream world, escaping reality and creating quirky characters. “Living in the Pilbara and the Kimberley for the past 11 years has intensified my love of Australian wildlife, nature and the environment. “Through the images I create I have a desire to express feelings and emotions as well as the beauty of nature – each painting captures a variety of experiences with its own unique story.”

Gabby Gugeri:

Gabby grew up in Derby. A ratbag child, she was sent away to boarding school and was thankfully expelled after two years. On her return to Derby she was fortunate enough to be taught by Mark Norval, who showed her the craft of paper plate etching. Using an etching press designed by her father, Gabby has printed her way across the top end of Australia, printmaking for 30 years. Her artwork is highly sought after and has been the gift that has been the saving grace of her ‘crazy life’.

Heather McLaughlin: 

Heather McLaughlin had been a secondary art teacher most of her working life, until 2003 when she left teaching to concentrate on her own painting. Over the next 10 years she taught private art classes, held three solo exhibitions and participated in three joint exhibitions at various galleries around Broome. Heather has entered the Shinju Art Awards and Kimberley Art Prize consistently and, since 2005 has won the People’s Choice Award eight times between these two competitions. Heather paints in a realistic style but she loves to accentuate colour and texture in her work.

Karen Morgan:

Visual contemporary artist. Inspired by life, landscape and captured moments in time of the unique Kimberley region of WA, Karen is an award-winning artist who works in the mediums of water colour and ceramics and is also a practising art lecturer.

Kerry Ann Jordinson:

Kerry’s love of drawing started at a very early age and began to develop while living in the Goldfields of WA for many years. In both Kalgoorlie and Broome, her work has reflected her local environment. She is principally interested in depicting the human form, although much of her work also deals in landscapes. Kerry paints and draws every day, and remains busy with private commissions, freelance illustration and exhibitions. She has written and illustrated books for children, and enjoys sharing her love of art with adults and children at art classes.

Mark Norval:

His exhibitions and awards have been numerous and his work is represented in collections of Australia Artbank, Lord Alistair McAlpine, Art Gallery of WA library, Collection of the Governor-General, Stanford University (USA), Education Department of WA, Shire of Derby West Kimberley, Shire of Broome, Maxima Pearls, Western Metals and numerous private collections around the world. Mark is a talented scoundrel who has migrated to the most surreal and beautiful place on earth. His output is stunning because he possesses the one thing that all great artists need – a burning desire to communicate his peculiar and unique vision of the world around him.

Paul Boon:

An internationally renowned didgeridoo player, Paul is also a very talented artist who works with and has mentored many indigenous artists. A long-term, well known Broome resident, Paul previously owned and managed the very successful and iconic Old Broome Lockup Gallery for many years.

Suzy French:

Suzy has lived in the Kimberley for over 25 years in Broome, Derby and Fitzroy Crossing – the inspiration for her brush stroke from the crackle on the mudflats to the azure of the Buccaneer Archipelago, the colours in the sky and the ebb and flow of the tide. Suzy has had 11 successful exhibitions and many collaborative shows. She works in oil on canvas and is currently creating a body of work on aluminium.

Tina Higgins:

Tina specialises in paintings of Kimberley landscapes and animals. Her paintings showcase the spectacular and vibrant colours of the Kimberley. Tina uses various mediums from oil paint to water colour, pastel and acrylics. An award winning artist, Tina has been painting for over 15 years. Having studied natural therapy including colour therapy, aura soma, herbal medicine, pranic healing, aromatherapy and music therapy, Tina applies aspects of these therapies in the process of creating her art.

Tom Montgomery:

Tom Montgomery is an award-winning wildlife artist based in Broome. Working entirely from live specimens and his own photographic references, Tom’s paintings focus upon elements of the natural environment to create detailed portraits of the Australian flora and fauna inspired by the scientific plates of yesteryear.