Erin Corlette Interview

Congratulations on your first solo show at the SHAC Gallery! We would love to know more about the significance of your title, “A Garden In The Clouds,” and what it means to you.

The inspiration for all my paintings in the exhibition was the trees and fl owers in my garden. As well I am constantly watching the clouds as the colour formations and changes are so wonderful to capture. ‘The Garden in the Clouds’ captured the work.

Your current studio is located in the grounds of a beautiful garden in the Southern Highlands, NSW. Please tell us more about the flora and landscape of your studio and what elements are especially reflected in your current work.

The Magnolia trees, with their pinks and purples, the crab apples exploding in colour, and the cherry blossoms, which feature in my paintings, have such wonderful colours, matched by the ever-changing light and seasons, along with the clouds.

What important lessons have stood out to you in collaborating artistically with the alumni from some of Sydney's most iconic art institutions?

I enjoy collaborating with other artists where we discuss all our work together. Understanding the approach of others is always interesting and inspiring.

How has your career in design informed your painting, or vice versa?

I have a great love of colour and form which has always been integral in my design background and now plays a big part in my painting allowing more freedom and expression.

What artists or art movements would you say heavily influence your art today?

There are so many artists whose work I admire and subconsciously I believe influences come from everywhere. I prefer to be less representational in my work and so drawn to artists lately like Joan Mitchell, Pat Steir, Cy Twombly.

Where does your passion for light, colour, and nature originate from? How have these sources of inspiration changed in your practice over time?

My passion for light and colour developed through my design career but my interest and love of nature is definitely from my garden. Living amongst it along with the wonderful gardens around us. Light has such a dramatic effect and the constant change is so inspiring. I find I need to often restrict the boldness of colour to create a calmness in the final result.

Julie Bradley Interview

In your current exhibition audiences are introduced to a melodic display of colourful, buoyant curvature rising and falling through arrangements of stringed lines. How would you describe your style of work in your current exhibition? And how has it evolved over time?

My style does evolve as I find new areas of interest to explore but my method and approach in always the same. My technique is also always the same and this allows the work to remain consistent.

This body of work explored darker colour palettes and more expressive forms and line while allowing the gouache paint to behave in a more painterly manner.

I use abstracted forms and lines to move the audience around the composition and direct the eye so that the artwork is a visual journey.

Colour has been a recent joy in my work as I initially trained as a printmaker and mainly world in black and white. My approach to colour is intuitive and lately the colour combinations have been working in new more vibrant combinations. 

Please describe how you approached your composition and layering for this body of work.

Composition is the core of my work. I have an initial idea which is very loose for each artwork and will sometimes draw very quick compositional roughs to refer to and help capture an idea. However the composition has a life of its own and the process of making using collage as one element allows me to add and subtract shapes and forms and to play with the composition.

I am often asked “How do you know when the work is complete?” and my answer is “When it stops worrying me visually”

I am drawn to detail and pattern and will sometimes challenge my compositional skills by deliberately making the task harder -odd formats etc -building up layers of detail to finally arrive at harmony.

You mentioned that the romantic poets influenced your decision to use clouds as a metaphor for change. Why was change an important theme for this exhibition?

During a huge time for our family of personal loss and grief and through the pandemic times this work was evolving.

The world was also experiencing massive political changes and it felt like the ground beneath us was constantly shifting.

I suppose this work was the outpouring of this time where change seemed the only constant. 

Were there any specific poets and/or poems you were drawn to during the making of this exhibition?

The romantic poets were the main influences - Coleridge

Anne Bronte and P B Shelly and Keats.

I use word lists as a way of capturing and idea and as an aid to memory when I work.

I listed phrases and words from these poets which prompted visual responses.

What is the significance of your exhibition title “Atmospheric” and what does it mean to you?

The way a place or event makes me feel is really the essence of my work conceptually. Like a lot of artists I am always observing and taking in experiences emotionally responding to external influences.

There is something about the word Atmospheric that is soft and hard to define -nebulous perhaps like cloud formations seemingly solid and yet fleeting.

There is a direct reference to the sky as the atmosphere around us and the cloud and sky scapes reflect this aspect too.

Where can people see your works in 2025?

2025 will be a restorative year for me with an artist residency planned for the early part of the year in Sydney working around the Georges river area for a month.

I have just completed an extensive build of my home studio and so will be working in this space making the most of my new facility.

I compete in national competitions and art awards so keep an eye out for these. 

Often after a busy year of exhibitions I will concentrate on building up the practice and search out new opportunities while making a new body of work. My explorations will be posted online @julie.bradley.art