ARTIST'S STATEMENT
The Natural world has always captured my imagination. The rich, red sand of the Northern Territory in outback Australia, patterns on a tree trunk left behind by peeling bark or the colours of a sunrise playing across the rock faces on the escarpment where I live. These are what inspire me to paint.
My style? Expressionistic with a touch of the Abstract! I don't paint photo realism but rather an expression and the emotion of what I see and feel about the subject.
I love texture, pattern and colour and the materials I choose reflect this. On the surface I may apply texture mediums then layers of paint in complimentary and sometime bold colours,Sometimes I work with a solid idea in mind, usually a place or scene that has inspired me. Other times I like to experiment!
My paintings contain many layers, water colours, inks acrylics. Textured papers and exclusive, specialized techniques are also applied.
My hope is to communicate
a Place, a Time or Memory that sparks a connection between my art and the viewer.
CURRICULUM VITEA
SOLO & JOINT EXHIBITIONS
· 5 June- 16 July 2008, Olivia Alexander-“INSTINCT”, Coffee Culture, BOWRAL
· 3 July – 27 August , 2007 ‘STAGE 4 – IMAGES OF THE DROUGHT ’Olivia Alexander, Ruth Gray, Kylie Maguire (Raising funds for the ‘Farmer’s Drought Relief’)
· 7-14 Feb, 2007 – “ 2 POMS & A PAINTBRUSH,” Olivia Alexander, Ruth Gray
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- TREVISAN INTERNATIONAL ART GALLERY, Summer Exhibition 2010, Ferrara, ITALY
- 'RATHER BE NAKED', 2-3 July, 2010, Mils Gallery, SYDNEY
- JAMES KIWI WATERCOLOUR PRIZE 2 July- 29 August 2010, WOLLONGONG City Gallery, Juried entry
- ‘LITTLE TREASURE’, 8-21 May, 2010 Bologna, ITALY (Invitation entry only)
· ‘THE DUBAI ART PROJECT’ 18-20 May, 2010, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (Juried Entry)
· ‘ALL ABOUT EVE’ 6-15 March, 2009- Olivia Alexander, Ellen Nolet, Judith Ennever, Diane Taylor, Kirsten Deakin, Franklyn Turnnidge, Daisy Claridge, Marita Luck., BOWRAL, NSW
· ‘JAMES KIWI’ WATERCOLOUR PRIZE – 30 May – 3 Aug, 2008, WOLLONGONG CITY GALLERY - juried entry
· KIAMA ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION 2007, 2008, 2009
· THE DOG SHOW ART EXHIBITION 2007
· CARCOOLA ART SHOW 2007
· CARCOOLA/TUMB. ART SHOW 2006
· ST. AUGUSTINES ART SHOW 2006
· CREATOR’S GALLERY POSTCARD EXH. 2006
· AWAS ART EXHIB. 2006
· BUDS OF MAY ART SHOW 2006 As Guest Artist
· CARCOOLA/TUMB. ART SHOW 2005
· COROWA ART EXHIB. 2005
· COROWA FED. SHOW 2004
· TUMUT ARTS EXHIBITION 2004
· AWAS ART EXHIBITION 2004
· CHILTERN ART EXHIB. 2004
· CARCOOLA/TUMB. ART SHOW 2004
· ST. AUGUSTINE’S ART SHOW 2004
· AWAS XMAS SHOW 2004
· COROWA FED. ART SHOW 2003
· BRIGHT ART EXHIBITION 2003
· CORRYONG BUSH FESTIVAL EXHIB. 2003
· CARCOOLA ART SHOW 2003
· CULCAIRN LIONS CLUB ART SHOW 2003
· ALBURY SHOW 2003
· CULCAIRN LIONS CLUB ART SHOW 2002
· HOLY SPIRIT SCHOOL ART SHOW 2002
PUBLISHED:
'INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MASTERS' VOL IV to be published Dec. 2010 - Jan 2011
‘ARTIST’S PALETTE’ magazine, Jan 2009, Issue 70 ‘Water Colour Pencil Techniques’ pg 58-60
‘ARTIST’S PALETTE’ magazine, Dec 2008, Issue 69. ‘Two Sides’ pg 52-58.
‘AUSTRALIAN ARTIST’ magazine, April 2008, ‘Creating Reference Material on Your Computer Screen’ pg 36-39
‘AUSTRALIAN ARTIST’ magazine, September 2007 - “Beyond Reasonable Drought’ by Olivia Alexander, Ruth Gray, Kylie Maguire. pg 30-41
AWARDS:
-2nd Prize, 'Surfaces' Exhibition, Aug. 2010, International Online Exhibition
-Best Mixed Media, Online, International Juried Competition, Manhattan Arts International, May 2010
-First Prize, Albury show 2003
-Highly Commended, Albury Show 2003
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
LEARN TO DRAW , FOR THOSE WHO THINK THEY CANT. West St Womens Centre, Wollongong 2010
PAWS IN THE PARK’ Wodonga Council Dog’s Day, Children’s Art class assistant. 2007
CHILDREN’S FAIR’ Wodonga Council’s Children’s Fair. Running a full days children’s painting class.2007
CEC Wodonga July 2007, Acrylic Painting Adult Classes
School of the 3rd Age Albury- Drawing Adult classes, Fill in position.
EDUCATION:
MIXED MEDIA –from 2008- current, Barbara Spence, on going
CERTIFICATE IN INTERIOR DESIGN – THOMSON DIRECT EDUC. 2007
FINE ARTS CERT. 1 – TAFE College, ALBURY 2004
CREATIVE & ADVANCED DRAWING 2004- 2007 – JANENE CASTILLO
PAINTING IN ACRYLICS 2004-2006 – MARIETTA ZONENBERG
PAINTING & DRAWING 2004 – Community Education Centre WODONGA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
· ‘Hot Art” Southern Highlands – ‘All About Eve’ exhibition & artists. 2009
· Southern Highland News – Celebrate Artistic Women Article. 2009
· Art Matters – Dec 2008, Paintings & photo
· The Southern Highlands News – June 6, 2008, interview-‘Paintings Do All the Talking Themselves’.
· Border Country Mail, 7 July, 2007 ‘After The Rain’ Interview & photo.
· Border Mail, 5 July 2007 ‘ARTS” & ‘PLAY’ Interview & photo
· The Post 5 July , 2007 – Article about Stage 4 Exhibition
· The Land Magazine – Aug 2, 2007 Interview & photos, ‘Seeing Beauty Behind the Dry Horror’
· Prime TV News – Interview & Coverage of Exhibition Paintings – ‘Stage 4 Drought’ exhibition.
· Border Mail, Thurs. 8 Feb, 2007,interview for 2 Poms & a Paintbrush exhibition.
· Border Mail, Sat. 10 Feb, 2007 ‘What’s On’, Photo
· Albury-Wodonga Art Society news, Write up – ‘The Artistic Journeys of Olivia Alexander & Ruth Gray.
REPRESENTED BY
'Trevisan International Art', Corso Porta Reno 17, Ferrara, ITALY
‘The Gallery in Kangaroo Valley’, Main Road, Kangaroo Valley,NSW, AUSTRALIA
BIOGRAPHY
Olivia Alexander was born in London, England, in 1961 to Scottish parents.
She traveled to Australia at the age of five on the ‘Ten Pound Pom’ Scheme and
grew up in Whyalla, a semi-desert coastal town in South Australia.
A far cry from the green hills of England and Scotland!
Her love of art started young, drawing cartoons was a favorite pastime.
Then, as a young teen, her best friend’s Mum encouraged her to draw something ‘real.’ It was then she discovered she had a natural gift and her bedroom wall became plastered with portraits and animal drawings.
Four years of advanced Art in High School gave her a good grounding but her family advised her to leave school and get a ‘real’ job.
Jobs were scarce in the seaside town so Olivia took off to Alice Springs in outback
Northern Territory to break and train show horses.
Not exactly a ‘real’ job but exciting none the less!
This love of working with animals is where her skill of animal portraiture originated.
Marrying in 1984 and having a family put the art on hold. Then in 2001 a serious illness caused her to re-assess her life and how she wanted to spend it.
Art featured high on the list.
For the past nine years Olivia has worked hard to improve her skills and techniques. This includes attending regular classes, such as TAFE, three years of Drawing Class and currently Advanced Mixed Media with prominent Artist and art judge, Barbara Spence.
She has been in numerous Group exhibitions as well as Solo and International Joint exhibitions and her works have also been featured several times in two national magazines,
‘Australian Artist’ and ‘The Artist’s Palette”.
Writing tutorials for both of these publications has been one of the highlights of her career.
She now resides on the beautiful South coast of New South Wales, 1 ½ hours south of Sydney, where she lives with her husband and works from her Home based Art Studio.
In 2010 she was one of the selected winners for 'Best Mixed Media' in 'The Healing Power of Art' Online International Exhibition. She also won 2nd prize award in 'Surfaces' exhibition in August 2010.
Olivia's art works have been exhibited in Italy, United Arab Emirates and through out Australia.
