Lyndal Hargrave

 
My art practice is a quest to interpret my world in an authentic and direct way. While some works evoke a sense of place or a figurative story, the journey is emphatically a personal one which is hoped will intrigue rather than dictate to the viewer.

After studying and working as an art teacher, I committed to full-time art practice in 1992. Exhibitions in Brisbane and Sydney of contemporary still life and largely figurative work followed until a breakthrough in approach around 2000 that began a non-representational period of work.
 
I have been fortunate to study under well-respected contemporary Queensland artists such as Davida Allen, Merv Moriarty and more recently, Dr Irene Amos who has encouraged me to find my own artistic language.
 
This language draws on a broad range of stimuli from overseas travel and over 30 years study of art history to the appreciation of the complex, often beautiful aspects of everyday life. It is a language of colour and strong form coupled with an immediate approach to mark making.

I have lived and worked in the Redlands for 12 years and realise how this environment has influenced my art practice both overtly as subject matter and more often as an abstract influence.

My studio on the edge of Moreton Bay is a refuge from a world filled with conflict and disaster and a place to regroup amidst a hectic family life. 

Clean air, quiet nights, grey/blue water punctuated by red mud banks and white ferries surround me in a nourishing, creative environment.
 
Coping with threats to this environment such as rapid urbanisation, resulted in the 2001 Subdivision series.
 
The Redlands continues to stimulate and nurture my art by providing a secure yet vital environment that encourages exploration and is home to many other artists whose interaction is a constant source of inspiration.