This work, inspired by our native Australia bird life, is a synergy between art and science. These paintings are a direct response to my work with taxidermy bird specimens at the Australian Museum.
As a conservator, I focus on the scientific and ethical preservation of the museum´s natural science and cultural collections. I also draw inspiration from the natural world and the many illustrated bird reference books I refer to in my conserving work.

Repairing specimens and painstakingly cleaning feathers, I closely examine each bird and visually absorb intricate details of their composition and structure. Contemplating the inherent energy and character of each specimen was integral preparation for these detailed portraits.

My paintings explore the role of natural science collections and their interconnection with the natural world. The museum´s collections are very much alive in that they are frequently accessed, studied and referred to by scientists, students and researchers – and re-interpreted by artists. These bird specimens are an invaluable resource in understanding our constantly changing and evolving natural world...
Ultimately however, I just love painting birds.

Jude Rose offers us a rich and vibrant sensual world. Powerful experiences that enable access to a visionary world expressed through her inspired use of colour and exquisite use of form.
Using the style of Naïve Art, Jude enables us to experience a transformation of our everyday world by depicting suburban backyards as spaces that can provide unexpected interplays of cool constraining forms, near-erupting colour, texture and rounded sensual shapes.
Consequently, our emotions are incited and brought upwards, as we are held in the stillness of a seemingly eternal moment of anticipation. The pause of this inescapable moment of tension, and what it can open up for us, is the energising gift of Jude Rose´s works.

Cathy Jack Coupland uses simple techniques, representational, stylised and abstract designs, covering her work in thousands upon thousands of machine stitching.
Using the machine needle as a sketching, drawing and colouring tool, Cathy exploits the age-old allure of thread and stitch collaborating to produce uniquely tactile artworks.

I love to see a drawing come to life under the machine, day by day, simply through the use of time and stitch... It´s mesmerising.