Astrid Dahl

Artist Statement

A sense of place is within the human mind, but is also stimulated by the environment itself.

My work as an environmental and landscape painter reflects a natural human yearning to interact with the land, its energy, its beauty and light, and its darkness.

There are representations or, fragments of memorized parts of earth, sky and water. The aspects or themes are set, or pieced together in my mind, like a mosaic, from different sources or different perspectives of the same source. They then become a reality to me as I paint. I see the paintings as 'scattered poetic versions of experience and landscape seen'. At times I have overlaid the 'life force' swirling around us, the visible and the invisible, in lines and textured shapes.

Physical inspiration for my works, are taken from deserts in the US ( Nevada), India (Rajasthan) Africa, (Namibia, Morocco, Senegal), The Little Desert, in W.A and the vast expanse of the Nullabor Plains that stretches between SA and WA. The human-being is not represented in my work, but I acknowledge human existence through my own endeavors, painting the visible and the invisible.

Each painting is arrived at through a unique unpredictable random process as I present individual crystallized thoughts based on landscaped memory. I respond to that moment in time when life's energy pushes forward through the communal well of experiences. Although each work is not inextricably bound to the last, certain elements link them together besides paint application, colour, and texture. Another less obvious, intrinsic element is the importance of nature to me. Nature gives us humanity, a sense of belonging through natural history and a global view that is greater than human endeavor. Being part of that 'life force'; the "macro" and the microscopic elements, we all walk this ancient earth on that delicately balanced line between good and evil, lightness and darkness.
I try to tread lightly.

Technique

The process begins with having my canvas stretched on custom made timber frames. A component of textured medium is applied first as I map out the painting. The designs are from memory and photographs taken on site along with gathered rocks, sand, seed pods, and other organic material which act as a reminder of the landscape locations. These are laid out on a table as I prepare the painting. Occasionally I do quick sketches to help me remember a certain element that can't be captured on film.

I then apply a variety of water based and oil based media over the textured surface. These are set in an acrylic painting medium. When dry, the painting is brought to the easel where I begin to orchestrate the colour symphony of rich oil paint, mixed on my glass top palette. A beeswax varnish completes the cycle. The painting is extended around the edges to create its own boundary.

Academic Qualifications

4 Year Dip. of Art - Royal Melb. Inst. Of Technology Vic.
Diploma of Education - Hawthorn Teachers College Vic.
Batchelor of Art Education - Edith Cowan University WA
Masters of Art - Charles Sturt University NSW

Solo Exhibitions

2008 GADFLY GALLERY - WA ( Lanscapes Ploughed and wild)
2008 MLC GALLERY - SYDNEY (Lanscapes - track and field)
2007 Singapore Art Fair 
2006 Jahroc Gallery - Margaret River WA 
2005 Artistry / Annex A Gallery 
2005 Jahroc Gallery - Margaret River WA 
2003 Gadfly Gallery - Drifting in a sea of Dreams - (Landscapes)
2002 Owen Hargreaves Tribal Art Gallery London - (Landscapes, Africa)
2002 Gadfly Gallery - A Merger not a Takeover - (Landscapes)
2001 Gadfly Gallery (Goddess Figures of the Earth - MA exhibition) 
2000 Gallop Gallery, Charles Sturt University , NSW - MA exhibition 
1999 Gadfly Gallery and Allendale Square Perth WA 
1997 Millennium Gallery WA (Landscapes ) 
1997 Moores Building - Woodcuts inspired by Poetry 
1996 The Gallery of Fine Art WA ( Mining ) 
1994 Cultural Art Center ( Denia , Spain ) Spanish works on paper 
1993 A Shed - Spanish works on paper ( European focus) 
1991 Goldfields Art Board Gallery WA (Landscapes) 
1989 Gallery 97 Hong Kong (Landscapes) 
1988 Bay Gallery of Fine Art, WA (Landscapes) 
1986 Gomboc Gallery WA - Strata 2 (Focus on striations of earth and mining) 
1985 Alexander Gallery WA - Strata 1 (Focus on striations of earth and mining)

Selected Group Exhibitions

Promethius art awards 2007 
Scroptomists 50 th Anniversary Exhibition 2003 WA 
Accent Gallery '97 
Stafford Gallery of Fine Art WA '92 
Printmakers Association WA '90 - '97 - '98 
ACTA Maritime Touring Exhibition Vic. '85

Prizes and Publications

Artlook Magazine - two issues - drawings 1989 
Book of Poetry "Love" with 48 art works illustrated John Joseph Jones' Poetry 
Finalist in WA Arts Industry Award 1994 
Australian Artist (feature article WA) 1996 
Artist's Chronicle (feature article WA) 1996 
Coolgardie Municipal Art Exhibition "Kaleidoscope" (two awards) 1996 
Artist's Chronicle (feature article WA) 1999 
Represented in Book 'Contemporary Australian Woman Artists' by Max Germaine Soon to be represented in; McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art published by Aus Art Editions 

Selection of Public Collections

Hawthorn Teachers' College, Vic      Travel lodge- Perth WA
Rheem (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. Vic.              The French Bank - Perth WA
Ministry of Education, WA                  Holyspirit Hostpital Northside QLD
Madang City Council PNG                 Speciality Cereals P/L
Parker and Parker (Law Firm) WA     Red sea Gallery - Singapore
Magic Star Mercedes WA                  Axa Australia (Melb)
Philips Fox (Law Firm) WA                 Murdoch University, WA
Sarich Tech Trust WA   

Recent Commissions

Hurlingham and Chelsea Art School UK
Holy Spirit Hospital Northside QLD 
Kamirice P/L - Kador Group of Companies ( 500 Collins St. Melb) 

Represented in other public and private collections in the UK, Spain, America, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Guinea.