Albury artist Meg Sprouster will exhibit her work as guest artist at the Rotary Art Show to be staged at the Holbrook Hall from Friday October 11 to Saturday October 19.
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There will be a $500 open prize for artists participating in the exhibition.
Meg understands that light and composition play important roles in painting landscapes, birds, and abstract works but says it makes sense to talk about the feel of a place and see it as special.
"There are some places I return to like Brown's Lagoon in Albury - there's moorhens and a community garden, there's family, community and belonging."
Meg likes to get a sense of the landscape she is going to paint; "I want to be in the landscape, have it all around me, see the light, hear the sounds. At different times of the year there are varying colours some of the distant hills around Tabletop look pink at this time of the year because of the new leaves. I thought it was the light, colour and composition but I'm realising it's also about the feel of the place."
Meg knew from an early age, seven or eight, that she wanted to be an artist. Walking along the road she saw some clay and understood she could make a pot from this material.
"I loved water colour, but it is a more thoughtful and think ahead medium and I'm more expressive," she explained. It wasn't until Meg was 50 that her mind was opened to the freedom of acrylic paint. She attended a workshop organised by the Albury Wodonga Art Society (AWAS).
"I learnt how to use acrylics and it was like being let out of gaol, I took to it like a duck to water.
In Meg's 30 years of teaching she always involved writers, illustrators and artists.
A career highlight was working with world famous Australian artist Arthur Boyd and 250 children gifted in art, just outside his home near Nowra. As well as doing her own work she and a few local artists work with a group of vision impaired artists.
"We are an amazing team, the best team I've worked with and we are working on an 2020 exhibition of Portraits with the theme Famous Fakes to raise funds for the local Sanctuary Group Supporting New Settlers," Meg said.
- The Holbrook event also features open gardens and markets.