Delving Deep

Finishing her art degree later this year, this artist puts her heart and soul into her work.

Art is always something that I have just done since I was a kid. I knew from primary school that it was something that I was definitely going to university to study and continue as my career. During high school it was the main subject that I actually cared about and as soon as I could in Year 12, I applied for a few different universities and chose to study at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. After the

first semester, life got in the way as can happen, and after having my eldest daughter and moving a few times, changing my life; art did not have a real strong presence in my life. I would do bits here and there, but they always ended unfinished and bad.

After meeting my amazing husband and falling pregnant with my second daughter, it was then that I felt I had to express the emotions, frustrations and sadness that come with my eldest daughter living with her father and not having contact. At this point I started trying portraiture, which I had never really done, so it was hit and miss with what worked and what didn’t.

After having my second child, I continued to work on portraiture, with my daughter being the main focus within my work. When my daughter was around two years old, and she was going to day care and becoming more independent, I decided it was time to do something for myself.

I knew it was time to go back to university to finish the degree that I had started. It was a very different experience going back, as I had become more mature within my thinking and my art process. It was a good experience having feedback from the lecturers on my work on how to

improve. Through the last three years of constantly having to focus on what I wanted my work to say, it was hard to actually develop a final concept that worked for me. Sometimes the development was hard going through stages where pieces did not work and some of the themes I choose were not strong enough to carry through.

I have looked at many different themes throughout my art career, some of the more important ones personally were to do with child abuse and the fragility of children, the idea of home and what it means to return home, and also the idea of faith and belief within todays’ society - which is the one that I am currently working on.

The idea of faith is important to me as I am a Christian within an Anglican Church community. I chose this for my final project at university as it is very meaningful to me and also somewhat of a mystery. This is partly a personal journey of discovering what it is I actually believe in, but also a way of reaching out to society to bring more of an awareness of what having a faith and belief is. Within this project I have addressed a number of different issues relating to faith within religion. These include the struggles that one deals with on a daily basis, the trepidation, and the questions which arise from living within today’s society. To convey this, I used a variety of images

and techniques within the work itself; this ranged from painting, portrait drawings, and mixed media prints.

I have always used different mediums within my artwork, kind of like going through different phases. I did first start with more painting with acrylic paints. I like doing mixed media as well, as for me it allows more freedom for me to just let loose and create without too much thinking because if it doesn’t work I can just cover it over!!! In the last few years I have tended more towards drawing graphite portraits. I found with doing portrait I felt I am more able to convey what it is I want to say to an audience, plus also to express personal struggles and meanings. I also like using pencils, either colour or graphite, as they give an immediate outcome within a work of art.

I have only had work shown in a few exhibitions, mainly during my time doing studio practice at university. I have had prints included in portfolios with other students in 2011 and 2012, which have been exchanged with a few different universities including University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba; Curtin University, Perth; The National Art School, Sydney; Tasmanian School of Art; RMIT University, Melbourne. I have also had two paintings in the Guild Exhibition at the University of Southern Queensland in 2012. The most important exhibition I have had so far would be GraduArt, which was held at the University of Southern Queensland, and also Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, 2012. With this exhibition it was a combination of a year’s work on the theme of faith working over two semesters, and this

was the end of year final exhibition.

Right at this time I am working through the last year of my university degree, doing theory units and also working towards a portfolio of my work surrounding my theme of faith.

It is hard to have time to focus on my art, as uni does take a lot of time.

If you would like to look at more of my work or get in contact either send me an email or find me on Facebook and RedBubble.

Facebook: Corrina McLaughlin Art Email: corrinamclaughlin@yahoo.com.au

RedBubble: Corrina McLaughlin.