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Christine is an artist through and through, she grew up in England where she always showed a passion for art by excelling in all her classes from an early age through to adulthood. After studying at Art College she went on to do a degree in Graphic Design.
Her art gained recognition by winning the National Sign Centre Award after which she was offered employment in London with a prestigious design agency which formed a basis for her creative career, later refining her skills to become a proficient art teacher with a gift for building an exceptional rapport with children.
Christine travelled extensively and taught art in schools for more than ten years in Germany and the UAE, before taking up residence and teaching in Queensland and is now enjoying living in Sydney.
Australian artist Jose Gutierrez received his fine arts training at a very young age in Chile. After 6 years of art studies he joined a local advertising agency in Santiago, as a graphic designer in his late teens.
At age 27, Jose and his family migrated to Australia in 1972. On arrival in Australia he continued working in graphic design and after 3 years’ employment he opened his own graphic design practice in Sydney. He has owned and managed this business for nearly 30 years.
As Jose’s original training was fine arts, parallel to his business activities he continued painting and drawing – attending art refreshers, workshops and art classes – Bathurst Summer & Winter workshops, Royal Art Society, etc. In the meantime, he became a member of the Drummoyne Art Society.
With DAS he has participated in many activities and exhibitions of the society. Jose is a passionate and motivated artist; enjoying teaching, painting and discussing art.
As an award winning artist Jose currently teaches classes using various mediums at gallery57, Concord.
Xiu Luo Sun (Sylvia) is a Chinese Australian artist with over 30 years experience in teaching, painting and drawing. After graduating from Qingdao University, China in 1985 and majoring in textiles and fashion design, she became an art and design lecturer.
In China, Sylvia participated in numerous painting exhibitions and winning awards in multiple stage costume and fashion design competitions. In Australia she has been exploring still life paintings and experimenting with colour and pattern in oils, acrylic and pastels and turning everyday items such as flowers, vases, fruits and tea sets into extraordinary expressions of beauty and depth. She sees still life as an inanimate amalgamation of composition, decoration, rigour and flexibility.
Xiu Luo’s paintings and artworks have been exhibited and published on many occasions overseas and in Australia, with several pieces currently in the possession of private collectors.
Sylvia currently teaches term drawing classes at gallery57, Concord
As a child Dana showed great interest in drawing, so beautifully illustrating her books and school projects that teachers often kept them. With a passion for colour and interior decorating, Dana went on to study at the Julian Ashton School of Arts followed by sculpture and colour and design at East Sydney Technical College. Dana was later inspired by art tutor colleagues, whilst employed at Macquarie University.
Dana has taken classes and workshops with local art societies, conducted by high profile artists including Drummoyne Art Society’s John Perkins, whom she finds inspiring. She has attended ‘Art in Action’ for over 20 years and painted in Tuscany with artist Ron Muller of Melbourne. Her paintings can be found in England, Italy and Poland in high profile establishments.
Dana’s Australian landscape work captures a translucent quality with her use of colour, light and harmony, achieved by loading the brush with very thick paint and little medium. Composition is also very important. Dana draws and paints in oils, acrylics and watercolour, and her subject matter is diversified including both modern and traditional. Dana has won many art awards and first prizes including the Bankstown and Drummoyne Art Societies, the Combined Art Society and Rotary Exhibitions.
At Drummoyne’s Open Awards 2011, Dana won the Member’s Section with Country Magic. The Judge said of this work “This painting captures everything about the subject – taking the viewer on a relaxed journey. It has a pleasing simplicity and interesting surface texture. Dana’s winning painting has also appeared in the Australian Artist Magazine on two occasions”.
Phil started his art journey over 50 years ago with a drawing class at The Royal Art Society with Australian artists Fred Bates. He then continued with painting classes both in the studio and plein air.
Phil’s current focus is portraiture, collage and drawing.
“What I like about art is that you can follow whichever path takes your interest.”
Andrea is an artist, illustrator and digital artist and has assisted many companies with new branding/rebranding and creation of various marketing material, and teaching arts and crafts to children.
In her early years she loved to draw horses and birds. When she left high school she proceeded with that passion and attended 5 years through College and University studying art and design in the UK. Over the years Andrea has also painted murals in restaurants and children’s bedrooms and has received awards and special merits for artworks.
Nature and animals are usually her main subjects, but she is always very excited when asked for a commission to paint any subject.
Andrea doesn’t sticks to a style or genre, she just paints, draws or creates whatever stimulates or inspires her at the time, as she feels it should be applied through her eyes – Diversity is what makes her continue on with her passion for creation.
Many of Andrea’s artworks have been sold in Australia as well as other countries overseas.
Xavier Ghazi has been illustrating since 1995, having several group exhibitions and winning first prize in the portrait category in the 1993 International Art Show in Anglet, France. Following his move to Sydney, Xavier was part of several group exhibitions and has had two solo shows at the ArtHouse Hotel and been the winner of the Bald Archy prize five times.
I like to play with colour, shape, tone, texture and fine tune compositions in both abstract and representational work. I am stirred by nature, plants, landscape and also buildings, especially interiors. For some time I have been seduced by the light inside the large, empty spaces of woolsheds. The distinctive buildings, constructed of local timber, are unique and compelling. In 2013 at the Incinerator Art Space, Willoughby, I exhibited paintings of interiors of woolsheds called Cathedrals of Wood – Painting In Woolsheds.
More recently I have been capturing the spaces of the oneplus2 studios where I work. The space and light are appealing, but unlike woolsheds, artists have plenty of stuff – paintings, drawings, paint pots, brushes and all the paraphernalia that artists accumulate. It has led me to consider the abstract qualities of these things in space.
I have found that books, especially concertina books, lend themselves to recording precious memories that are held in the objects important in our lives. I found watercolour is a beautiful medium to bring out the delicacy and abstract qualities of objects.
Leeka graduated from the National Art School in 1966 before working in a commercial studio for several years. After marrying and raising a family, she returned to her fine art practice, influenced by prominent artists Ross Davies, Ina Hanson and Joshua Smith. Leeka has achieved great success and recognition for her work, accumulating over one hundred first art prizes and twice been an Archibald Prize finalist; first in 1986 with her portrait of Rita Hunter and again in 1988 with Don Burrows. She has held 16 solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows. In 2000 she was promoted to Fellow Member of the Royal Art Society of NSW.
Leeka has taught pastel, painting and watercolor classes at the Castle Hill Art Society and conducted workshops at Bathurst University, Art in Action 1994, Camp Creative in Bellingen, Port Maquarie and the Blue Mountains, as well as conducting private lessons in her Greenacre studio. Some of Leekas students are now prize winning artists or teachers.
Leeka’s next challenge is to teach creative watercolor classes suitable for beginners or experienced artists to help unlock their creativity.
Judy began painting and drawing courses at Meadowbank TAFE, completing her studies in 1992 before joining DAS where she began exhibiting and winning awards, obtaining good sales and gaining recognition.
Judy was invited to join an art group in the Sydney suburb of Thornleigh, painting still life arrangements and enjoying numerous workshop trips to country regions of NSW. Judy continued exhibiting in Sydney venues, including regular Art Society exhibitions.
In 1999, Judy joined a team of 12 artists that set up and ran the artist’s co-op, Art at the Butcher Shop, in Great North Road, Five Dock before returning to Meadowbank TAFE to pursue skills in photography, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, painting and computer imaging.
In 2003 Judy flew to Alice Springs and, inspired by the stunning red earth, blue skies and beautiful aussie white gums, produced a series of outstanding paintings and in 2004 held her first solo exhibition Red Dust. It was after this success that Judy had the opportunity to travel to Italy with a group of artists, culminating in the two artists exhibition Venice Inspirations that included over 100 paintings.
Judy taught several student groups from 2004 to 2014, inspiring them to both enjoy their art and become creative along the way.
Many of Judy’s works are enjoyed in collections in Australia, with several sales proudly taken to collections in England, America and other overseas countries.
Chrysovalantou (Val) is a watercolour artist, residing in the inner west suburbs of Sydney. Inspired by a wide range of subjects, Val produces artworks based on landscapes, street scenes, animals, flowers and seascapes. Her work is exhibited around NSW, where she has won numerous awards and prizes for her watercolour paintings, including first prizes in ‘The Coal & Allied Singleton Art Prize’ and ‘The Penrith Show’. Drawing and creating has been her passion since youth, and she was able to feed on this this with fashion illustration, while completing a fashion design and textiles degree at the Whitehouse Institute of Design.
Later, pursuing a career in the fashion industry for 10 years, Val traded daily graphic drawing for pencil and paints, turning her sights to her most admired medium – watercolor. Currently Val paints and teaches from her studio to those wanting to learn this beautiful medium.
Lois began painting in 1988 with the Drummoyne Art Society, specialising in oils and under the tuition of John Perkins. Over the years Lois has mastered acrylic, mixed media and watercolours and taken tuition in airbrushing techniques with the view to incorporating this with other media. Lois has conducted successful acrylic pouring workshops with Drummoyne Art Society, showing students the basic techniques of this painting method. Lois takes commissions for dog portraits, a subject dear to her heart.
Lois exhibits with Drummoyne Art Society, Combined Art Societies of Sydney, Hornsby and Lane Cove Art Societies and her works are hung in private collections in Australia and New Zealand.
