Artists WA - showcasing West Australian artists

Recently acknowledge by Joy Legge (Art Bank) in Insite Magazine as an artist to collect for under $5000, Spencer has had several group exhibitions both in Western Australia and interstate, as well as a sellout solo exhibition.

Spencer’s attack of the canvas with vibrant and dramatic colour, rhythm, pattern and symbol, is stimulated from a modern industrial world. His paintings are emotionally charged as he abandons artistic control to push, experiment and express. With these elements combined, we discover a composition that both dignifies his imagination and the subject he chooses to explore.

Upcoming solo exhibition at Code Red Art Gallery, Friday the 18th of August 2006

“Finding Emily” 2006, Mixed media on canvas, 250 x 180cm

“Driving To Wanaka” 2005, Mixed media on canvas, 250 x 150cm

“A Delight To Have” 2005, Mixed media on canvas, 180 x 128cm

“3 weeks in Sydney” 2005, Mixed media on canvas, 150 x 90cm

To see more goto www.spencertive.com

Although Shem was born and bred in W.A., he really only discovered his passion for photography whilst living and working in Melbourne. “The arts scene in that city is fantastic and at that stage I was shooting with one of Kodak’s first 1.2 megapixel cameras” After organising a work transfer back to Perth his interest in photography grew strong, but felt like he was lacking a basic understanding of photography, particularly the fundamentals of composition.

The first semi-serious step for Shem was the purchase of a Fuji Finepix S5500 – this was a fantastic camera and for a 4mp point & shoot (it looked like a mini SLR) produced some great pictures. “It had semi manual modes such as shutter & aperture priority as well as a full-manual mode on the camera and this combined with a short course with Greg Edwards studios in Northbridge taught me more in 1 year than I’d ever learned previously” Shem went on to add.

He has recently purchased a Canon EOS20D D-SLR and loves it. “It’s very different when moving from a point & shoot, mainly due to a more accurate depth of field, and of course almost-instant auto focus. It’s also taught me more on manual exposure, and manual focusing”. He has been working with an ISP here in Perth for the past year and a half. “There’s always demand here for pictures for use in the marketing department, and this is something I’d eventually love to do down the track”.

In the meantime, Shem is just enjoying getting out there, taking photos and evolving as a photographer. His main focus seems to be on still life, but also has an interest in portraits and street photography. He now lives in Leederville with his wife who is also taking an interest in photography as well. “I’m planning on doing more study to further improve my technique. The ultimate dream for me would be to turn my passion into a fully-paid career”. Small beginnings but big plans lie ahead for this up-and-coming photographer.

Chinatown Kitchen

Chinatown bar

Fun at the fair

Pepper

Checkout Shem’s Flickr stream for more photos www.flickr.com/photos/urbanphotographer

Gail Devine is a ‘big drawer’ who jumps around all over the place. She likes to draw on big expanses of paper, then combine drawing over painting and painting over printmaking.

Her work is widely recognised in Australia and overseas for her large calligraphic drawing effects on paper and for her mark making on drop canvas.

She has won several awards for drawing and painting and exhibited in Australia, New Zealand, England and in South America.

She works from a studio in Woodbridge, Perth.

Currently she is working towards two solo exhibitions, one in Manila and one in Sydney this year.

Amsterdam on Yellow (Acrylic on canvas. 45cm deep x 45cm wide)

Dog and Coolie (Oil on canvas. 45cm deep x 45cm wide)

Paris and Art (Mixed media, wire, on paper. 35.3cm deep x 50.5cm wide)

Federation (Acrylic, mixed media on drop canvas)