As an abstract painter Gayle works with the visual art elements: line, colour, form and space. After a seven year period making simple, geometric, relief sculpture using bush-fire blackened casuarina sticks she returned to painting in 2015. From 2015 use of similar abstract, linear compositions continue on ply-wood and canvas, sometimes relief: ply on ply or canvas on canvas. Currently her support of choice is un-stretched canvas. Gayle’s method of painting varies from a raw, sketchy-ness with thin layers of colour where pencil grid-lines or slight changes of composition are left to be seen as ‘marks of the maker’ to multi-layers of colour often using ‘dulux’ orange as a base and colours observed in the natural environment: the rust/crimson as seen on spotted-gum bark or green over red making the almost-black of a moth’s wing. Layers of oil paint applied with a palette knife create a textural surface evocative of fragmented light as seen in the bush landscape. But the play between line, form and space is Gayle’s main focus in her art practice.
Bio. :
I spent my childhood on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria in the 50s and 60s and remember the freedom of wandering in the bush or on beaches with a small group of local kids for hours at a time. My father was a landscape painter. His sketch books fascinated me most. Particularly how he captured the essence of a scene, bird or tree with a few lines, his joy in the process of drawing and his joy in observing nature generally. I lived and studied in Western Australia, Melbourne and Canberra and moved to Wamboin in the early 90’s where I have a studio. I also spend a good deal of time at Wapengo (south coast of NSW).
I trained as a painter but have always been drawn to the direct working processes of drawing and hands-on physicality of sculpture. In the same way the compositional, linear beginnings of a painting need to have a strong structure. My paintings are often multidirectional (can be hung vertically or horizontally).
A visit to New York and San Francisco in 2019 was a life changing experience for me. Seeing the work of much-admired artists: Ellsworth Kelly, Imi Knoebel and Brancusi’s in the flesh re-affirmed the direction I was going with my artwork.
2023 represented online by Artsy, Saatchi and alfa gallery, Miami/NY
CV
Education:
Canberra School of Art (ANU), Associate Diploma of Visual Arts, 1988,
Melbourne State College, Visual Arts Diploma of Education, 1981,
Western Australian Institute of Technology (Curtin Uni.), Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1979.
Exhibitions:
2024 Open Crate online group exhibition, alfa gallery, Miami/NY Apr 15
2024 Belconnen Arts Centre, ACT - Interwoven 7, group exhibition Feb 16-Mar 28
2024 META online group exhibition, alfa gallery, Miami/NY Jan 15-Mar
2023 TheOtherArtFairSYD, The Cutaway, Barangaroo, Sydney
2022 The 42nd Alice Prize, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT
2022 Sculpture Bermagui 2022, Bermagui, South Coast NSW
2021 East Gippsland Art Gallery, Bairnsdale, Vic - EGAG Wrap 2021 small artwork prize 10 December - 29 January 2022
2021 Capital Culture House, Madrid, Spain - Eternity Virtual Group Exhibition 5 - 15 November
2021 Belconnen Arts Centre, ACT - Interwoven 5
2021 Brunswick Street Gallery, Vic - Small Works Art Prize
2020 Spiral Gallery, Bega NSW -selected artists
2020 Ivy Hill Gallery, Wapengo NSW - selected artists (cancelled due to bushfires)
2019 Bermagui Artspace - solo exhibition
2018 Goulburn Regional Art Prize - finalist
2017 Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Art Award - finalist
2016 Local Press Café Kingston – solo exhibition
2016 Goulburn Regional Art Prize - finalist
2014 Inaugural Clearwater Sculpture Prize, Queanbeyan NSW
2013 Two Fires FesEval of Arts, Braidwood, NSW
2013 Sculpture on the Edge, Bermagui, NSW
2012 Sculpture on the Edge, Bermagui, NSW
2012 Lines & Circles, Ilios Gallery, Hackett, Canberra (2 person exhibition)
2011 Sculpture on the Edge, Bermagui, NSW
2010 Goulburn Regional Art Prize 2009 Winners show
2010 Swan Hill Regional Drawing Prize, finalist 2009 Goulburn Regional Art Prize, joint winner
2008 Goulburn Regional Art Prize - finalist
2004 Canberra Art Prize - finalist
2004 Cut-outs & Drawings (solo exhibition), Cork Street Gallery, Gundaroo, NSW
2001 Scratching the Surface, ANCA Gallery, Dickson ACT (3 person exhibition)
Awards:
2009 joint 3D winner, Goulburn Regional Art Prize (judges Helen Maxwell & Ben Quilty!)
Teaching Experience:
-1986-1998 taught after-school art classes at 5 primary schools in ACT and Bungendore NSW -1981-1986 art teacher at high schools in Victoria & ACT
