Wendy Teakel

acrylic, scorch marks, graphite on birch panel

Beaver Galleries (Canberra)

My practice fits the broad parameters of Arte Povera and Environmental Art. I explore fragile and threatened landscapes and the affect on them by nature and humans. Ashes, accounts experiences of walking burnt ground after fire; the crunch of charred grasses and leaves underfoot and the acrid smell of smoke present within memory. Scorch marks scatter the work’s surface supporting skeletal impressions of leaves and fencing wire, while transgressing an underlying painted lattice of a brighter past. Ashes reflects on the pulse and inevitability of fire in a climate changed world and draws inspiration from recent fires in eastern Australia.  Wendy Teakel holds a Masters by Research, RMIT (2004). Since 1980 she has held 38 solo exhibitions and had work curated into over 90 exhibitions in public and private galleries nationally and internationally. She is represented in significant national and private collections including the National Gallery of Australia. She has received numerous awards, most recently winning the Ginninderry Drawing Prize (2020), and Sculpture at Scenicworld (2019). Wendy holds honorary Senior Lecturer status at the Australian National University School of Art and Design and she is regularly engaged as an expert judge and selector for competitions, prizes and creative grants.