Photography: Jeremy Simons
THE ARTIST…
Michelle Ball is an Australian contemporary artist known for her paintings based on themes of history and care for the Australian bush.
Ball studied art and film making before beginning her career as a creative director in publishing, but has always painted.
“I see that we are all small parts of a whole. We adapt and are forever evolving, I cannot help but be influenced by situations, people and places around me and this observation makes for an ongoing story,” she says.
At a young age Ball was influenced by her great aunt, painter Edith Priscilla King, whose subjects were landscapes and still life. When Ball lived and worked in New York she studied watercolour with Robert Schefman, took classes at the Art Students League and was influenced by the vibrant art scene of the 1980s.
current work
Today, most of Ball’s work is linked to her care of the bush, the western foreshores of Pittwater where she lives and the coastal walks around Australia. Endangered flora and fauna and rewilding is a continuing theme.
exhibitions
2005 (group show) Banksia, La Perouse Museum
2008 (solo show) Rainforest, Salon Bim Sydney
2011 (group show) Offshore, Manly Art Gallery
2014 (group show) On islands, Eramboo Art Centre
2015 (group show) Nakul, Eramboo Art Centre
2016 (group show) Folia, The Shop Gallery Glebe Sydney
2017 (group show) takayna, ACU Melbourne
2017 (group show) takayna, The Long Gallery Hobart
2018 (solo show) Tales of the Tarkine, Sydney Botanical Gardens
2020 (group show) Frontlines, takayna to Adani, The Long Gallery Hobart
2020 (group show) The Country Interior, Michael Reid Murrurundi
2021 (group show) A Range of Views, BOLTspace Maitland
2022 (group show) art for takayna, The Long Gallery Hobart
2022 (group show) Paddington Art Prize FINALIST, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
2022 (solo show) Rewilding, Creative Space, Curl Curl
2023 (group show) art for takayna, The Long Gallery Hobart
2024 6 -22 June (group show) art for takayna, The Long Gallery, Hobart
2024 3 -13 July (solo show) Flora 24, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange
2024 August (group show) Environmental Art & Design Award FINALIST, Creative Space, Curl Curl