Wendy McDonald studied Education and Psychology at University, but has always been drawn to a creative practice. When teaching in rural areas, she relished the opportunities to share her artistic streak with students, and later developed community arts workshops for adults. Ten years ago, Wendy transformed a farm cottage into a designated arts studio, where she could commit more time and energy to her own painting.
Wendy’s artistic work is underpinned by her farming profession, and she describes these two threads of her life as ‘so entwined, it would be impossible to separate them.’ She explains ‘to be a farmer requires the ability to be adaptive and resilient… and to derive a deep satisfaction from the cycle of input, growth and creation.’
This deep understanding of the ebb and flow of natural processes has informed Wendy’s latest body of work, Quietly. The works provide the viewer a hazy sundrenched glimpse into small moments of Wendy’s local landscapes. The exhibition is directly informed by the 2018 droughts that have reshaped the Murray River floodplain, and challenged the lives of farmers and residents. Through Wendy’s loving gaze, she demonstrates place-making as shifting and changing, in relationship to a ever changing environment.
The works in Quietly have an ambient quality – a milky stillness, and a respectful grandeur. Wendy’s work, inspired by the writing of Bruce Pascoe and Eric Rolls ‘sits here quietly whilst recognising the power of this land and its arid beauty. It embraces us and we must embrace it.’
Quietly by Wendy McDonald
January 26th to February 24th
Koskela
1/85 Dunning Ave
Rosebery NSW
