Artist’s work has a therapeutic purpose

THE red brick walls at Kilderkin Distillery’s cellar door have been lined with the abstract colours of nature as part of a new art exhibition launched over the weekend.

Visual artist Laura Day opened her Botanical Dreams show on Sunday which features 11 displayed acrylic paintings.

Day said many of the exhibition’s works were inspired by a tree located at her Mount Pleasant studio, starting with her piece called Vivid Reflections.

“I used the leaf shades as inspiration for a drawing which I then turned into a stencil and then created an abstract work with that,” she said.

“The work I create is using a negative space painting technique so when I’m painting I use leaf shapes as a mask and I paint around the edges.”

Day adopted her abstract style in 2019 as a therapeutic response while recovering from lupus.

“I have an autoimmune condition, so I’ve been using painting as a way of healing and therapy for myself,” she said.

“I’ve been an artist all my life and this has been a new way for me to express my emotions.”

Prior to her artistic shift she’d operated a printmaking studio established 2010, and before that studied visual art and communication design at Victoria University and the Queensland College of Art.

Many of her show’s works stemmed from her initial abstract period, with seven pieces created this year.

Day regularly uses Kilderkin Distillery as the launch pad for her abstract art workshops, which normally start with a drink at the venue before attendees walk up to her studio.

She said her work has a healing character for her, which she hopes is conveyed to the workshop participants.

“The purpose of it is to inspire beauty,” she said. “I hope that it brings people joy and happiness. Art is very therapeutic and it can really help people and have fun.

“The workshops I hold from here are all about having fun too and all of these pieces are also examples of what students can create in my workshop.”

Botanical Dreams is on display until Sunday 9 July.