Stunning seaside return

FIONA Pattinson is a world class artist and after travelling the country and the world, she has returned to her childhood home, Beachport, opening her debut Limestone Coast exhibition at Robe’s Karatta Wine Room & Gallery and working on setting up a gallery space in her home town.

It is her childhood in the seaside town that has shaped her as an artist and now she is back in those familiar and inspiring surrounds to continue her own evolution as an artist but also help cultivate the local art scene.

“Growing up in Beachport I always had a sensitivity to light and landscape,” Fiona said. “I was sensitive to the subtle change of the moods of the sea and sky.

“I was always arranging things as a child, drawing, stitching, listening to music, reading art books, shaping things and constructing.

“I’ve always been curious and I think curiosity is a great thing – learning knowledge and moving forward in the most positive way is what life is about for me.”

That curiosity and passion for all things creative have been the cornerstones of Fiona’s life and eventually that love of creativity underpinned all other plans.

“I went to school in Adelaide and won scholarships and my mother really wanted me to study law,” Fiona said. “She came from an era where women were encouraged to get married and have children and take care of them, the home and their husband and she really wanted her daughter to have something where she could be financially independent.”

For Fiona, though, it was all about art school but she did complete that law degree from the University of Adelaide.

“I did that just for her,” Fiona said.

The end of law school heralded a two year sojourn overseas – so often a rite of passage.

“That was a wonderful experience, a big adventure, and I learnt everything that I didn’t learn from my school, early childhood or teenage years,” she said.

What that two year trip didn’t do was temper her desire to pursue art and when she returned she put together an art portfolio and sent it to East Sydney Tech, which is now the National Art School.

Not only did she get accepted to the prestigious school, she decided to put her sculpting ability to work by studying special effects make up for movies.

“We used to practice on students when they made their student moves at the Sydney Film School,” Fiona said and eventually honed her skills to win a newly instigated prize for best make-up.

That prize saw her working on a mini series about Ned Kelly titled The Last Outlaw and that is where Fiona met Australian acting icon Sigrid Thornton, who opening her Robe exhibition at the end of last year.

“She was playing one of Ned’s sisters and we’ve been great friends ever since,” Fiona said.

Her first genuine body of work as an artist was created after she married director and film producer Michael Pattinson and their son Jesse was three and a half and the young family had just relocated to Los Angeles.

“I was inspired by old maritime sail canvas – I loved the texture and imperfections,” Fiona said. “I was seeing the ocean landscape from a different perspective – we lived in a high rise on the beach in Santa Monica.”

And Los Angeles was where Fiona unveiled her first and many solo exhibitions, with the 2001 Louis Stern Fine Art Show being her most high profile showing.

“I went on to develop with more shows and connecting back to Australia as I commuted,” she said.

In terms of career highlights, it was on Australian shores that she was hung for the 2003 Sulman Prize, a time honoured and prestigious award, now held in conjunction with the Archibald Prize.

Fiona has also been hung for the Fleurieu Biennale, with one of Australia’s most renowned art administrators Betty Churcher as a judge, and in the United States, she was selected as part of the touring show called ‘California Dreaming’ that opened in the Borghese Museum in Italy.

Fiona had most recently been based in Melbourne as support for her son and his girlfriend Sophie and but when the need for more space for her art practice arose, the pull to return home only grew.

“Finding a biggish studio in Fitzroy was cost prohibitive for me, along with a house, so I decided to move closer to my brother, his wife and my sister and her husband, who are all living in Beachport,” she said. “That has been a great move, I love it – I can commute to Melbourne and Adelaide.”

And perhaps, most excitingly, has given her the opportunity to spearhead a committee to set up Art Gallery Beachport, which is due to open before Easter.

For now, Fiona’s work is now on display at Karatta Wine Room and Gallery until January 20.

This exhibition features 15–20 new works, along with smaller pieces and limited-edition prints and is on show alongside sculptor Greg Johns, who’s ecological, landscape-driven practice adds further depth to the show.

Fiona’s practice centres on place, connection and simplicity, working with soft colour fields, horizon lines and expansive light to create a sense of calm, stillness and what she describes as ‘magic moments’ found in nature.

Her mixed-media canvases often incorporate very old maritime sail canvas, adding historical texture to her explorations of the eternal themes found in the nexus of earth, sky, and sea.