Nerida Grace Howland
Nerida Grace Howland paints large abstract canvases inspired by the landscape.
Her childhood was spent on a farm on the Darling Downs, from which she could see for kilometres in all directions. The flat open farming country was divided by fences that designated the different purposes or stages of growth of each paddock. In summer everything was fresh and green, except for the crops that were ready for harvest, fodder crops for bailing, ploughed red and black soil, ready for winter crops and the contrasting vibrant orange of the sorghum are all images imprinted indelibly on her memory.
Nerida's new series of paintings on show in the gallery are full of the light, bright openness of this landscape. The contrasting coloured shapes in the land are interrupted by structures, roads, power lines and fences...the cultivated land or more precisely man's marks on the land,or how we as settlers have shaped and marked the land, are Nerida's source material. The paintings are abstract works, but have their genesis in these responses.
Nerida cites Richard Diebenkorn, Willem de Kooning and Brett Whitely among her influences.
She has produced many of the works for this exhibition in an old school building on her parents' Jandowae property, although she currently resides on Brisbane's southside.
Nerida has a post-graduate degree in Education with an art major from Griffith University and is a member of a Brisbane artists' collective tutored by Irene Amos. Many community and educational projects have benefited from her involvement.
A small selection only is shown below. You need to come into the gallery to really sense these works.
Harlequin Landscape (diptych) 122cmx76cm
Summer Haze (diptych) 122cmx76cm
Sweet Summer Grass 61cmx77cm
New Day 61cmx77cm