26
April 7–13, 2011 Central West Photo News
creativecorner with Zanna Munro • Portrait by Zanna Munro • Paintings contributed
Where paths & coves mingle
LOCAL ARTIST: Nicole Parkins will open her “On the Road of Home” exhibition at Jayes Gallery in Molong on April 10
A clearing for a ponder
Welcome to your creative corner! At Photo News we love encouraging and acknowledging talented and creative people so we have produced our ‘Creative Corner’, which will allow people to share a bit about themselves and hopefully inspire our readers to explore their creative side. If you enjoy art, writing poems, taking photos, writing songs or anything that allows you to express yourself creatively, you might be a professional, or just starting out, either way we would love to hear from you so email zanna@cwpn.com.au
N
icole Parkins is the first person to feature in our Creative Corner; she inspired us and we hope she inspires you too! Nicole moved to Orange in April last year and she wants to share her amazing artwork with everyone in the Central West, so is holding an exhibition at Jayes Gallery in Molong. She has always wanted to be an artist and her passion and determination enabled her to turn her childhood dreams into her destiny. “I have always drawn as a kid; Mum said they just couldn’t get enough paper for
me! My parents have always encouraged me no matter what, I never felt pressured to do anything other than art. From about the age of 12 I knew I wanted to be an artist, my main focus at school was art, then after school I applied for a few courses and I was accepted, so it was all just a sequence and a natural thing for me”. And her life as an artist certainly has unfolded through a chain of natural events, after high school Nicole graduated from Monash University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Fine Art (painting); she then went on to study a Diploma of Education
in Visual Arts so she can teach art as well! Since then she has held eight solo exhibitions, and been part of about 26 group exhibitions! Although Nicole has spent an enormous amount of time creating works for her exhibitions, being an artist doesn’t feel like a job, art is her life and she just can’t get enough of it! “Art is about me and who I am; I enjoy the fact that when you immerse yourself you escape, it’s also a huge form of expression”. And Nicole loves expressing herself through her work; most of her paintings are inspired by special places she has visited and she wants to share her life journey with everyone. “I paint from memory of a scene, art is an opportunity to incorporate moods from the place and time; it’s a journey which is why I include lots of rivers and roads. “I have a passion for seascape and I love the countryside, so I feel right at home in Orange,” Nicole smiled. A trip to Montecastello, Umbria, Italy, is the inspiration behind Nicole’s current exhibition “On the Road of Home”. She visited Montecastello for a month during
PhotoNews Central West
2008 where she was an artist in residency at the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture. “Many of the works on paper in this exhibition were completed while doing a residency in this little town on top of a hill surrounded by classic Italian countryside. From the 360 view around the town white roads and rivers meandered through the countryside, which I frequently venture out to on walks gathering images in my mind to take home. My works are reflections on the many moods of myself and the changing landscapes and the stories that it can create and tell. “I think a lot of Orange people will enjoy the exhibition because they will pick up on the atmosphere over there; it has a connection to Orange. Orange mimics a European countryside quite a bit,” Nicole revealed. We’ll all have the opportunity to compare our beautiful countryside to the European landscape at Nicole’s Exhibition which opens on April 10th, at 2pm, at Jayes Gallery in Molong. The exhibition will be held until May 1st, for more information call the gallery on 6366 9093.