Jane Coffey

In Residence on the verandahs at Donnelly River Village

10-16 June 2022

Jane Coffey is a full time multidisciplinary artist based in Perth. Originally from the UK, Jane completed a Masters degree at the Royal College of Art in London in 1999. Since 2007 Jane has worked from her store and gallery space ‘Future Shelter’ on Angove Street in North Perth where she can often be observed working on new paintings and drawings. Future Shelter products feature Jane’s artworks applied lighting and homewares that are all manufactured locally.

Jane was shortlisted for the York Botanic Art Prize in 2020 and 2021. Her commissioned artworks include large scale sculptures, artworks for murals, illustrations and paintings.

“The flora and fauna of WA is a persistent theme in my work and I hope to capture the experience of wonder that I feel when walking through the biodiverse forests found in the South West. These ecosystems have to be resilient to fire, climate change and human development over thousands of years. My paintings always seek to pay respect some part of this resilience whether it’s through showing the scars from previous fires or urban development.

Many of my initial drawings will happen quite quickly with ink on cotton paper before I move to paint on canvas. I love picking up sticks and leaves from the environment and drawing with them or scratching into oil paint, they create marks that reflect the more chaotic forms found in nature. Often my favourite parts of a painting can be the parts that happened accidentally!”

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More information about Jane Coffey can be found at her website, here