Old masters’ technique with 21st century content

Many Victor Harbor couples may admit to having met their future partners at the night club above the Hotel Crown...or maybe not. No longer resonating with the sounds of doof doof music and inebriated attempts at young romance the space has taken on the dignified air of a spacious artist’s studio.

Yvonne East SA School of Art graduate like most resourceful and dedicated artists has carved a place for her practise where someone else may not have seen the potential. The atmosphere in her studio is still and focussed, radio quietly playing in the background. The double glazing that once kept the noise in kindly insulates the space from outside traffic and front bar activities down stairs.

Immediately apparent in Yvonne’s work is the focus on people, including herself. Her painterly skills and powers of observation articulate subtle truths about the subjects that appear relaxed in showing themselves to her. The whole person is of interest to this artist as the shadow aspects of the psyche are not edited out with a view to pleasing the market.

This is where we find Yvonne today in 2009 but where did it all begin ...?

Yvonne was born at Meningie and grew up in Loxton where she attended primary and high school until the age of fifteen when she moved to Adelaide alone. There she joined the Charles Campbell Secondary performing art school to study art, dance and drama. At high school Yvonne excelled at maths and physics but dance at that stage was her great love.

Following high school she was employed in many different hospitality jobs and also became a ball room dancing instructor. Married at the young age of 19 Yvonne developed chronic fatigue syndrome which lasted for two years. Accustomed to leading a full and active life she found the exhaustion that accompanies chronic fatigue frustrating and needed something to do. She began drawing and didn’t stop.

Encouraged by friends and family Yvonne applied to enter art school and was accepted in 1997. Art school shaped a shift in her thinking and approach to art under the guidance of lecturers such as Anne Newmarch. A whole new world was opened to her as another closed and her marriage of three years ended. Completing her degree Yvonne was part way through her honours year when differences with lecturers arising from her desire to paint figuratively led her to abandon further study at this time.

Offered a job managing in an IT company where ironically she had been a part time cleaner during student days, the work was very creative and satisfying designing touch screen programmes for use in museums and web sites for high profile clients. She worked in this field for a number of years until Yvonne became pregnant. Yvonne felt it was the right time for her to have a child and sold her house in Adelaide and moved to Victor Harbor to stay with her parents for a while. At this point she said everything stopped’.

Presently living with her three year old son Austen Yvonne is aware of the opportunity to explore the painting process with out focussing too much on the end product. Friends made during antenatal classes and the shared experience of childbirth and parenting have become very important to Yvonne as she has made a life for herself and Austen at Victor Harbor and become involved in the community.

Yvonne hosts an art show on 90.1 Happy FM radio 3pm Sundays where she interviews artists from all disciplines. She has also recently completed the Kondoli mural on the esplanade at Victor Harbor as part of the Fleurieu Biennale Community Program. As a member of the Rotary Club of Victor Harbor Yvonne has a passion for the community and hopes to one day express this by working with high school art students on community art projects.

Some career highlights? Walking in to the Art Gallery of NSW and seeing her work hanging at the opening of the Dobell Prize and getting a mention from Edmund Capon last year. Having Mike Rann sit for her entry in to the Archibald Prize in 2005.Influences? Lucien Freud and Picassos etchings, particularly their effortlessness and simplicity. She has been spending time with respected SA artist Rita Hall and aspires to follow in the foot steps of an artist of her ilk.

A grounded young artist with an honest perspective of where she is in her evolution as a creative entity, Yvonne will be showing with more South Coast artists at the South Coast Regional Arts Centre in August 2009. Alexandrina Council is very proud to present the body of work I was fortunate to preview in her solo exhibition in the new regional gallery in the coming months. >> Leah Grace

Education
Bachelor of Visual Arts
University of South Australia.

Media
Lisa Bachmayer “Local artist finalist in drawing prize”, The Times – Nov 12 2009 p6 [Ill. inc]. link to "The Times" online article

"SALA Sampler", SA Weekend, The Advertiser - Aug 01 2009 p13 [Ill. inc]

Leah Grace "Yvonne East... Featured Artist", Alex Arts - Vol II issue 1, May 2009 p1, 3, 4 [Ill. inc] link to Alex Arts PDF

Lisa Bachmayer “toilet block a work of art”, The Times – Oct 30 2008 p12 [Ill. inc]

Lisa Bachmayer “Yvonne an Art Finalist”, The Times – Sept 18 2008 p14 [Ill. inc]

Aime Brockenshire “Yvonne’s Exhibition”, The Times – Fluerieu Life, Aug 16 2007 p4

Naomi Jellicoe “Adelaide Confidential”, The Advertiser, Feb 9 2005, p23 [Ill. inc]

Hendry, Shaw. 2000 "Gallery reveals new talent", UniSA News, July, p 5 [Ill. inc]

Raddock, Stephanie. 2000 "Restless". The Adelaide Review, August, no. 203, p 32.

Hyphen Exhibition Catalouge, 2000, University of South Australia Visual and Applied Arts, Graduating Students, p 30.

yvonne.east@gmail.com