Artists Louise Corke, Petra Daecke, and Joanne Power Cotton, known as ‘Sense of Soul’ present their interpretations of water in nature through paintings, titled Symphony in H2O.
In the natural landscape, the movement and flow of water can stir emotions in the viewer in the very same way a musical composition is able to.
Just like a symphony has four movements, with each one able to evoke different feelings or moods, the exhibition has four sub-themes resembling the structure of a symphonic musical piece:
‘Fascinating details’ ( playful, explorative, discovery)
‘Hypnotic calm’ ( peaceful, meditative, sentimental)
‘Powerful force’ ( energetic, forceful, rushing)
‘The wider picture’ ( majestic, stately, spiritual)
The artists offer these diverse impressions of water in nature in their paintings.
The aim of the artists is to deepen the viewer’s relationship with water in the landscape and to encourage a more therapeutic and wholesome sensory experience in a world of ever increasing debilitating sensory overload.
The value and importance of quiet reflection, spending time just observing nature, noticing its beauty and its anchoring order are often at the bottom of our priority list.
Symphony in H2O offers the viewer an opportunity to engage in a restorative, candid, and more holistic symphonic experience that nourishes the soul …
ARTISTS
LOUISE CORKE
Louise Corke
Louise Corke is a professional artist, focusing on pulse and meaning in her art to express a conversation of respect between her and the subject matter. She teaches regularly in her Studio, around Australia and overseas to fulfil teaching duties. Pastel, introduction to oils, portraiture, art foundations and creative play lessons are laced with supportive encouragement. Louise has been awarded over 75 prizes and has been published numerous times in Australian, French and USA publications and showcased on the Colour in Your Life TV series. Her work is found in both public and private collections around the world.
“I consider painting like a dance that is pure gestural expression. I marry my heart to my hand and together they speak visual music. Sometimes the beauty, colours and light play are overwhelming and I am forced to blurt the information onto the surface in quick strokes saying just enough about how I am feeling towards my subject rather than telling what my subject looks like. At other times, I linger and drink in all that I perceive and gently caress the painting surface with delicate information out of pure respect and amazement. The dance on the surface is always unique, rhythmic yes, but not contrived. It has to be genuine, it has to express my inner most responses, and it has to be mine and mine alone. Though I dance alone I dance for others to enjoy so they too can palpate the emotions of the visual music”.
PETRA DAECKE
Petra Daecke
Her lifelong love for nature and the deep connection she has to the landscape and its magical beauty inspires Petra Daecke to paint.
Her favourite medium is pastel with its vibrancy of colours and possibilities of textures, but also loves the versatility of oils on canvas and its rich glow.
She endeavours to communicate not only what she sees and feels, but also a place’s rhythm, atmosphere and spirituality in her paintings. May it be about restful quietness and harmony or surging energy and tension, graceful lines of hills and trees or a particular mood the light evokes. Gazing at the natural landscape may open people’s hearts, give time to reflect, find meaning and has the potential to heal bruised or lost souls.
Nature tells a story and brings peace and wisdom to whoever is prepared to watch and listen.
The artist was born and raised in Germany and lives now on the Gold Coast in Australia since 1988. Petra also has travelled through many countries over time with a diversity of vegetation, climate and cultures and always loves to explore more.
JOANNE POWER COTTON
Joanne Power Cotton
Joanne is an established textile and garment stylist, being in the trade for the past 35 years over 3 continents. More recently, she has devoted a lot of her time to visual art, painting in soft pastels and creating textile art.
“Visual art is a strong contender of how we share our thoughts and ideas”. The work of artist Joanne Power Cotton is an expression of a personal appreciation of light as an emotional energy, an intellectual intensity, or soul in the landscape, still life, figurative work, and in portraiture. She sees and paints light as reflecting a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes to provoke a feeling of spiritual presence - light has energy - light has soul as it caresses the world around us. For Joanne, painting light how she sees it, as a focus, as an important feature, as a soul, allows her to show the viewer her love and profound appreciation for all that is beautiful around us.
Joanne has lived in and has engaged the landscape of three continents – North America, Europe and now Australia, and travels to paint the world’s landscapes and people regularly. The colours and light at different times of the year and day across the world offer her an abundant diversity of subject matter to express her understanding and sense of light as soul.
Working in soft pastels on sanded paper, Joanne uses the most luminous and purest form of pigment that soft pastels provide to give her expression of light a rich, glowing and velvety nature. The artist lives and has a studio in Pullenvale, Queensland.
Instagram @joannepowercotton
