Shelley McKenzie studied Art and Art Therapy. Her practice is underpinned by the therapeutic benefits of making art and its ability to mobilize aspects of being. The immersive experience of living on 100 acres of bushland outside Geelong is reflected in the themes and motifs of her work. Her work explores the natural environment, the home, the domestic environment and objects as holding places. Objects real and imagined are placed in space; shapes and patterns are simultaneously part of the physical environment and emotional geography.
An admirer of the work of Matisse for its joyous use of color, textured interiors and organization of space, McKenzie continues to explore the immediacy of her world through the push and pull of layers of paint.
Her work is held in both public and private collections.
'This body of work contains objects contained in rooms, contained in a house contained in a landscape. People have made an appearance in some of the works and hint at some domestic drama or other. As a quilter, my dear Mother pieces together coloured, patterned cotton materials. Lucky recipients have an object created with love, time, artistic and mathematical decision-making. These paintings reference the bringing together of scraps or remnants to create a harmonious design but with the spontaneous freedom that paint and ink allow. Of course the colours must star- the yellow will show off, the orange glow, the Payne’s grey stabilise and anchor, the hot pink sing, the objects call and respond to each other through shape and pattern, light and shadow.'
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