Community News

Arts influenced by Norman Lindsay

The Yamba Museum is hosting a new and exciting art exhibition Clarence Valley Perspectives by Clarence Valley artist Robyn Tychsen. The exhibition will open at the Old Kirk on the weekend, Saturday 19 September. Since relocating to Ilarwill on Woodford Island near Maclean in 2008 Robyn has been increasingly captivated by the beauty of the surrounding landscape as a subject for her art and in recent works have added elements of the local landscape to the compositions. Robyn says, “It then became a natural progression for the local landscape to become the subject of my recent pieces as I attempt to document the natural beauty and daily rhythms of the Clarence Valley. Wherever I move about in the Clarence Valley there are amazing vistas of beauty, light and brilliant colour to record not to mention the colourful characters”. Robyn started drawing as soon as she could hold a pencil and attended classes at the Julian Ashton School for three years. She recalls her teen years, “I was drilled in life drawing and commenced oil painting. Regrettably I had to discontinue the classes in order to concentrate on academic studies with a view to getting a real job. After completing my studies and establishing a career, and after moving to the Sunshine Coast hinterland I returned to painting and drawing in such spare time as I had. Largely as a result of her time at Julian Ashton Robyn was drawn to figurative work and in particular the female form which she finds so expressive. “I have been very much influenced by the figurative work of Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Renoir and the luscious figures of Norman Lindsay (whose granddaughter has been a friend since high school days when I would enjoy sleepovers at her house, the walls of which were crammed with Norman Lindsay’s works)” she says. Robyn has exhibited widely in Queensland over 25 years and sold works through a number of galleries on the Sunshine Coast as well as from her studio located in a rainforest acreage at Doonan. Her work is held in collections in the UK, USA and New Zealand as well as Australia. Exhibition closes October 1. Yamba Museum, River Street (next door to the golf club) Ph 6646 1399. Opening hours: Tues – Thurs 10am – 4.30pm; Sat – Sun 2pm – 4.30pm. Entry: Adults $3 – Children free.