Rochelle Summerfield

I was born in Sydney, Australia and now live in northern New South Wales, looking directly onto the majestic Clarence River at Seelands just south west of Grafton. From all our living areas, the great river meanders past. The river is a pivotal element in my artwork.

The artworks that I produce puzzle over ideas on identity and transformation through paradox. The more we domesticate ourselves and our environment, the more we search to find connection to the ‘wild’ in us and in nature. I make a plucky heroine out of collage who is situated within the rich, lush riverscapes of northern NSW. Her challenges involve our contradictory relationships and human frailties, and her quest is to find her voice, knowledge and connection to the Australian environment.

A miss directed hunt for a public toilet in the Louvre, threw me unexpectedly into the arms of artist Arcimboldo.  In a hidden corridor, I was enchanted by his series of beautiful little pictures of faces made up of flowers.  The experience of his work sparked the idea of putting together seemingly unrelated visuals to create something new.  The artist Hannah Höch and the way she collaged female characters, gave me the method to create my central character from collag...

With solid grounding in traditional and contemporary art skills my arts practice includes drawing, paint, collage and digital media. I began my formal training at the traditional Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney and then I moved to Northern New South Wales near Byron Bay where I learned the rigour and research of a very contemporary Bachelor of Visual Arts with First Class Honours followed by a Masters of Visual Arts by Research. Continuing to develop skills in collage, digital media and my love of drawing and paint I looked at feminist literature and identity politics. As I wanted to add emotion to the work I looked into the grotesque with combinations of collage, drawing and other media to shock and laugh as well as inspire wonder. I received a good understanding of how subjectivity is about being interconnected with each, our environment and experience of the world we live through our bodies. Today I am very concerned about climate change and how our relationships with nature underpin our sense of self, health and well being. I want to reconnect people with a love of our rivers and habitat, to care and plant native species that are so important to humans having drinkable water and breathable air. To live in harmony with all ...

2019-20 ‘Crossroads’ HomeGround 7th December 2019 – 16th February 2020, Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, video, drawings, shadow puppets

2018-2020 ‘As far as the eye can see’, National touring show Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, curator Rilka Oakley, (Cowra Regional Art Gallery, NSW, Riddock Art Gallery SA, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, VIC, Devonport Regional Gallery, TAS, Tamworth Regional Gallery, NSW, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, QLD Redcliffe Art Gallery, QLD, Noosa Regional Gallery, QLD, Logan Art Gallery, QLD)
‘Swan Hill Print and Drawing Acquisitive Awards’, finalist, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery

2017 ‘Artstate’ Lismore, Arts Events – video projection of my work ‘Warning Remote Areas Ahead’
2017 ‘A Wayfarer on the Nepean’, solo show at Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest with video and drawings.
‘Windmill Trust Scholarship 20th Anniversary Retrospective’, Murray Art Museum Albury
‘Moreton Bay Region Art Awards’, Strathpine Community Centre, Strathpine QLD

2017 'A Wayfarer on the Nepean', Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest

2016 Solo show 'Indicators Show Depth' Grafton Regional Gallery NSW
Future Public, Dubbo Artist Residency and exhibition.
Local Provenance, Tweed Reg...