Fallen Giant, oil and digital, 2023
About
Jo Goodchild is an artist and teacher living in Sydney who works with oil paint, soft pastels and digital applications to create interpretations of landscapes. In her home studio she references photos and drawings taken on location to capture the beauty of nature and create compositions where both the familiar and unexpected can work together.
Her work has a whimsical quality, recording the odd, serene, moody, wild and arbitrary features in the natural world that capture her interest. Memories, feelings, observations and imaginings combine to create magical and sometime dreamlike images. By experimenting with viewpoints, introducing unrelated forms and playing with colour her semi-abstracted landscapes hold their own energy and personality.
“ I aim to record the sensations I feel and the rhythms I observe in nature. I enjoy to work intuitively with colour and use gestural marks. I love imagining dreamlike places to immerse myself in.”
Biography
Jo has a Master of Art (painting) and a Bachelor of Education in Visual Arts from UNSW. She has completed a Statement in Drawing Skills and Techniques at Meadowbank TAFE and participated in Meadowbank Tafe Open Studio. Committed to broadening her skills Jo completed a series of courses on digital applications at Sydney Community College.
As a qualified teacher Jo has taught Visual Arts at both the primary and secondary level. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering innovative art teaching and learning programs. Jo has lead programs for Operation Art and co-ordinated whole school art exhibitions. Jo collaborated with Ryde Council to deliver adult workshops in pastel drawing and exhibited in their Library Exhibition Program.
Jo has exhibited in group shows at the New England Regional Art Museum, Gallery 11:11, See Street Gallery and Lane Cove Art Gallery. She has been selected as a finalist in the Hornsby Art Prize (2023) and the Waverly Woollahra 9x5 Landscape Prize (2021) and received a highly commended award in the Lane Cove Art Prize in 2022. Jo’s first solo exhibition at Gallery 11:11 in 2024 titled Way of Life celebrated her as an artist.
