Time to meet the artists
You only have to meet Angela Rossen briefly to work out she’s a pretty happy camper. “Who wouldn’t be?” she asks rhetorically, tossing back her head and laughing with a warmth and generosity that proves irresistible.
“Life’s too short to be unhappy. If you don’t like what you’re doing, do something about it.”
A self-employed artist since graduating from Curtin University’s fine arts course in the early-1980s, Angela exudes both a rude health and a comfortable charm, her sparkling outdoor glow and joie de vivre evidence of a life lived well, comfortable in her own skin.
"Travelling is wonderful but the high point for me is always coming home. I’ve grown up to love the shapes and colours of our landscape"
Having done her time overseas, living and exhibiting in Greece and Portugal, Angela is a surprisingly forceful advocate for the joys of living in the west, a joy clearly founded in her love of the natural environment.
“Travelling is wonderful but the high point for me is always coming home. I’ve grown up to love the shapes and colours of our landscape. Greece was not entirely unfamiliar – all that sea and dry rocky hillsides, though the light is very different – but to quote The Castle, it’s ‘the serenity’ I miss when I’m away.”
When not kayaking or swimming or walking or walking in the Hills, her days are passed at her home-studio in Hilton where she methodically applies her talents to large and small canvases, which retail from $1000 to $20,000, depending on size.
A landscape and seascape painter, her images reflect her deep love and enthusiasm for WA’s “unmatchable” environment. In pursuit of her subjects, Angela traverses our entire broad State, a lot of her time spent in the Far North catching the dramatic land and seascapes that present themselves at seemingly every turn of the road and coast.
Not surprisingly, her work is a big favourite with resources companies, Angela frequently commissioned to pack her easel and travel to the State’s more obscure corners to capture some aspect of WA’s seemingly never-ending mining boom.
“Give me a tin of bully beef and a swag and I’m happy.”
Rendered in her characteristically imagist acrylics, her paintings grace the collections of resource players such as Rio Tinto, ARC Energy, Alinta Gas and the Kimberley Diamond Company.
According to Angela, “My work expresses the joy I find in nature, from the detail of a delicate box fish sheltering under a ledge to the brilliant light, dust and wide open spaces of the North West.”
"When not kayaking or swimming or walking or walking in the Hills, her days are passed at her home-studio in Hilton where she methodically applies her talents to large and small canvases, which retail from $1000 to $20,000, depending on size."
As part of Artopia – a month-long initiative in September/October to expose the public to artists and their workspaces – visual artists all over WA will be welcoming the public into their inner sanctums for a peek behind the curtain. As part of the festival, Angela will be opening her Hilton home-studio to the public while also working as artist-in-residence at Rio Tinto’s Kwinana operations.
Artopia is subtitled “A Celebration of Living Artists”. A large numbers of artists work away quietly in their studios. The invitation to the public to come in and look around will allow many new connections to happen.
“Art is about communicating and that doesn’t happen without connections.” With all the current talk about the art investment market in Australia, what would Angela’s advice be for those wanting to start their own collection? “Take the time to look at as much original art as you can, ask questions. “Go to artist studios and galleries, and only buy artwork that you really love and want to live with.”
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