Tutors

Always having an appreciation of design and a love of fashion, it came as no surprise that Danielle discovered a combination of the two and immersed herself into the world of textile design and fabric printing. Since becoming a graduate of Textile Design and Printing at Ultimo TAFE, Danielle has worked for Signature Prints, the home of the Florence Broadhurst library and launched her own clothing label - Milk from a Thistle - which is stocked nationally throughout Australia. She teaches textile printing at the College of Fine Arts and Eastern Suburbs Community College, and is constantly exploring new techniques to produce individual prints on fabric.

Danielle is inspired by fabric as a medium for its wide variety of end uses and versatility. You can create wearable art, beautifully printed homewares or individual art pieces. The options are endless.

Link to Milk from a Thistle

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With over 20 years professional experience as a visual artist interspersed with studies at the New York Studio School and the National Art School in Sydney, Susan Baird’s artistic practice is one of practical exploration primarily in the medium of oil on canvas. She is well known for her painterly depictions of urban landscapes and inner city vistas painted in situ [from life] and more recently is exploring the use of photography as inspiration for a new series of landscapes. Her work is held in private and corporate collections in Australia the USA and New Zealand. She is currently at COFA, UNSW doing a Master of Art.

Link to Susan's website

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My life goal is to experience the world and myself deeply. Making art and teaching art are some of the ways I have discovered I can do this. I think we are all born with a lot of creative energy and curiosity. I have utmost respect for all creative expression professional and amateur and I love working with people in this enviroment. Teaching a diverse group of people with different skill levels and motivation requires a diverse and flexible teaching approach. Art is very personal and I have often described my teaching approach as being like a 'smorgasboard' in that I provide a broad range of  ideas and technical approaches from which students can select and respond to those elements that suit their 'creative tastes'.

Pina has a Bachelor Visual Arts COFA (UNSW) majoring in painting and Drawing and a Fine Art Diploma from Seaforth TAFE majoring in painting and minor in printmaking

Link to Pina's website

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Being born and raised in Orange Larissa Blake is a country girl at heart but through her creative family Larissa was exposed to art and all its possibilities from an early age. Larissa went on to study communications and alternative therapies but it wasn’t long before the creative disposition that was coursing through her genes surfaced and she pursued art as a serious lifestyle.

Larissa’s vibrant works are inspired by her extensive travels both here and abroad, but it is in her everyday world and all its spontaneity that she draws most of her inspirations.

Combining her love of art with her other of alternative therapies, Larissa is an intuitive and insightful teacher who brings a new and creative energy to her students. Through years of painting and being an avid supporter of other artists Larissa has a unique eye for the technical as well as being an extremely gifted colourist.

Apart from the occasional trip back to her roots in Orange where she has recently set up a studio with her artist mother, Loretta Blake, Larissa bases herself in Sydney where she continues to paint and is a sort after lecturer. Larissa exhibits regularly and her works are found in private collections throughout the world.

Link to Larissa's online gallery

Link to Larissa's exhibition at the Red Hill Gallery Brisbane

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Linda Bowden has been working as a professional sculptor for the past nine years after graduating from the National Art School with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture) in 1999. She has exhibited widely throughout NSW in various selected and group shows, including Sculpture by the Sea in 2000, '02, '03, '06, '07, '08 and '09, Sculpture from the Sea and Sculpture in the City 2001.

In 2002, Linda was awarded the Waverley Council Prize (Sculpture by the Sea) and this work can now be seen at Hunter’s Park, Bondi. In 2003, she was commissioned to create a serious of sculptures for the Private Patrons of Sculpture by the Sea.

Linda is passionate about the fine arts, drawing and sculpture in particular. She enjoys sharing her enthusiasm with others and believes learning should be fun and hopes to inspire students to explore new ideas without worrying about the outcomes.

Link to Linda's website

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Jason Chatfield is a freelance cartoonist from Perth, now based in Melbourne. He is the fifth cartoonist to draw the longest running comic strip in Australian History; the 87 year-old "Ginger Meggs." His work appears daily in over 120 newspapers in over 30 countries worldwide.

Jason is also an editorial cartoonist for the Herald and Voice newspapers group, as well as loconut.com.au. His work has been publised in several internationally published books, and he is a Live Caricaturist for corporate and special events around Australia.

At 24, he is a keen advocate for cartooning amongst young Australians, and is the Deputy President of the Australian Cartoonists' Association.

Link to Jason's website

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Kate de Kantzow has always had a passion for art and studied art and design throughout school. Since then she has completed a Certificate in Fashion and Fashion Design at the University of Darwin as well as a Certificate in Graphic Design at Enmore College of Design.

Over the past ten years Kate has been designing personalised stationery to boutique homeware stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, NZ and London. She has sold paintings through many of these stores, and has been commissioned to paint for many private clients.

Kate specialises in wedding stationery and personal stationery and has a wide variety of clients such as Australian Harpers Bazaar, Inside Out magazines, YSL Beaute, Witchery and Croser sparkling wine.

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Gralton began her career as a textile designer but returned to study at The National Art School Sydney at the age of 26. She has since shown to wide acclaim in Sydney and across Australia with 10 solo shows and 15 group shows since 1994. Her last show at Charles Hewitt Gallery was an immediate sell-out and she has a loyal following both in Australia and overseas, which strengthens with each new exhibition.

Gralton's distinct style focuses heavily on layering and texture. Her works have a sense of re-invention. She 'rescues' broken objects, finds things that have been deemed obsolete and gives them a new life. Parts of children's clothing, manila tags, children's story books, linoleum, lace and postage stamps are all applied
directly to the canvas. Clothes from her own childhood feature heavily, including the swimming costume she wore when she was young and the shoes her husband wore as a child. Sophie is also fascinated by 17th century Dutch portraiture of children.

Link to Sophie's exhibition at the Charles Hewitt Gallery

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Sally Grant is a qualified Art and Design Teacher and Illustrator who has been teaching in a variety of art establishments for several years. Sally’s gentle and explorative approach to teaching allows her to guide and inspire her students, young and old, to create successful artworks.

After graduating from University in the UK with a BA Hons Graphic Design specialising in Illustration Sally travelled extensively. She sees her travel experiences as a valuable aid for teaching art and contributing to her own art practice as a freelance Illustrator.

Sally also has a Post Graduate Certificate in Education specialising in Art and Design and is currently undertaking a Masters in Art Therapy. Sally holds a passion for art and art education and through her art classes hopes to pass on her knowledge and enthusiasm to foster the creativity of each student.

Link to Sally's website

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Tim’s art training included studying fine art, painting and drawing at the Rietveld Academy whilst living in Amsterdam. He also attended Bath Academy of Fine Arts, UK for one year where he focused on life drawing.

Tim has taught and exhibited in England, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria and Australia. Also known around the world for his expertise in body painting, he has developed the art form to its present level of acceptance. Tim believes that the fine art traditions of drawing and painting are fundamental to working on both canvas, paper and the human body.

Link to Tim's website

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John Haycraft has been a Principal of the firm Haycraft Duloy Pty Ltd since 1974 and was awarded Fellowship of the British Society of Architectural Illustrators in 1987. John has received awards from the American Society of Architectural Illustrators and the Japanese Architectural Renderers Association. He is past President of the Australian Association of Architectural Illustrators. He is the author of three books and a collection of his architectural drawings is held in the Mitchell Library, the State Library of New South Wales.

John has been a part-time and guest lecturer in the Faculties of Architecture at The University of New South Wales, the University of Newcastle and the Interior Design Faculty of the College of the Arts (Balmain Campus).

He has travelled and painted extensively in Europe, Asia and Africa as well as frequent painting trips to the outback of Australia and in his birth-place, New Zealand. His teachers have been the Australian artist Lloyd Rees, American watercolourist Charles Reid, and Joseph Zbukvic. There have been numerous joint exhibitions and three solo shows of his work. His paintings hang in private collections throughout the world.

Link to John's website

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Susie a professional singer, performer and musician studied performing arts with the Q-Theatre, The Actor’s Centre and The National Institute of Dramatic Art N.I.D.A. (Diploma of Performing Arts). She also trained in contemporary, jazz music and vocal at The Australian Institute of Music Sydney for 3 years (Adv.Diploma Music).

Earthbeats - Children’s Music is Susie's creative enterprise and with 10 years in Children’s Services, 1 - 5 and 5 - 12 year olds, Susie has a wonderful rapport and a wealth of experience working with children! She trained in Early Childhood Music and taught with Sydney’s Einsteinz - Music, before creating her own company, Earthbeats - Children’s Music.

Susie has worked extensively singing and performing in the genres of jazz, blues and contemporary and in music theatre, cabaret and children’s theatre. She has worked in numerous capacities as a singing and music teacher, from children to adults over a period of 10 years. In creating the Earthbeats program, she hopes to inspire and educate children with the joy of music and a wonderful sense of fun for it! Susie talks about children’s music; 'It’s both a privilege and a joy to combine two of the things I most love, music and working with children.'

Link to Susie's Earthbeats Music website

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With over 20 years teaching experience with students of all ages Jane is passionate about artmaking and the art process. "I love providing opportunities for people to explore their creativity, teaching them the skills and principals of art and guiding them through their artmaking journey. Their excitement, satisfaction and creative development are fabulously rewarding and inspiring."

She attained a Bachelor of Arts at Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) studying ceramics, photography, drawing and jewellery, and a Diploma of Education at Canberra College of Advanced Education (CCAE). Her pursuits in the art arena have varied enormously and have included salt glazed ceramics, ceramic sculpture, fibre art, silver jewellery and most recently enamelling.

Jane has been Lecturer in Charge and Tutor for Visual Arts Curriculum and Teaching and University Practicum Supervisor at the Australian Catholic University (ACU), has written curricula, presented inservices to teachers on ceramics, taught primary and high school students as well as adults. She currently teaches in high schools and other art schools in Sydney.

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As well as teaching at Art Est., Ochre Lawson currently works for the Art Gallery of NSW teaching adult courses in Mixed media and Life drawing and teenage classes in contemporary drawing. She also teaches sculpture and drawing to adults at various art colleges throughout Sydney and children's holiday art programs.

Ochre has a Degree in Fine Art from the National Art School in Sydney majoring in Sculpture and a Diploma of Fine Art from Brisbane Institute of Tafe and also a Certificate IV in training and assessment. Ochre has been a practicing artist since 2000 exhibiting in group and solo shows from Sydney, Brisbane, Alice Springs and Northern NSW. Since being in Sydney she has been included in the Defiance small sculpture prize and sells work through her studio in Rozelle and 'Graphis Art and Framing' in Woollahra. She is an experienced tutor of seven years having taught art through TAFE for 2 years with adults, conducted numerous community art projects, and teaches art to young children through to adults.

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Kerrie Lester's exuberant paintings are widely admired. During a career spanning 35 years, she has been hung in the Archibald
16 times and is represented in many art collections across Australia. Kerrie was born in 1953 in Sydney and has lived and worked from her Mosman studio since 1989. She is renowned for her distinctive stitched canvas paintings, and instantly
recognised by her witty, colourful style. Her whimsical figures with sharp outlines range from virtual stick men to fully rounded portraits, all of them about to burst out of the canvas and join in with everyday life.

Kerrie has held over 21 solo exhibitions, her first held immediately after graduating from art school. She has been represented in many important group exhibitions including the Biennale of Sydney in 1979 and Australian Perspecta in 1981 and 1985. In addition, Kerrie has been an influential educator, lecturing at the City Art Institute Sydney, the National Art School Sydney and Seaforth Technical College.

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Janne Marsh has a BA in visual arts from SCA. She also spent two years studying at the Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada, specialising in Art Anatomy. Janne is a qualified adult education teacher and has taught art for many years.

In 2005, a charcoal study of her old dog Jazz was a finalist in the Dobell Prize for Drawing.

“I tend to have a fluid approach, choosing the media to suit the subject, which I usually treat in a realistic manner. When teaching I regard the direction the student is striving towards and do my best to enable them to define their own style, without being restricted by such.”

Janne has built a studio in Warialda where she develops ideas for her art, reconnecting with the landscape and the momentum of country life.

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Mie Mawson completed a four yer course majoring in drawing, painting (acrylic, guoache) and clay modelling at Yoyogi S3eminar Formative Arts School in Yokohama Japan. She has a Bachelor of Graphic Design from Tohoku University of Art and Design, and studied drawing, oil painting and duplication at Sophia Art Schol in Tokyo where she also taught for four years.

Mie enjoys teaching beginners about art as she likes to instruct individually, step by step. She enjoys helping her students experience the joy of discovering and creating, not only of learning new skills.

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Paul has been painting and selling his work for the last 25 years. At the end of 2000 he left the corporate world where he worked in logistics management  to paint full time. In those endeavours he has had numerous solo and joint exhibitions both here and overseas, including a joint exhibition in Soho New York in 2001.

Paul has worked extensively as a community artist in varied capacities including working with a remote aboriginal community, high schools, and acting curator for the Sydney Children's Hospital. He has also coordinated several groups of volunteers working with groups covering the Sydney Children's Hospital, the Sydney Cancer Centre at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as well as adults with disabilities at Studio Artes Hornsby.

He is a sought after prize winning tutor who brings a sense of fun and excitement to the classroom, encourages individuality as well as developing design composition and colour skills.    

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Bernhardine’s forte is traditional Etching. Her work is her response to the Australian landscape, which Bernhardine Mueller studied printmaking at Meadowbank Technical College, and at the National Art School, East Sydney, where she gained her Diploma of Fine Arts.

She is an established Artist/Printmaker and teacher, who is passionate about promoting the art of printmaking. Her artworks, large and in miniature, are exhibited Australia-wide and internationally and have gained her a multitude of First prizes and Awards.

Bernhardine has 20 years experience as a teacher of printmaking, continuing to inspire students with her unique style  she finds compelling – from the harshness of the outback to the beauty of its flora and fauna.  She gains her inspiration both from the power of imagination and the actual world we live in.

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Born in Berkley USA, and raised in Israel, Ben initially studied at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary academy, and worked as a chef using food as his artistic expression. A self-taught photographer, he has explored the relationships between the different cultures and the connections between man and the landscape.

Ben moved to Sydney in 2001 and studied Printmaking at COFA. It was here that he devised unique conceptual methods of combining photography and printmaking through photosensitive techniques. Ben's work has been exhibited in various group shows in Australia and he won the Blacktown Art Prize, the Newtown NCA Art Prize and the COFA Art Scene prize.

Since 2006, Ben has been working closely with Cicada Press to provide technical and printing support for visiting artists from Australia and around the world. He is actively involved in a community building project, known as Papunya Tjupi printmaking program at COFA which helps indigenous artists to develop their printmaking skills.

Ben's new exhibition Consumed is at the Iain Dawson Gallery 2-13 March 2010.

Link to Ben's website

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Elizabeth moved from Melbourne to Sydney 15 years ago. After completing her BFA at the Victorian College of the Arts,majoring in painting, She spent the following years practicing and exhibiting her art in various galleries including Ray Hughes Gallery in Surry Hills.

She supplemented her living working as a freelance stylist in advertising. A mother of two boys now, she has almost completed a Diploma of Education and feels that teaching is where it's at.

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Jasmine has a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in oil painting and drawing from the College of Fine Arts, UNSW (COFA). Her artistic path has spiralled into numerous avenues, including studying classical painting and portraiture at the Studio Art Centers International in Florence, private art tutoring for children, and as a freelance Caricaturist, Cartoonist and Graphic Designer.

At 27 Jasmine is now completing her Bachelor of Teaching (Visual Art) at Sydney University. She has a classical approach to her art and enjoys teaching all facets of art to both children and adults.                    

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Bernadette Trela is a practicing artist based in Sydney who has worked in galleries and academia for the last 15 years. She has studied in all three Major Art Schools in Sydney; beginning with the National Art School (NAS), East Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts (SCA), University of Sydney and College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of NSW.

While studying Arts and Fine Arts, Bernadette has worked in areas of the arts to consolidate her passion and understanding of what art is about and how to study, paint and thrive while doing so! Her work in the Art Gallery of NSW for four years informed her eye of painting and has enhanced her teaching abilities, along with her post graduate studies and painting studio practice. Bernadette is interested in the academic and the painterly! She currently works as a teacher and gallery assistant.

Link to Bernadette’s online gallery                          

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Lisa is a practising artist with a studio at Art Est.  Having always tinkered at the edges of the visual arts while holding down a full time job, Lisa got serious in 2005 when she took a step away from the Corporate world to pursue a long held desire to attend art school, and hasn't looked back.

Lisa is currently working towards her next group exhibition scheduled for November 2010.

Lisa has a Diploma in Fine Arts and is currently completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at COFA majoring in Printmaking. She regularly exhibits her artwork in numerous group exhibitions and competitions in Sydney, and is thrilled to have been selected as a finalised in the 2010 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing. Her work is held private collections in Australia and the UK.

Link to Lisa's website         

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Founder and Director, Jennifer McNamara, has a passion for art that guides her own creative journey. She believes everyone has some artistic ability, and with the right environment and the best teachers, anyone can discover their inner creativity. Her desire to inspire an artistic future in people of all ages has led her to establish Art Est., and is guiding the principles under which Art Est. operates. 

Jen's background in arts festivals, museum public programs, business events and marketing, combined with her passion for art has culminated in fulfilling her dream to open an art school. She is still searching for her work/life balance but loving every minute of Art Est.!

Pablo, her Cavoodle (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel x Poodle) named after Picasso, is a regular at Art Est. and a favourite of students of all ages.                                      

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