Artist: Suzie Riley

We want to extend a huge thank you to Suzie Riley. It was seeing one of her paintings on a friend’s Instagram story that sparked the idea to host an Art Residency program at Coorong Life. From there, I reached out to Suzie directly for advice, she was so friendly and gave me the confidents to open up the space to artist and she became our very first artist-in-residence. The rest as they say “is history” - Kate

Artist Bio:

After studying Art in Fremantle, Riley returned to her home state of South Australia where she lives on Bunganditj country in the seaside village of Robe.

Immersed in this coastal landscape that is central to her work, daily walks are a ritual that give her an opportunity to notice subtle shifts of light and shadow, colour and form.

These impressions are first captured in small plain air sketches in pastel or gouache, which act as seeds for larger works in oil. In the studio, she builds each painting through transparent glazes and dense impasto, layering calligraphic marks with confident brushwork to create surfaces that seem to record the slow accumulation of time.

Drawing on a sensitive knowledge of pigment, and a confident use of tone she explores how opposites reveal each other, seeking a balance of order and chaos, stillness and movement, a natural rhythm in the landscape.

We are left with work both thoughtful and spontaneous, carefully observed but defined by memory.

Q: What draws you back to the Coorong as a subject, and why is it so important to your work?

I’m drawn to paint landscapes that I feel a deep connection to. We have a shack in a national park just south of the Coorong that we’ve holidayed in all my life, no power just the sound of the wind, waves and birdsong. As children we spent endless days roaming free on the beaches and dunes, and evenings telling stories around a campfire beneath a sprawling twisted tea tree.

It’s a wild rugged coastline that I’ve grown to love. Shaped by southern winds, the vegetation is uniquely adapted to the harsh conditions and is filled with resilient plants. Soft sage saltbush, golden tussocks and vibrant carpets of samphire, pink and burnt sienna, interspersed with tea trees. A vast network of saltwater lagoons pool here before meeting the sea. Cradled by dunes they become a mirror for sunsets, a nursery for pelicans and a feeding ground for migratory birds internationally protected by Ramscar.

I feel connected and at peace in this untouched landscape, one that finds its own balance. It nurtures my delight in organic, irregular shapes and patterns. A sense of ease and familiarity settles when I paint the colours, and let memory guide my hand. I am simply in love with it all and that is what draws me back over and again.

Q: What was a typical day at Coorong Life like for you?

A typical day begins with the sunrise tinting the dunes and reflecting in the lagoon. Often the calmest time of the day, birdsong fills the air, my favourite is the singing honeyeater, but there are many that I am slowly learning as I spend more time here.

A walk along the edge of the water to scout for good locations to come back and paint, or a bit of exploration further afield in my 4 wheel drive to discover the many tracks that weave in an out of the wetland. Maybe a swim in the freshwater creek that runs into the lagoon. Then back to the homestead to develop some sketches.

Q: What surprised you most about your residency?

The Coorong is familiar to me, but Kates generosity, her altruistic vision to support artists whatever their creative pursuit may be was a beautiful surprise. Also being alone in this landscape doesn’t feel lonely, but the opposite, very connected.