Newcastle artist Carmen Delprat delivers a vibrant palette of form and imagery for her first exhibition at Gloucester Gallery.
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Titled, Beyond Horizons, the exhibition - which is on show until June 16 - features a collection of 22 works that oscillate between the raw beauty of the natural world and ethereal symbolism.
Featuring both pencil illustrations and oil paintings, the artist alternates between mediums as she merges fine art, surrealism, and symbolism into a uniquely personal style.
"Working with pencil illustration allows me to have really fine detail and tonal rendering skills and sometimes when building up the layers, certain kinds of patterns might form and you can discover ways with that," Carmen said.
"However, I also really enjoy working with oils because it's a really rich thick texture; I love luminous zinc white I use in my paint and that has an iridescent look to the painting...it just has this lustre to it that I really love."
Inspiring the young
The driving aspect with my students is to nurture them to create belief and confidence in their work and to take creative risks.
- Newcastle artist and educator, Carmen Delprat
With a string of academic qualifications bursting from her resume - including a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Newcastle - Carmen is invested in mentoring the next generation of artistic talent to fruition.
When not creating her own art, Carmen works as an educator at the One School Global organisation's East Maitland campus where she is the head of department visual arts; a role that sees her inspiring students to new levels of creativity.
"I believe that everyone has an ability to be creative in whatever way that is; it all stems from a growth mindset," she said.
"Students have an incredible creativity and they are very open if you can nurture that and inspire that.
"The driving aspect with my students is to nurture them to create belief and confidence in their work and to take creative risks."
Art-ificial intelligence
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has resulted in a mixed response from the worldwide artistic community, with some seeing it as a threat to artistic integrity while others welcome the possibilities of the new medium.
While Carmen describes herself as someone who embraces technology, she does express some trepidation regarding the extent to which AI may encroach into the artistic realm.
"Some imagery that AI is coming up with that I have seen is quite imaginative and surrealistic, depending on what you punch in, like adding ingredients to a cake," she said.
"However, whether AI is here or not, I'm going to still make art because it's my enjoyment and it's my authentic experience of being alive and being human."
Beyond Horizons featuring the work of Carmen Delprat is currently showing at Gloucester Gallery until June 16.
