Alison Brown But then what is beauty, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 90cm
Song of the Fjörd is a ‘love letter’ to the longest and deepest of over a thousand fjörds in Norway. Nairne-based artist Alison Brown, best known for her depictions of South Australian natural landscapes, immersed herself in a boat expedition along the Sognefjörd in 2017.
On the journey, her mind was filled with the music of her long-time favourite composer Edvard Grieg, as well as stories of trolls and fairies in Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 Peer Gynt stage play: both 19th century masterpieces that sprang from this sublime part of the world.
This series of paintings is the artist’s deeply felt response to a majestic river steeped in myths and legends.
Alison Brown, Round the Sloping Shore of a Bay, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 45.5 x 45.5cm
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Norway – ‘Nature’s Kingdom’(1). A land of mountains, fjörds, waterfalls, endless forests cloaked in green; a land of trolls, waterfall spirits and magical fairy tales. Australia is an old country – arid, red, ochre and brown. Norway is younger, affected by the Ice Age – mountainous, green, blue and grey. The geologies of these two countries are so different. These paintings are my interpretations of the structures of this incredible landscape.
(1.) www.visitnorway.com
ARTIST BIO
Alison Brown was born in Renmark, South Australia and is currently based in Nairne SA. She has featured in group and solo exhibitions since 1976 throughout SA and Victoria, as well as in NSW and WA. Public collections that have acquired her work include: Latrobe Regional Commission (Vic), State Electricity Commission Vic), Gippsland Art Gallery (Vic), Morwell Library (Vic), Health Commission (Vic), Switchback Gallery, Monash University College Gippsland (Vic), Royal Women’s' Hospital (Vic) and Australian War Memorial (ACT). Her work is also held in private collections in Australia, United States of America, United Kingdom, Finland, The Netherlands and Germany. Awards include: National Student Art Award (Highly Commended), Mitchell College, Bathurst, NSW and Best Regional Artist, Heysen Exhibition, Hahndorf SA 2003.
