k i r r a...

Isn't she a beauty?
I cant believe its taken me this long to post some of Kirra Jamison's work on this space!
Yesterday I just happened to be sorting and filing in the studio and came upon this lovely image and article on Melbourne artist Kirra Jamison.

Kirra is an amazing 28 year old artist from Melbourne who's career has just started to reach fantastic heights after her 2007 Samstag Scholarship win which took her to the Californian Arts Institute for one year...

Since then she has been regularly showing at Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane, Sophie Gannon in Melbourne, and recently at Sydney's Firstdraft Gallery in Chalmers st...
Working from her studio in Melbourne...Kirra has been busy!
But with a space like this I can see how she could enjoy being ensconced at the easel for weeks at a time!!


Kirra's work has an illustrative and detailed touch, but it is the use of colour and play in her paintings, drawings and prints that really does it for me! I'm reminded on Ghostpatrol and Miso's work when looking through Kirra's images.... as they are all artists who use children's book illustrations as a starting point. Long lost images from nursery rhymes that soon shift focus to become darker, bolder or larger than life! One of Kirra's influences is Australian author Pixie O'Harris, and in particular her book The Fairy who wouldn't fly (1945)....

That book was a favourite of me when I was a child. I loved the story of this stubborn bitch of a fairy. Shes' got these beautiful wings and just wont fly, even though that's what she is supposed to do. I can relate to that kind of rebellion.

This article was recently published in a Sunday section of the newspaper, but if you're interested in checking out more of her work, I suggest a quick visit to her blog here...

Enjoy.... and have a great weekend...