Heather Towns
In the beginning....
Achieving her greatest dream Heather was accepted to art school. She had been drawing since she was old enough to hold a piece of charcoal from the backyard incinerator and draw on the footpath.
Heather was totally delighted to attend art school and everyday was better than the last. After graduating she worked as a graphic designer and a few years later she set up her own studio. Operating under the business name of Value Added Design, Heather was able to provide for herself and her two children for the next 30+ years while also painting.
Now....
Observe.
Dissect.
Interpret.
Now living and working at Cape Paterson Heather Towns, known widely by her nickname Zulu, aims to approach each piece of artwork from a different angle. She tries hard NOT to follow her art school training, heavily stooped in traditional painting techniques, of perspective, shadows, hues, colour wheels etc, that are commonly the key rules in a painters life.
Zulu wishes to rebuild and relook at everything she paints. She sets the rules of observe, dissect & interpret, to everything she sees. She firstly observes, the person, objects or landscape that she is looking at ... really see it, in patterns, in shapes and everyway, but the way it really is.
Then she dissects the parts, the interesting, the weak areas, the colour feel etc. Then the hard bit…interpret the whole in a new and creative way, but not totally abstract - well sometimes totally abstract, but often with the whole image broken into a series of patterns and rich colour plains, pushing and pulling at the shapes and fighting on the edges of colours.
The last exhibition in Sydney Oct/Sept 2017 at The Palm House in the Botanic Gardens, next door to the Opera House, was a great success. Zulu won the Contemporary Prize at the Artist’s Society of Phillip Island Cup Day Exhibition last year and also was Highly Commended Best in Show at ASPI Easter Show 2017. She has work on show at present at Artspace in Wonthaggi and at the new Leongatha Hospital. Her portrait of ‘Brenda’ was one of the first sales at the Great Southern Portrait Show in last year. More work can also be seen at the Victorian Artist’s Society in East Melbourne on a regular bases. 2018 Zulu won the Victorian Artists Society George Hicks Foundation Contemporary Art Prize and also won Contemporary art prize at the Phillip Island Cup weekend art show.
Next...
Always wanting to try something new, Zulu continues to study, is a regular participant at life drawing and portrait painting and a painter at Artback every year. Heather also performs with tribal bellydance troupe Womanjah and designs and makes many of their costumes. At present she is working an another exhibition at The Victoria Artists’ Society, in East MelbourneOct - Nov 2019
| 
