Luminosity

The way light refracts, reflects or is absorbed, together with the wonder of sight, allows us to visually perceive the forms, colours and vibrance in our world.

We can marvel at the way light energy illuminates our surroundings: water, skies, flora, fauna, man-made environments, our fellow humans. The incredible array that Nature provides extends even beyond the real world, to our dreams.

Marina and Catherine have put together a luminous exhibition which shows their fascination for the journey of light.

Catherine McCorkill lives in the lower Blue Mountains where she works from a small studio, mainly focusing on oil painting, printmaking and drawing..

In 2022, Catherine was a finalist in the Kennedy Arts Foundation Prize in Adelaide, her artwork was selected as a finalist for the NSW Lake Art Prize, and as a semi-finalist in the Darling Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery.

Catherine’s work, “Ivor Houston: On Foot Across Australia” is being exhibited until April 2nd at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Katoomba City Art Gallery, as part of the Blue Mountains Portraits 2023 exhibition.

After many years as a highly successful classical musician, Catherine’s artistic pursuits became directed towards visual art, when a hand problem ended her performing career. She studied Drawing at the ANU School of Art in Canberra as a second study during her music degree, and more recently at the Nepean Art and Design Centre, where Catherine discovered a love of portraiture. This has led her to further study towards a MA (Studio Arts) through the Florence Academy of Art, Italy, where she will attend in July / August this year, for the final session of the course, focusing on the techniques of the old masters..

Marina Strijakova resides in Sydney, Australia. Marina became fascinated by the beauty of our planet from an early age, which led her to start her career as a biologist. When she migrated to Australia, Marina found a new passion in expressing her love for animal and plant worlds in oil paintings, pastel artworks, and her unique controlled acrylic colour flow style. She learned visual art skills from the best in their field, attending a series of art workshops over the years. Now an artist with a defined style, Marina grows her artistic exposure, both online and physically. Marina's realism and other works earned recognition as finalists for multiple awards and prizes, including prizes in the Sydney Royal Easter Show events and Liverpool Art Society Annual Art Prizes.