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Denise Campbell

Island landscapes have had a profound influence on Denise’s work. The closeness of the sea and its edges, journeys and vessels combine to create poetic statements of great technical mastery.

The artist’s distinctive use of curved lines, often referencing boat shapes can be seen in much of her work, along with simple bowl forms. Both forms are non-threatening, still and reflective, quietly throwing the challenge of a bowl as a receptacle for sustenance or an offering.

Figures are implied rather than show, just a mythical keepers of lighthouses guide boats to safety. Boats cannot travel without oarsmen, bowls need providers and receivers, and the bowl casts a shadow as the sundial informs time.  Denise’s painting is unsigned, like the unknown craftsman the paintings must speak for themselves.

 Yvonne Adkins, Associate Curator of Fine Art, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston 2006

Denise was born in Hobart, Tasmania. She currently lives and works in Launceston. In 1974, Denise was awarded a Diploma of Fine Art, Tasmanian College of Advanced Education, Launceston. The following year she received a Diploma of Post Graduate Studies - painting and drawing, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.

It is here her love of Scotland began and she has made return trips many times. Her career as an artist includes an extensive exhibition history beginning in 1974. Denise spent many years teaching art part-time, in tertiary educational institutions and exhibited her work extensively in Tasmania, interstate, Scotland and the Netherlands.

Denise’s work whilst never directly figurative, the images often suggest where people have been : the apparent inconsequential traces left by man : the shadow of human habitation “ island life and journeys that we make both ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ are recurring themes.