Staff Profiles

Education

MFA , University of California, Santa Barbara, USA , 1985 .
BFA , City Art Institute, Sydney, Australia , 1983 .
DipArtEd, GradDip , Alexander Mackie College of Advance Education, Sydney, Australia , 1978, 1981 .

Areas of Expertise

Painting, Drawing, Digital Media for Painters and Photomedia. The Veneration of Trees in India.

Teaching Areas

Painting, Drawing, Photomedia, Digital Media.

Current Research Activity

As an environmentally concerned artist, Louise Fowler-Smith has for some time been interested in how other cultures, past and present, describe the land as a sacred place through their myths, stories and symbolic visual languages.

To date Louise's research has explored the symbolism of the Alchemists, the Celts, and aspects of Australian Aboriginal imagery in relation to the sacredness of the land. In the second half of 2003 Louise traveled through India conducting research on the symbolism of the tree in the narrative and mythological traditions of Indian Culture. This research has resulted in hundreds of photographs of examples of Tree Worship and Tree Veneration in both Indigenous and Hindu life, which will ultimately result in a book and an exhibition. In 2005 Louise returned to India on an Anthony Mason Fellowship to further this research and to establish collaborations between ILIRI and Art Institutions in India.

As the co-founder of the Imaging the Land International Research Institute (ILIRI), with Idris Murphy and Ian Grant, Louise is also interested in how different cultures relate to and represent the land in the twenty-first century.

Formally Louise's work fits into the category of ‘new media’, combining painting with digital technology, photography and aspects of sculpture (specifically with glass).

Publications

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2003, In Memory of Trees II. Gallery Teneleven , Melbourne, VIC.

2001, In Memory of Trees . King Street Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

1994, Louise Fowler-Smith. Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, NSW .

1992, Imbalance- In Search of the Androgyne. Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

1988, Louise Fowler-Smith. Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney,NSW.

Group Exhibitions

2006, Out There – Paris. Alliance Français Paris, Paris, France.

2005, Going Out There. Ivan Dougherty Gallery , Sydney, NSW.

2004, The Tree in Changing Light. Bower House Gallery, Milton, NSW.

2004, Small Wonders. The Delmar Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

2004, COFA Fundraising Exhibition. Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

2003, Small Wonders. The Delmar Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

2003, Placemark. COFA Exhibition and Performance Spaces, Sydney, NSW.

2003, Works on Paper Exhibition. Delmar Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

2002, Strathfield Eco Art Prize and exhibition. Strathfield Town hall, Sydney, NSW.

2001, Intersections of Art and Science. Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

2001, Histories in the Making. Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

1999, Shifting Currents. Ivan Dougherty gallery, Sydney, NSW.

1998, What We Do. COFA Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

1998, Co- Existence. Hogarth Galeries and The University of Wollongong, NSW.

1997, Field of Dreams. S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney,NSW.

1996, Group Exhibition. Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

Conference Papers

Fowler-Smith, L. (2006). Imaging the Land International Research Institute and my work. The Artificial Land- International Exchange, (Centre fo Visual Art(CBK), Utrecht, Utrecht School of the Arts(HKU) & The Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, Utrecht, Holland.

Grants

Contestable Funding, The Songlines Project-ILIRI and Utrecht School of Arts. (2006), .

COFA Grant, UNSW, Travel in India to conduct research for a book and an exhibition on the sacred treatment of Trees; honor an Anthony Mason Fellowship and establish a collaboration with JN University, Delhi in India. (2005), .

The Anthony Mason Fellowship, University of NSW, Australia , Research on the Sacred Treatment of Trees in India. (2004), .

SSP & Travel Grant, UNSW, Research and documentation of the many forms of Tree Worship in India. (2003), .