Cullinan won the residency through the School of Arts and Humanities Graduate Exhibition, and created this collection for the residency exhibition at Spectrum. She has been painting since 2011, and previously studied fashion and textiles before moving to visual art.
Cullinan says her inspiration comes from photographs of her life. One painting in particular was modelled off a photograph of her son on school camp, which reminded her of her childhood, so it was only fitting for her to bring it to life on canvas.
As well as photographs, she takes inspiration from the newspaper, choosing to paint arresting images that grab your attention while flicking through the pages.
The other resident artist, Torsten Knorr, stuck to just one theme for his collection, taking his inspiration from a trip to Italy. He mentions that while in the country, he took a walk to a local creek where people were bathing in the sun. From this he chose to explore the idea of the women gathering together, which in turn led to his paintings of women in different coloured bathers and various poses.
Knorr says that ‘Bathers is an idea he’s wanted to do for a long time', and knows it is one he most likely will continue to work on until he has achieved exactly the type of image he wants to portray on the canvas.
Photography Travel