Artist Statement

My focus as an artist involves exploration of ‘the mystery of the line’ primarily in the mediums of painting and drawing, In January 2021, during Margaret Olley's Drawing Week, at the National Art School (NAS), I traced the top of a painting desk. I extracted lines from those tracings that I traced or projected onto canvases and paper. This initial playful impulse gradually evolved into a body of work characterised by brightly coloured shapes and forms, resulting in a contemporary take on modern and pop art formats. Subsequently, I discovered intriguing lines on beechwood panels and found objects, diversifying my practice. The line remains key to my artistic endeavour and has merged with my interest in Palimpsest. My current work involves the use of mixed media techniques, such as combining several types of paints to create a contrast between transparency and opacity. I use pastels and charcoal alongside the paints to give depth. I use sand and glue, and I experiment with the incorporation of vegetation (bark, leaves, and flowers) to provide shapes. I incorporate collage elements like fabric, photographs, and paper for unique textures. I draw on my memory, imagination, and life experiences to develop the story I seek to tell in each painting. I constantly research the work of artists from which I find inspiration and guidance.

Bio

Virginia Lydiard completed her BFA at the National Art School, Sydney, in 2022. Majoring in painting, at the time of her graduation Lydiard’s work was an expression of line, which has remained a feature in her subsequent work. In 2022, Lydiard was shortlisted as an artist of interest in the Clyde & Co Art Awards, and two of her paintings, Gemini (2021) and Sylvania Waters (2021) were exhibited in their Sydney office throughout 2022. Lydiard held a solo exhibition called Following the Line at the Ditty Wheels Art Gallery, in Willoughby, Sydney, in July 2023. A central work from the exhibition, Magical Wanderings Under the Sea (2021) was selected for the Vincent Art Prize at Duckrabbit Art Gallery, Newtown, Sydney, after it had been entered in the Wynne Prize, AGNSW, Sydney, in 2022. In September 2024, Lydiard’s work was included in a group exhibition called Nine Artists, curated by Cilla Campbell (cillacampbell.com) in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. She has donated paintings To the Women’s Hospital at Randwick and the Ignite Art Show at the Women’s College at Sydney University in 2024 and 2025. Lydiard’s work has been featured in press articles, including ‘Portrait of an Artist as an Older Woman’ by Heath Gilmore, Sydney Morning Herald, 2019, and ‘Why this class of 2021 has nothing to lose, and you should buy their work’, Linda Morris, Sydney Morning Herald, 2022. Also in 2022, James Valentine interviewed Lydiard on the ABC Breakfast Show, in a segment titled, ‘Being a barrister is like being an artist because you don’t know how it's going to evolve’.