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About the Artist
 Foreword from Joan Eastman - Writer: "The images of paintings on canvas and artworks on paper featured in this webgallery are representative of Beverley Budgen's unique and visually appealing style from a mature body of work completed from 1975 to the present. Her distinctive style continues to gain in stature and respect, appreciated by discerning art lovers world-wide. Through the convenience of this webgallery, both private and public collectors are adding fine examples of Australian Art to their collections. Enjoy".
Beverley Budgen - a long-established Australian artist - works first exhibited in 1954 Her engaging themes reflect, like many women artists before her, the richness of her surroundings, the love of family, travels to distant ports and palaces, with dashes of the magic found in Mother Nature. According to The Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Australia): “This Brisbane artist, whose continuing love affair with atmospheric buildings and places around the world, takes us from medieval France to the battlements of London, from the heart of rural England to the blinding light and crumbling facades of outback Australia, delighting the eye. Beverley Budgen’s mixed media works in the Gallerie Baguette Facades exhibition, Brisbane 1985, capture the flavour and charm of the eccentric hotel at 9 Rue Git le Coeur, Paris. The lines are loose, fluid, suitably sensual negligee for the establishment which borders on the deliciously seedy. Louche cats lounge on curvaceous iron balconies; doors close tantisingly at the tread of an approaching foot, the claustrophobic mix of wallpapers in the cramped foyer is unmistakably vulgar and de trop. Even the colours in which Budgen paints the ageing structures are perfectly apt." -art critic Kate Collins. In 1995, Beverley Budgen joined acclaimed Queensland artists to present the "A Time Remembered: Art in Brisbane 1950 - 1975" exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery. Comments on Beverley's featured works in this exhibition included: "Beverley and several other artists concerned themselves with modernist styles to express their perceptions and ideas of creativity that were current at the time." The prevailing style that typified paintings in the 1960s and '70s may have attracted the notion that modernism was a vehicle for Beverley Budgen's artwork. But in truth, the results of her accomplishments represent the sum total of 55 years of devotion to her craft, which was ignited at the early age of 6 and has always been strongly motivated by a desire to express herself in paint. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Beverley Budgen's art displays a very feminine, surprisingly childlike delight in the moment, both in scenes of the everyday - a Shelley teaset on a table, a bowl of fruit on a red lacquer chest, a jardiniere in the kind of room in which Matisse might have lived - and in landscapes at home and abroad, from the sight of a skiff on Loch Insh to a view of the picture filling Palace of Four Winds in Jaipur. Her paintings are the bright and joyful snapshots of a fresh, inexhaustible world taken by someone who has lived deeply and noticed much. Christopher Greaves - author of The Chalk Giant _____________________________________________________________________________________ESSAY BY GLENN COOKE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY CURATOR For more than forty years and with more than twenty solo exhibitions to her credit it is clear Beverley Budgen that has been committed to her art practice. It is very convenient to begin this survey of Bev Budgen's career in art with Evening veils enfold the land 1973 as it was selected for inclusion in the Queensland Art Gallery's 1995 exhibition 'A time remembered: art in Brisbane 1950 to 1975'. The work provides a key indicator of her influences to that time. Budgen was born in Brisbane and from an early age expressed an interest in art as a juvenile acrylic The weigh in, Hamilton 1954 indicates. She studied with Gloria Logan at Brisbane Girls Grammar and at age 18 enrolled in the commercial art course at the Central Technical College but gave up after six months. Budgen's career was established in the flurry of excitement that energised the Brisbane art scene in the 1960s through the example of the Directors of the Queensland Art Gallery, the support of critic Dr Gertrude Langer, the proliferation of the art prize and last but not least, the rivalry between contemporary artists Jon Molvig and Roy Churcher. She studied under Roy Churcher at the College from 1963 to 1964 and subsequently enrolled in the Queensland Arts Council's Vacation Schools in 1964, 1976 and 1979. It was through the connection with Roy Churcher that she became a member of the Wednesday Group (and the youngest of the group at that).The Wednesday Group were women painters who were active in Brisbane in the years from 1963 to 1972 and who sub-let Churcher's studio at St. Mary's Anglican Church at Kangaroo Point on a Wednesday. The initial members were Dorothy Akers, Deirdre Bennett, Alison Coaldrake, Joy Hutton and Rona Van Erp who were all students of Roy Churcher. (1) Like Budgen, these women were enthusiastic participitants in the annual exhibitions of the Contemporary Art Society of Australia (Queensland Branch). She was included in the Group's exhibitions 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1972 at the Design Arts Centre, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane. The birth of her children in the mid sixties precluded her attendance at many of the vacation schools for more than a decade but she was kept 'up to date' via the other members. Although Budgen was largely self taught the early influence of Churcher and through him, the shared experience of the Wednesday Group is strong and the continuing. Her passion for colour can be traced to these early years. There is a recognisable style, in the use of broken squarish colour patches, which developed amongst members of the Wednesday Group through Churcher's promotion of his ideas of creativity and abstraction. By the 1970s however, the regularity of the discrete colour patches softened as can be seen in Evening veils enfold the land. Veil It is an emotional response to the softening effects of light and feeling of sadness that twilight engenders. The soft lavenders and blues are broken by shimmering patches of gold leaf to reflect the last glimmers of the sun. 1973 marks a key year for Budgen's career as her youngest child started school and she was free to resume her focus on painting. As a direct result she held her first solo exhibition also at the Design Arts Centre in October. 1973 also marks the award of her first significant prize at the Warana-Caltex Oil, Watercolour, Sculpture and Pottery Contest 1973 for Oranges and lemons. Suncity split windscreen 1977 is a work tied to the experience of these early years as Budgen recalled: 'It was based on something I glanced at when I parked my car in the city. It would have been only for a few seconds' but it took her more than five years to resolve the image to her satisfaction. (2) Both the opening out and loosening of forms in the two works from 1973 discussed and the formalising of structure in Suncity, Split Windscreen were to integrated into the work which resulted from the next major impetus to Budge's career. An interest in French modern art and Parisian themes was evident in her exhibition at the Point Danger Gallery in 1980 so it was quite natural for a visit to the inspirational source should follow in 1982. The narrow format of painting such as Rue git le Coeur, Paris 1983 (the family hotel where she stayed) demonstrates her more structured approach and reveals the underlying drawing framework behind the thinly brushed overlaying paint surface. A fellow artist, Mal Leckie had remarked of her technique: Her line is confident and she doesn't hesitate to restate a line when it has been put down in error. The erroneous line remains - it is part of the event that is a painting (3) While this is a comment accurate to the appearance of the line is not accurate to the process as Budgen is searching for lines to suggest, not necessarily define, the form. It is rather akin to a meditative process. Although Budgen had visited north Queensland from 1956 and held tutorials and workshops these works were to introduce Budgen's work to northern audiences in her 1984 exhibition at the Martin Gallery, Townsville (4) and also introduces the main body of her work in this survey exhibition. Budgen's base has remained firmly in Queensland although this visit was the first of her frequent excursion to foreign places If gentleness, sensitivity, a facility for the decorative, delicacy of touch and appreciation of colour may be defined as feminine traits then Budgen's art reflects these conditions and is intensely feminine. Budgen has been exploring the female/feminine principle in art from mid 1980s. In 1987 Budgen became introduced to the spiritual teachings of Shri Mataji Nirmila Devi and her special interpretation of kundilini yoga, Sahaja Yoga, and has remained deeply involved since. Apart from its spiritual and meditative disciplines and vibrational sensitivity, Sahaj Yoga espouses the principle of 'thoughtful awareness': being receptive to your inner spirit so the creative principle can flow through you and be expressed unmediated by the ego. She recalls of this relationship: When I heard Shri Mataji talk about Michelangelo and other famous artists and about art critics and about the vibrations that flowed from the surface of a painting which was well balance and principled, I slowly realised many of my unvoiced questions were being answered. I was comforted enough to keep working in my direction regardless of the critical reception of my work. (5) She made her first pilgrimage to India in 1988 where the colour and vitality of the sub-continent made its impact on her has it has made on numerous travellers. This was the time when an intensely decorative patternism was seen in her work notable in a work such as Palace of the four winds, Jaipur 1989 in which the façade of the palace is reiterated in changing units and placed above a register of caparisoned elephants. It was at this juncture that Budgen was included in an exhibition acknowledging the contribution of women to Queensland's visual arts history which was presented at the Centre Gallery, Surfers Paradise at the time of the Australian Bicentenary: 'A complementary caste: a homage to women artists in Queensland past and present'. The exhibition was a response to the growing awareness of feminist issues and a revaluation of the work of neglected female artists. However, Sahaj Yoga seems inimical to these values as it supports traditional family values and the roles appropriate to the male and the female gender. In an interesting sideline decoration took on a more formal note in a series of works on paper which she produced around 1990 and which were inspired by the visit to India. The final work in the series, Ganapatipoule was begun during her time as visiting artist in the Queensland Art Gallery education studio in 1991. In these works, landscapes were placed centrally and framed by blocks of colours and decorative arches to that they appeared enclosed in a niche. If you peruse the details of Palace of Four Winds, Jaipur you will notice that the window elements in the palace's facade is very similar in structure to this format. Budgen also translated this style to north Queensland subjects and works which demonstrate this quality in this exhibition are Prince of Wales Island FNQ 1989 and Alma Bay, Magnetic Island 1992. In both the landscape element functions almost as a vignette and is made subservient to the over all decorative effect. The Indian linkage is made specific in the title of the series 'Eastern Frameworks'. Budgen moved back to her childhood home at 106 Bolan Street, Bulimba in 1992 to care for her ageing mother and remained there until 1999. The interiors and views from the house remained much the same as she recalled as child seeing from the railed verandah. In 1993 she held an exhibition of paintings inspired by them location 'There is something about the river' at Riverhouse Galleries, Brisbane. Later works such as A walk to the Apollo Ferry 1994 depicts the somewhat derelict houses and semi-industrial buildings on the waterfront express the character of the show. Hamilton Hill 1994 depicts the view across the river to one of Brisbane's most select addresses but the open view and gracious, period houses suggest a more gracious, earlier time than the crowded and congested actuality. A mini retrospective exhibition was held at the Café Water Street Gallery, Brisbane in 1995. Quote from Kate Collins - - - but unfortunately there weren't any Western Queensland works in the show!!!!! In the paintings I have been doing over the last seven or eight years, including the landscapes I've done of western Queensland, I have tried to weld my spiritual sources into what we have here. There has been no need to change what we have , because I see the same timeless beauty in it. It is all leading back tom the same source. . . . Kate Collins. 'Images of India and the outback'. Courier-Mail, 16 Sep. 1995 The outback from her experiences as a tutor with the Australian Flying Arts School. Cornwall and Devon were the focus of her 1995 exhibition at the Red Hill Gallery, Brisbane However since Budgen has removed to Cairns her quantity of solo exhibitions has been much reduced. She held an exhibition of her work at the Hub Gallery, Mission Beach in 2000 but there are very few commercial galleries of substance in the area. Following on from Budgen's exhibition at the Red Hill Gallery, Brisbane she had had a body of work created in North Queensland displayed there in 2005. Wide Bay Art Society and the Queensland Arts Council sponsored a two day seminar at the Maryborough TAFW, 19-20 March When on COLOUR There could be a no more potent acknowledgement of the influence of French artist as the Composition in red 2004 derives from Matisse's Red studio 1911 although Budgen's red is even more intense. Endnotes: 1. Shirley Miller, Irene Amos, Joyce Hyam, Mona Gasteen and Marie McElwain were also members at different stage. 2. 'Paint 'pot of gold', The Courier-Mail, 18 Sept. 1979. This work was awarded the open prize in the City of Rockhampton Art Competition. 3. Lekie, Mal 'A showing art buffs should see', Gold Coast Bulletin, 16 August 1980 4. She also held exhibition at the Martin gallery in 1979 and 1984 . 5. Conversation with artist, 16 March 2010. She recalls a similar confirmation of her direction in art when she heard the famous American critic, Clement Greenberg, speak at the Abel Smith Lecture Theatre, Queensland University in 1968. |
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