Libbet Loughnan

Libbet Loughnan uses oil or acrylic on board to depict animals, portraits and stories. Her imagery captures in rich colors and dark shadows, a childhood rich in family warmth under the Australian sun, and of stories encountered across countries in adult life. The pieces explore connectedness: striving to convey stories that have shaped her and people she loves, but which have not been recorded sufficiently or at all.

Having trained at Robert Drummond’s Geelong Fine Art School, Loughnan then worked for a time with state galleries in Oaxaca to run an art programme among street children, and exhibited their work and her own for their families’ profit. Later, living in Beijing for over years, Loughnan attended life drawing classes and taught a series of art classes for impoverished children on the China-Burma border.

Loughnan is inspired by artists Frida Kahlo, Brett Whitely, John Olsen, Françoise Gilot, Robert Drummond, Hunt Slonem, Brenda Napaltjarri, Robert Ingpen, her family, and by scuba diving and exploring. Libbet is also interested in collecting art and dead little (cleaned) sea creatures, to have some inspiration while she paints in New York or the country and beach side near Melbourne.