Biography
The first mark made on a new piece of canvas or wood is always a mark that carries infinite possibilities. Making a mark is an action that can be ambivalent, presenting the mark-maker (‘The painter’ as we now like to call him or her) with both the excitement of a possible new creation and the fear of failing to achieve the power of emotional and visual effect intended. The psychological dynamic behind the mark-making also offers numerous possibilities as to the manner in which to proceed. The painter may come to the canvas or the wood with an image already in mind, or she may choose to let one mark follow another in a process of discovery that will produce something so new (at least in the mind and history of the artist) that it can truly be said that the artist is an instrument of various forces which are not immediately easy to name or describe. This last – the process method – carries with it the danger of frustration and failure to such an extent that many artists prefer to paint ‘what they know’ or what is familiar to them; hence, the popularity of the representational art to both the artist and the viewing public.
Margaret Fane, who has been painting for a good many years, moves between the familiar and the unfamiliar, between the representational and the abstract. In both styles, she has the courage to innovate with both materials and the application of paint – between traditional representation and heavy sculptural effect, always looking for that most elusive thing – a style that does not degenerate into a recognisable cliche. Her work is always changing and risks are always being taken.
Her most notable feature is her colouring. She is most definitely a colourist over and above everything else, and her grasp of the relation of colours to each other is both intuitive and visually well grounded. It is an artistic instinct that drives her to search again and again for a visual language that assists us, her viewers, in sharing her delight in life and in the sights she sees around her in Western Australia.
Irish Artist Joe Walsh OFM 2004
Margaret was born in 1950 and educated at Stella Maris College in Geraldton Western Australia.
She has been trained as an artist at Stella Maris College, Geraldton: Leaving Certificate 1965, the Franciscan Monastery in Rome 2003 Perth Technical College 2002, Claremont School of Art 2004 – 2006 and the Fremantle Art Centre 2011-2014. Margaret holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Fine Art from Curtin University 2014-2017. She is a member of the Alfred Cove Art Society, Atwell Art Society and Friends of Ellis House Art Centre.
Margaret has had many successful solo and group exhibitions in Perth. A collection of Margaret’s paintings are a part of Archbishop Hickey’s private collection. She has an annual exhibition at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth on Easter Sunday. All proceeds from her paintings support The Catholic Archbishops works for the Poor and Emeritus Archbishop Hickey’s homeless and orphanage projects.
Images of her paintings are displayed on the 2015 Liturgical Calendar for the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth.
Her work is copyright.
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Exhibitions
2000-2019 Prestigous Art Exhibition. Easter Sunday. St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth, Western Australia
2002 Ellis House Gallery, Bayswater
2004 Ellis House Galley, Bayswater
2006 Atwell Art Gallery, Alfred Cove
2008 Atwell Art Gallery, Alfred Cove
2010 Moores Gallery, Fremantle
2011 Ellis House Art Gallery, Bayswater
2013 Atwell Art Gallery, Alfred Cove
2014 Ellis House Art Gallery, Bayswater
2016 Moores Art Gallery, Fremantle
2017 Gallery at Curtin, Curtin University
2018 Ellis House Art Gallery, Bayswater
2018 Yangebup Catholic Parish, (Homeless Project with Archbishop Hickey)
2018 Beaconsfield Catholic Parish, (Homeless Project with Archbishop Hickey)
2018 Victoria Park Catholic Parish, (Homeless Project with Archbishop Hickey)
2019 Attadale Catholic Parish, (Homeless Project with Archbishop Hickey)
2019 St Jerome’s Catholic Church, Munster,(Orphanage Project)
2019 St Cecelia’s Catholic Church, Floreat, ( Homeless Project with Archbishop Hickey)
2019 St Francis Xaviers Catholic Parish, Armadale (Homeless Project with Archbishop Hickey)
2019 Guest Artist, Genesis Exhibition, (Mandurah Catholic College)
2019 Advent Exhibition (St Mary’s Cathedral Perth, Archbishop presiding)
2019 St Jerome’s Catholic Parish (Munster) Christmas Exhibition.
2020 Good Shepherd Parish, Kelmscott (Homeless Project with Archbishop Hickey)
2020 St Jeromes Catholic Parish Christmas Exhibition
2021 St Benedict’s Catholic Church with Emeritus Archbishop Hickey for project helping child prostitutes in Cambodia and Daydawn
2021 Star of the Sea church Cottesloe with Emeritus Archbishop Hickey for projects helping child prostitutes in Cambodia and Daydawn
2021 St Cecelias Catholic parish Floreat with Emeritus Archbishop Barry Hickey for projects helping child prostitutes in Cambodia.
2021 Holy Rosary Catholic Parish. Nedlands, with Emeritus Archbishop Hickey for projects helping child prostitutes in Cambodia .
2021 St Bernadettes Catholic Parish. Glendalough for children caught in Prostitution in Cambodia
2021 Matre Christie Catholic Parish. Yangebup. Christmas Exhibition for DayDawn (Homeless)
2022 St Cecelias Catholic Parish. Floreat. Homeless Project
2022 Star of the Sea Parish. Peppermint Grove. Aid To the Church in Need.
2022 Mater Christie Catholic Parish. Yangebup. The Longest Journey is the Journey Within.
Publications
2005-2014 The Record Catholic Newspaper
2015 Catholic Liturgical Calendar
2016 Circuit Western Australian Contemporary Art
2017 Degree Show Catalogue, Curtin University
2018 The Record Catholic newspaper
2019 Genesis Art Exhibition Catalogue. Mandurah Catholic College.
Her “Memory” paintings are a series of paintings drawing on the memory of the time when she was growing up in Geraldton, Western Australia. She has recorded her recollections of the sufferings of the Aboriginal people at the time.
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Artist Statement
Painting is a place for me.
A home away from home.
A place where I can go and feel completely at ease; a place where I come face to face with myself; the canvas being my other self.
It is a dialogue, sometimes peaceful, sometimes frustrating, sometimes angry, sometimes exciting and sometimes one with myself.
I am primarily an abstract artist, working mainly in Acrylics.
I am also a representational artist, especially when I want to say something.
I am an abstract expressionist and am influenced and inspired by the works of Joan Mitchell, CY Twombly, Van Gogh, Kirchner and Howard Hodgkin, always searching
for my own expression without relying on other artists.
My work is often spontaneous, which is sometimes exciting, sometimes frustrating.
It is a journey which I can map, watch, change and grow.
I feel happy when I paint, sometimes never finishing.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but the challenge is worth enduring, the focus is exciting and the dream reachable.
For me, painting is a way of touching one’s soul and asking what is it all about?
Margaret Fane
