Christmas 2021 and March 2022 Grid Drawing

Vanessa Thompson is an emerging artist residing in Southeast Queensland. Currently studying in her final year of a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), Vanessa intends to teach adult art-based workshops once she graduates. She will also offer art therapy sessions in conjunction with her Counselling Diploma.

Vanessa works across a variety of mediums including ceramics, 2D and 3D dry felting, hand stitching, painting in watercolours and acrylics, photography, sculpture, and weaving. She has a life-long love of art and creating, that was encouraged by the many artists in her family and began with drawing followed closely by hand stitching from a very young age.

Vanessa endeavours to conceptualise the stories of her family history in her art, as this combines her love of personal and family history with her creative endeavours. She has found many unique stories that she believes should be shared with the world; stories of convicts, pioneers, flights from persecution, overcoming extreme circumstances, war, romance, bushrangers, and survival. Vanessa believes that these stories and her memories, can best be preserved through artistic mediums, which she has begun with sculptures and ceramics.

As Vanessa continues to develop her artistic style, mainly in ceramics, researching different clay bodies and glazes, as well as refining her throwing and hand building techniques is a major component of her current Visual Arts Project. She believes that to be able to transfer this knowledge to others in a workshop setting, she first needs to have a strong understanding of the products she uses, alongside the processes involved in ceramics. Concocting a few of her own glazes from Janet De Boos’ Glazes for Australian Potters book has been a process that she wishes to continue as she studies. Making test tiles to see how these glazes react will then enable Vanessa to include them with the right clay bodies, and fire to the correct temperatures.

Many traditional artists have influenced Vanessa through her life, Vincent van Gogh for his use of colour and unique brush stroke style; Max Mannix, Pro Hart and Tom Roberts for their uniquely Australian perspective and colour use; and Leonardo da Vinci for his anatomically accurate depictions within his figures.

Vanessa is looking forward to continuing to develop her own style, to holding more exhibitions, and to share her understanding and knowledge of different art processes to others through community creative workshops.