Peta Lloyd

As a bricoleur, I retell and reinvent stories using layers of materials; found discarded and natural objects, paper, and fabrics. I relish the process of creating art from the found. I combine diverse materials printing, marking, layering, and stitching, deconstructing, and reconstructing to create new stories.

My predominant themes are narrative, the natural world, and explorations of the human condition. I draw from personal and family histories and experiences, seeking the stories and energies from people, places, objects, and materials.

My work is tactile, layered, inwardly reflective and intimate in scale, the viewer is often invited to touch or manipulate it. The longevity of my work is not of major concern to me, instead I hope that my core values of re-using and not wasting will show the beauty of the often overlooked and undervalued, and that my work will provide joy and wonder to those who explore it.

My practice ranges from free expressive mark making to mediative hand stitching, the process driven techniques of printmaking in several forms: including: collagraph, dry point paper plate, cyanotype, eco dyeing/print, are used to create further layers of meaning and story to the work. The artforms assemblage and artist's books are incorporated into my work, as are the mediums of encaustic, plaster and textiles.

I am responsive to the materials I use within my work, embracing the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi -- an aesthetic of imperfection, beauty in ageing and the ordinary, and the Buddhist philosophies of mottainai -- not wasting what nature gives us, and Shinto -- the belief that objects have souls, within my pieces.

My unique works are often housed within a vessel, an artist's book or installed as unframed wall-pieces. The challenge of presenting my work within the traditional gallery setting in a unique and cost-effective way is an ongoing process of investigation and discovery.

Exhibitions: 2015 -- Solo Exhibition 'The Crocodile Series' Rockhampton Gallery -- Artists Books & Prints | 2006-current date -- Numerous small group exhibitions within Central Queensland, Region, Cairns and Mackay Regions, Brisbane, Ballarat and Port Fairy Victoria, and Newcastle New South Wales | 2018 -- Collection Intervention Rockhampton Art Gallery | 2015-2022 -- Finalist Libris Award, Bayton Award and Biblio Art Prize

Collections: 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020 -- Central Queensland University | 2012 and 2013 -- Rockhampton Art Gallery | 2011 -- Artspace Mackay | 2008 and 2015 -- State Library Queensland

Publications: 2021 -- Delving Deeper into Visual Language | 2015 -- 'Stitch Stories' by Cas Holmes

Awards: 2017 -- Biblio Art Award | 2016 -- CQU Creates, Vice Chancellor's Award | 2015 -- The Bayton Award: highly commended, Biblio Art Award | 2014 CQU Creates, Vice Chancellor's Award

Public Art: 2017 -- Drawn to Life and Newsprints and Paste-Ups | 2016 -- River Dreamweaving (Collaborative event-based public art project) | 2015 -- Big River Draw (Collaborative event-based public art project), Rockhampton River Festival | 2013 -- TRACE: Art, poetry and the built environment (Collaborative event), Rockhampton Botanic Gardens

Education: Artist Transformation School, Auspicious Arts Incubator, Melbourne (2014), TAFE Diploma of Visual Arts, Central Queensland (2007), Bachelor of Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville (1996)

W: peta@petalloyd.com | Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petamargaretlloyd/ | Facebook: http://facebook.com/petalloydvisualartist