From NYC to the ancient Lake Mungo: acclaimed artist and animator Brenda Stace Chat holds first central west exhibition
Brenda Stace Chat has exhibited all over the world, but this June the Cowra-based artist will launch her first local exhibition at Rosnay Wines Cellar Door in Canowindra.
Primarily a painter and sculptor, Brenda has exhibited her work in countries such as Germany and South Korea, and earned international acclaim.
An alumnus of the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, Brenda was mentored by the Art Gallery of NSW’s Bill Wright, who motivated her to travel to the USA to attend the New York Studio School. There, she received tutelage from the Dean, renowned Australian artist William Wright AM, and attended lectures from the likes of Lee Krasner (best known as the wife of Jackson Pollock but an extraordinary abstract expressionist artist in her own
right), pioneering video artist Nam June Paik, and abstract expressionist painter George McNeil.
Brenda’s works have also been exhibited in Sydney at the S.H. Ervin Gallery – Salon des Refuses in 2012 and are held in the collections of both BHP and Western Power.
Outside the world of fine art, Brenda has spent much of her career in the animation industry.
From her first job as an assistant animator in 1975, Brenda has gone on to work on notable productions such as the pioneering live-action/animated feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit, long-running children's television staple, Sesame Street and spent three years as the Overseas Animation Director for Mike Judge’s popular animated sitcom, King of the Hill.
While King of the Hill went on to win two Emmy Awards and was included in Time magazine’s 2007 list of "The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time," Brenda said she wasn’t initially a fan.
“Having spent most of my career in classical animation, I certainly wasn’t the target audience for King of the Hill, but I was offered the job and said, ‘Yes’,” Brenda recalled.
“The first thing I did was read the script and I thought, this is brilliant! I had a great deal of respect for it once I was engaged.”
Now living in a magnificently renovated tin shed down by the railway tracks in Cowra, Brenda has been focusing more on her own art; painting as well as creating stunning wall-hanging sculptures from the “carcasses” of old pianos.
“For me, that’s just such a terrible crime,” Brenda said, referring to the discarding and neglect of old pianos. “Because when you open them up there’s a cornucopia of stories in there! It’s just such a reference to time and it’s full of the most marvellous wood and metal.”
For her exhibition opening at Rosnay Wines Cellar Door on Saturday, June 3, Brenda spent time camping and painting out amongst the ancient landscapes of Lake Mungo in far western NSW. A trip that echoes previous solo camps to the Pilbara in Western Australia which resulted in works that won her the Pilbara Art Award in 2004.
Brenda’s exhibition opens 6pm Saturday, June 3, at Rosnay Wines Cellar Door, Canowindra, and will run for the month of June.