Lucy Maddox is a visual artist living in Carlton, originally from Kentucky. She is an Artist in Residence at Pentridge Studios in Coburg and has been a finalist in the Lyn McCrea Memorial Drawing Prize and the Banyule Works on Paper prize, with upcoming solo exhibitions in 2022 in Fitzroy and St Albans. Before transitioning to art full-time, Lucy completed graduate studies in linguistics at the University of Melbourne. This background informs her practice, as much of her work responds to the human body, touch and gesture. She runs workshops in plein air sketching and has over ten years’ teaching experience in Australia and overseas. In addition to teaching at VAS and operating a freelance art career, she is currently employed as a Content Writer for Melbourne Polytechnic’s creative arts curriculum.
2018 - 2020, RMIT Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts
2012 - 2014, Melbourne Uni Master of Applied Linguistics
Almost, oil on canvas, 50 cm x 60 cm, 2024
Hunger VI, oil on canvas, 2022
Lucy Maddox painting at the dining room table in 2020.
Hunger II, oil on canvas, 61 cm x 61 cm, 2022
"As a pre-schooler in Kentucky, I insisted that when I grew up I would be an art teacher. (I also proclaimed that I would be a nomad living in a Winnebago.) Instead, I pursued a career in linguistics and language acquisition, which seemed like a sensible and adult choice. I completed a Bachelor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. I taught English in Seoul, Korea for a year before emigrating to Australia and getting my Master of Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne in 2014. For over ten years I taught English as a Second Language to students from all over the world. It was a gratifying career but there was a piece missing.
In 2016 I was lucky enough to visit the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. It was there I saw some of his most beautiful works – his sunflowers, self-portraits and shimmering landscapes. But it was his early paintings and drawings that inspired me most. They were objectively awful. The heads were too small, the features too large, everything too dark and muddy. Over time, however, his skills grew and his work blossomed. One placard stated that Vincent didn’t pick up a paintbrush until he was 27 years old. I realised in that gallery that for me, at 30, it wasn’t too late for me to return to my first love: art.
Tender Place I, ink and watercolour on pencil on rag paper, 2022
I attended the Visual Arts program at RMIT from 2018 to 2020, and I held my first two solo exhibitions in 2022, “Hunger” and “A Tender Place.” My work has appeared in group shows around Australia as well, including an upcoming exhibition at fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne, Fort Earth. I have been a finalist in numerous local and national art prizes, including the Wyndham Art Prize, the Banyule Award for Works on Paper, and the Lyn McCrea Memorial Drawing Prize. I work primarily in oil, as well as watercolour, ink, gouache and acrylic.
My practice emphasises the human body and physical connection. Much of my earlier work focused on the hands as a form of portraiture, while my more recent pieces respond to my new role as mother and the physical, emotional and at times animal sensations that accompany parenthood.
Provider, oil on canvas, 41 cm x 51 cm, 2023
I have continued to develop my interest in the human figure. In May of 2024, I travelled to a remote town in France to attend a nine-week intensive course in painting and drawing from life at the singular atelier Studio Escalier with Timothy Stotz and Michelle Tully. Fellow Studio Escalier alumni include 2023 The Hylton Mackley AM VAS Artist of the Year Award winner Joe Whyte and 2021 Norma Bull Portraiture Scholarship Award winner Swathi Madike. I was lucky enough to bring my partner Simon and our son Red along, and my family’s support was immeasurable during this incredible learning experience. Now, I have returned to Melbourne with a new set of skills and a joyful sense that I have only just begun on my artistic path.
Currently I am a member of the Council at VAS and I am working on setting up my new space at Parslow Street Studios in Clifton Hill. I hope to create a new body of work that responds to my time in France.
Oh, and I did end up becoming an art teacher. But I drive a Corolla."
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