Sam Bruere

Being a third generational artist with connection to The Victorian Artists Society has meant art has always been a major influence in my life. My Grandma used to exhibit in the 1970s, then Dad became involved in the Society when I was a kid, so I always found myself hanging around the galleries and looking to be a part of the place.

My current role on VAS staff as Gallery Attendant and Exhibitions hanging assistant, came about purely from the things I learned in those early days of just being there and helping out. My journey to get to where I am today as an artist however was far less fluid, presented bigger challenges and took a lot more work.

I was self-taught and never paid too much attention to the principles of drawing, I look back at my early works and cringe a little. Working in the Gallery I loved seeing portraits and some of the artists I wanted to emulate, Gwen Krumins and Raelene Sharp spring to mind. Inspired I developed a plan on how I was going to get there. 

I did observational drawing classes which gave me an understanding of the basics and perspective, enabling me to relay what I was seeing to the page. Then I moved into the VAS Pastel Class with Barbara McManus (my all-time favourite teacher) who helped me to develop by teaching me subtilties of colours and tones when painting. She also allowed me to do it the way I wanted to do it which was important. 

I’m not the most traditional when it comes to approaching my work. Being more aligned with an illustrative approach, I prefer to have my line work down and then ‘colour-in’ afterwards. Because I started in pastels it was a lot easier when your colours are predetermined, but later moving to oils I had to perfect colour mixing and matching to maintain consistency and uniformity over different sessions. 

I’m now finding an interest in illustrative narratives for my paintings. A major influence on me has been cinematography in film. I appreciate the different ways composition, staging and subtle clues in scenery can be used to create stories and allude to ideas. Allowing the audience to decipher and draw their own opinions of what is in front of them is of great interest to me. I love to hear what someone else might think is happening as it’s often more imaginative than I’d originally intended or considered.

It's been a long journey over the last decade, and I’ve learned so much from mentors and teachers alike. I’m at a place now where I feel proud of the work I create, appreciative of the arts and honoured to share the walls with the artists within our Society.