Marianne Halpin – Paintings & Works on Paper

19-20 May, 2012

Marianne Halpin

Studio:
81 Long Rd, Eagle Heights

What you’ll see:
Marianne Halpin has always enjoyed art but she didn’t fully commit to it until later in life. When she grew up art wasn’t viewed as a viable career so she enrolled to study pharmacy at university. However her love of art remained strong and gradually she found more and more time to commit to it.
Much of her work focuses on depicting people, their faces and their emotions with a concentration on charcoal, graphite and ink.
Marianne works from a home studio and during Studios of the Scenic Rim she will offer visitors an insight into how she creates, where her inspiration comes from and what the end results are.

Art has been a lifelong passion for Marianne Halpin but it’s only in the past six years ago that she’s become totally committed to it.
Marianne explains that when she was growing up art was not seen as a viable career so she pursued studies and a career in pharmacy. She has since met a number of pharmacists who are also talented artists.
“I had to work but my passion for art was always there,” says Marianne.
“I have semi-retired now and I can get into what I really want to do.
“I do figurative work, semi-abstract and expressionist styles.
“My passion is the human figure and emotions in the face. I run life drawing sessions on the Mountain on Tuesday mornings and we have great fun.
“It’s a very supportive environment, you can learn from other people.
“There’s a very artistic community up here and it’s very supportive.

Marianne is largely self-taught and over the years has embarked on short courses to hone her art.
She says her artworks are usually filled with emotion which some people interpret as spirituality. Marianne studied psychology in the 1970s and says perhaps it subconsciously influences her work.
“I just find humans and their psyches, everything about human beings fascinating.”
Marianne works from a studio situated away from her house. She has created a natural environment on the land surrounding her studio and has even planted a private rainforest.
This green outlook helps to inspire her work.
“There’s rainforest at the back and from the front you can see out to Stradbroke Island – it’s a really sunny vista from that side,” she says.

“This is my third Open Studios . Quite a lot of other artists come to the studio, I get to meet a lot of artists. We have a chat, talk about how I tried this and that.
“It’s nice to have people come in with their ideas and if they like your work that’s better still.”
Marianne was born in Finland and she is heavily influenced by Finnish mythology and Finnish painters Gallen-Kallela and Helene Scherfbeck.
“I was born in Finland and my northern European roots often come through in my work,” she says.
“Sometimes I’ll draw and paint what I imagine medieval Finnish dancing ceremonies would have looked like. These images come out of my imagination and from what I have read.”

Photography by Chelsi Foskett