Spirituality, mental well being and the use of colour have been strong features across Carmel Sayer’s work. A contemporary, award winning visual Artist, Carmel deals primarily in portraiture and abstract painting. Predominately experimental Sayer employs methods in mixed media, sculpture and installations to project concepts that relate through personal experience.
The past 8 years have been dedicated to researching the institutionalizing of Spirituality and it affects on the individual and society, this has led to a ‘mapping’ of the soul. Sayer presents this with an unique, expressive use of ink, acrylic and oil to communicate the soul’s emotion.
Sayer found through personal experience that Spirituality was being institutionalized, fragmented, ruled, decompartmentalized and watered down, not just by religion but by urban environment and technology. By cutting ourselves off from God and nature, disconnecting through connecting, the spiritual force within us is broken down, weakened, and in turn our mental health suffers. This has far reaching effects on society as the chain of events repeat, with each round diluting, separating and splintering the spirit. Sayer’s work now explores how the fragmenting of thoughts leads to a decompartmentalizing of the soul. Sayer employs mixed media, together with an unhealthy obsession with colour to project her concept.
Carmel Sayer is a graduate of the National Art School, East Sydney and holds diplomas in both Fine and Graphic Art. Living now in Mandurah, Carmel founded the successful art school ‘A Brush With Art’, teaching for eight years. She has lectured in the field of Fine Art, whilst also taking roles as Project Manager, Facilitator and Community Artist in the Peel region. Carmel exhibits regularly and in 2014 she was finalist in the Mandorla Art Award at the Linton and Kay Galleries, Perth, also winning two awards at Telstra’s ‘A Digital City in a Connected World’ at Contemporary Art Spaces Mandurah. In 2017 Carmel celebrated a solo exhibition in Melbourne amongst other exhibitions including Ellenbrook and enjoyed a 12 month Artist Residency at CASM (Contemporary Art Spaces Mandurah). Carmel also supplied the artwork for the annual report for the Mental Health Commission’s Mental Health Advocacy Service in 2017.
Carmel is presently working towards a solo exhibition at CASM in 2019.