"Jumping Ship"

Ready to hang canvas; 92cm x 122cm 'Jumping Ship' is an original, vintage paper, large and detailed hand cut collage on a black acrylic painted ground. I have recently waded through a personal 'sea change' and similar to a ship being towed from a crowded harbour and heading to peaceful open water, I left the city and moved to a small far south coast seaside village. I find my peace walking along long, empty stretches of beach watching the waves roll in.

I use recycled papers to speak of the transient and impermanent nature in our our lives. Making a new story from the old. I defy the notion that the personal and private in artmaking is self seeking or immature. Instead I diffidently use the personal as a starting point in my art making process. Like taking cuttings from a personal garden.

Although I finished my fine arts degree with a painting major, I embraced a more intimate and personal process which I find with collage, mixed media encompassing at times needlework and collage and small reworked domestic items.

Collage especially allows this reworking and pastiche to make a new story or 'paint' a new picture. I adore the process and opportunities that collage allows and embrace using and recycling vintage papers and magazines - the ephemeral and the discarded. That which is fleeting/ passing and impermanent and giving new life and form - a new story.

This work speaks of swimming away and with the protective armour of a silvery fish scale type costume, taking a deep breath and 'Jumping Ship'.

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Karen Coull  (born Sydney 1961)

BA Visual Arts UWS 1992

A recipient of a City of Sydney Work/Live Studio Residency, Karen has exhibited in solo and group shows in Australia, UK, USA and Europe over the past 30 years.

She is represented in a number of public Australian, UK and USA collections and private collections in Australia,  Europe, USA and UK.

Coull is passionate about the often marginalised, domestic/traditionally female art practices with a strong emphasis on analogue collage using vintage and recycled paper. Her current focus is on her journey of ageing and the invisibility of older women.

SELECTED recent exhibitions/prizes
2026 Finalist Waverley Art Prize, Bondi Pavillion
2026 Finalist Burwood Art Prize, Burwood
2026 Coupee Collage for World Collage Day - Belgium
2026 Finalist 'Remagine Art Prize' – Highly Commended
2025 Finalist Wollongong Art Prize , Wollongong Art Gallery
2025 Finalist Hazelhurst Art on Paper, Hazelhurst Art Gallery
2024 The Kanyer Art Collection and Historical Archive of Collage, Curator Freya Gowrley, PhD, Bristol University, UK
2024 Finalist Sunshine Coast National Art Prize
2024 The Views From Here - work from the Casula Powerhouse Collection, Yellamundie - Liverpool City Library, Liverpool
2024 Finalist 'Remagine Art Prize'
2023 Finalist Woollahra Small Sculpture Award
2023 Finalist 'Fishers Ghost Art Award'
2023 Finalist National Sunshine Coast National Art Prize
2023 “Collage”. BOXX gallery, Washington
2023 “A 45 Year Love Affair with Art: The Doug + Laurie Kanyer Art Collection. Tieton Arts and Humanities, Washington
2022 'Waverley Art Prize' - Drawing Prize Winner
2022 Finalist 'Fishers Ghost Art Award'
2022 Finalist 'Hornsby Art Prize'
2022 'Gosford Art Prize' - Highly Commended
2022 'Remagine Art Prize' - Peoples Choice
2021 Finalist ''Gosford Art Prize'
2021 Finalist ''Fishers Ghost Art Award'
2021 Finalist 'Biennial 'Banyule Award for Works on Paper'
2021 Finalist ''Bluethumb Art Prize'
2021 Finalist ''Waverley Art Prize'
2021 Finalist ''Remagine'
2021 'SPACE YZ'  Campbelltown Art Centre curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham
2021 Collage. Seville, Spain
2020 Finalist ''Meroogal Women's Art Prize',
2019'Finalist 'NOW Contemporary Art Prize'