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Damaged: Tin Mine

Acrylic, Canvas, Ready to hang

60cm (W) x 90cm (H) x 2cm (D)

  • Original · Handmade
  • Signed by the artist
Pam Schultz Verified artist
Kuranda, North Queensland
11 works sold

A$840

Artwork Description

Pre-selected for the Annual Cairns Art Exhibition. The tranquil turquoise water in this unassuming painting has a hidden meaning: poisoned water caused by mining! Mining has damaged uncountable watercourses in Queensland as it has Worldwide. The turquoise colour shows a high level of minerals in the water. Unlike the pure water of glacial lakes that are of the same colour, these pits are toxic. Birds and animals will die in them. In addition, the habits of the early miners were to remove the surrounding trees to fuel the smelters. My painting shows water settling in an open pit. Water cannot be contained in open pits and it will spill during heavy rainfall. The contaminants from historical mines are reported to continue for hundreds of years. Disturbingly though, mining still produces open pits and contaminates waterways and lakes.

Artist Bio

Pam Schultz is an award-winning representational fine artist. Her paintings are in the collection of national and international patrons. “My appreciation of art began at home in Melbourne, where I was fascinated by my grandmother’s oil paintings hanging on the walls. I started drawing earnestly around eight years old. I excelled at art in school and by grade 12, I was enrolled in a Diploma of Art at Caufield Institute of Technology (now Monash University). My first artistic job was a textile artist at a clothing factory in Melbourne. I designed textile patterns and took the illustrations overseas to England where I was based for three years. I travelled around Europe, West Asia and America visiting art galleries, stately homes and cathedrals. In London, I worked for an animation studio where I created illustrations for commercials. Back in Australia, I became enthralled by the tropical landscapes in North Queensland and became involved in lobbying for their protection through my art. Influenced by anthropology studies at university, I began to paint portraits in 2003. Then I began to choose people who were conservation ecologists as this theme suited my passion as one who aimed for the same goal. I worked in the field of natural resource management following the achievement of a PhD in Environmental Science. Amongst other recent commendations, I won first prize in 2019 for “The Ethnobotonist” in the competition Artists of the North in Cairns. In 2020, I received a high commendation for “Grasswren Country Laid Down” at the Cairns Regional Gallery.”