Fiona Chandler is a water colour artist who lives in Freshwater, Sydney. She is interested in capturing the beauty of the natural world, especially nature’s unique colours and texture. Depicting nature at its most vulnerable. After 18 years as a designer/illustrator, in 2014, Fiona made the leap to becoming a full-time artist. Fiona’s works live with people excited by colour and nature. By working with watercolour and mixed media, Fiona creates fluidity in her work; subtle washes, bright colours, and fine lines that gently move across large pieces of paper and the canvas. The idea of decay highlights the ecological crisis, even though Fiona’s artworks appeal to the beauty of aesthetics, they can serve as a reminder to protect and love the environment we live in.
Fiona has been a finalist in the Small Things Art Prize in Woollahra, the Manly Regional Gallery, and has exhibited in group shows throughout Australia. A former Warringah Council’s Artist in Residence, she created Harbord Public School’s first Artist in Residence programme. Fiona holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the University of Newcastle and a Masters in Design from the University of Technology Sydney.
Selected shows
2023 – Affordable Art Fair, Melbourne
2023 – ‘I Like Your Hyperbole’, Manyung Gallery Mt Eliza
2022 – Affordable Art Fair Melbourne & Singapore
2022- 'Carwash for the Soul', Manyung Gallery Mt Eliza
2020- History Repeats, Jo Neville, Julie Paterson and Fiona Chandler, MAG&M
2020- Girt by Sea, Sydney Road Gallery (solo exhibition)
2019- Mosman Art Prize, Finalist, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2019- Touch ii, Gaffa Gallery, Sydney
2019- Home, MAG&M
2019- Replay: Celebrating Five Years of the Creative Space, Northern Beaches Artist Studios
2019- Creative Space, Sydney
2018- Oil and Water Don’t Mix, Sydney Road Gallery (solo exhibition)
2018- Floating Land – Fiona Chandler and Sarah Montgomery, The Corner Store Gallery (TCSG), Orange, NSW
2018- 8 x10 Show 2018, TCSG, Orange
2017- HUMAN: child artist response project, MAG&M
2017- NinetyFive Percent – B-SIDE, Creative Space
2017- Land, MAG&M, 3 Nov – 3 Dec
2016- Lethbridge 10000 Art Award, Finalist, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2016- Reimagine, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, April
2016- Conversations in Colour – Fiona Chandler and Shani Nottingham, TCSG
2016- Ever Changing, The Colour Trap Gallery, Sydney
2015- Lethbridge 10000 Art Award, Finalist, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2015- Reimagine, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Sydney
2015- Forage – Sarah Montgomery and Fiona Chandler, Saint Cloche, Sydney
2015- Little Things (now Little Things Art Prize), Saint Cloche, Sydney
Group Shows
2019 -17 Exhibited in various shows including themed, group and/or solo, Sydney Road Gallery, Sydney
2017- Linden Postcard Show, presented by Linden New Art at Domain House, Melbourne
2017- Mini Solo, Platform 72, Sydney
2016- Group Show, Paper Pear, Wagga Wagga, NSW, July
2016- Twelve – The Koskela Annual Exhibition, Koskela, Sydney
2016- Art/Vert, Saint Cloche Gallery (now Saint Cloche), Sydney
2015- Just A Second, Print Exchange, Brooklyn Art Library New York, USA
2015- New Batch, Platform 72, Sydney
2015- A4 Art Australia Exhibition 2015, Contemporary Art Society of Victoria, Herring Island
2015- Gallery, Melbourne
2014- Splash Art Show, Kew Primary School, Victoria
2014- Invited artist, Temple & Webster online art market, Australia
2014- Studio Artists Exhibition, Warringah Creative Space, Sydney
Residencies
2020- Artist in Residence, Q Station (formerly North Head Quarantine Station) in partnership with Manly Art Gallery and Museum (MAG&M), Sydney
2014- Artist in Residence, Warringah Creative Space, Sydney
Initiatives
2017- Co-Founded Sydney Road Gallery, a cooperative artist gallery in Seaforth, Sydney
2014- Established Creatives in Conversation Series at MAG&M with Creative Women’s Circle, Sydney
Commissions
2021- Cross Media Arts Project, Q Station, Sydney Harbour National Park in partnership with MAG&M