With her flaming red hair and flamboyant presence Carole Foster is an artist, self-proclaimed gypsy and country girl at heart, having travelled the globe and finding her home on the Mornington Peninsula.
Perhaps that’s the key to the success of this artist who has exhibited and sold paintings all around the world in more than 40 Exhibitions, from the early 90’s in New York to Bark Modern, (Hong Kong), Art N Wine, (San Francisco), and Paint Box Fine Art, (London).
During her time in the USA Carole was commissioned to paint five, two-metre-tall paintings for a well-known restaurant in San Francisco.
Born and raised in Wangaratta, Carole showed a flair for drawing and painting at an early age and always had a penchant for adventure.
Carole’s family lived on the outskirts of town and she couldn’t wait to leave and so started her travels at a young age. Carole has lived in New Zealand, Norfolk Island, England, Finland, Holland, and Germany, using these countries as a base to travel and to acquire knowledge and develop her skills for her inspirational paintings.
Ironically, this sophisticated traveller tends to get her inspiration from the Australian outback, when travelling to the High Country.
As an adult Carole first became interested in abstract, she had formal lessons and then turned to impressionism. However, she always admired artists such as Brett Whitely and Fred Williams.
Spending some 20 years roaming the outback from the Simpson desert to Kakadu and the Kimberley she became very spiritually connected to the Australian outback.
After many years sitting on hill tops Carole says the sheer joy, impressions and emotions stay with you for the rest of your life. Everything Carole has done she believes has helped her understand nature more, "a sacred connection with the brush which stays with you forever.”
Describing her work as gestural and impressionistic, it is also romantic in quality, with the artist not restricting herself to landscapes, although the outback tends to evoke much emotion.
With a solid foundation in realist art, Carole has been able to explore and teach a more contemporary approach to her subject while still able to experiment. Her fantastic video demonstration filmed for Graeme Stevenson’s excellent series, put a little” Colour in Your Life” has been widely acclaimed. Her work has been described as a modern abstract impressionist style which has resulted in high energy vibrant pieces that equally capture the visually silent atmospheres in works of a quiet nature.
In between travel to exotic locations, Carole paints and teaches in her home studio. A spiritual lady with a wildly artistic soul says she never has periods where she doesn’t want to paint.
Solo Exhibitions
1996 - Oceanside Gallery Mornington
1997 - Brighton Horizon Gallery Brighton
1998 - Brighton Horizon Gallery Brighton
1999 - Brighton Horizon Gallery Brighton
1999 - William Noall Ltd. Melbourne
2000 - Brighton Horizon Gallery Brighton
2001 - Brighton Horizon Gallery Brighton
2001 - Made From Australia Gallery Canberra
2001 - Morningstar Estate Winery Mornington
2002 - Newcastle Gallery Perth
2002 - Brighton Horizon Gallery Brighton
2002 - Gullotti Galleries Perth
2002 - Morningstar Estate Winery Mornington
2003 - Coolart Mansion show Victoria
2003 - Made From Australia Canberra
2003 - Gullotti Galleries Perth
2004 - Chroma Design San Francisco
2004 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2004 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2005 - Olive Art n Wine. San Francisco
2005 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2005 - Gullotti Gallery Perth
2006 - Paintbox Fine art. Canberra
2006 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2006 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2006 - Post Office gallery Seymour
2006 - The Smoke House Gallery Ballarat
2006 - Paintbox Fine Art Canberra
2006 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2007 - Land Rytrhms Art, Dromana
2007 - Gadfly Gallery , Perth
2007 - Glen Eira Town Hall, Calfield
2007 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2007 - White Hill Gallery, Red Hill
2008 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2008 - White Hill Gallery, Red Hill
2009 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2010 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2010 - Paintbox Fine Art, Canberra
2010 - White Hill Gallery, Red Hill
2010 - Seaview Gallery, Queenscliff
2011 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2012 - Paintbox Fine Art, Canberra
2012 - Paintbox Fine Art, Canberra
2012 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2012 - Seaview Gallery, Queenscliff
2012 - Mingara Gallery, Cowes
2013 - Town & Country Gallery, Yarragon
2013 - Manyung Gallery
2013 - Paintbox Fine Art, Canberra
2013 - White Hill Gallery, Red Hill
2013 - Traffic Jam Gallery, Sydney
2014 - Manyung Gallery
2014 - Traffic Jam Gallery, Sydney
2014 - White Hill Gallery, Red Hill
2015 - Traffic Jam Gallery, Sydney
2015 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2015 - Manyung Gallery, Malvern
2015 - Traffic Jam Gallery, Sydney
2016 - Manyung gallery, Mt Eliza
2016 - Traffic Jam Gallery, Sydney
2017 - Manyung Gallery, Sorrento
2017 - Land Rythms Art, Dromana
2017 - Mingara Gallery, Phillip Island
2017 - Singapore Art fair
2017 - Traffic Jam Gallery, Sydney
2017 - Traffic Jam Gallery, Sydney
2017 - Seaview Gallery, Queenscliff
2017 - Red Hill Gallery, Brisbane
2017 - Hong Kong Art Fair
2017 - Kyabram Town Hall
2018 - Seaview Gallery, Queenscliff
2018 - Manyung Gallery, Malvern
2021 - Manyung Gallery, Sorrento
2022 - Manyung Gallery, Malvern
Group Exhibitions
1976-96 - Various Rotary and school shows
1997-2006 - First Settlement Gallery Sorrento
1997,98,99 - Wall street Exchange/Qantas Exhibitions
2000 - Manyung Gallery Mt Eliza
2000 - Wall Street Exchange/Qantas Exhibitions
2001 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2002 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2002 - Book Launch Manyung gallery Mt. Eliza
2002 - Wall Street Exchange/Qantas Exhibitions
2003 - New York Art Expo New York
2003 - Palms Springs Expo California
2003 - Bark Modern Gallery Hong Kong
2003 - Brushmen of the Bay Mt Eliza
2003 - Chroma Design San Francisco
2005 - Melbourne affordable Art show
2005 - Brisbane Art Show
2005 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2005 - Sydney Affordable Art Show
2006 - Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2006 - Post Office gallery Seymour
2006 - London Affordable Fair
2006 - Melbourne Affordable Art Show
2006 - Paintbox Fine Art Gallery Canberra
Commissions
2000 - Commissions Para Olympics
2002 - Commission for Speech Hearing Centre Perth
2003 - The Smith Family, Canberra
2005 - St Francis Xavier Frankston
2005 - Tsunami
2006 - Soup Freaks San Francisco