Bryony Dade

About Bryony Dade

Born in Benalla, Victoria, Bryony spent her early childhood exploring the creeks and wilderness of the country town. She grew up surrounded by the art of her mother who was a well known artist in Benalla and Mornington. Always interested in artistic activities, she was awarded a prize for creativity in her final year of school.

On completion of her Bachelor of Arts (Textile Design) she joined the sales team of a fashion and furnishing fabric wholesaler in Melbourne, and designed both fashion and furnishing prints for the company. She was invited to join Warwick Fabrics to become their designer and worked on a broad range of company design projects.

Over the years Bryony has designed and built displays, created themed events and promotional material for major hotels and private functions. She has designed and made toys and other commissioned product, including illustration of two embroidery books and printed fabric design for a Fijian Boutique resort.

She has exhibited a number of times in the Derinya and Toorak College Art Shows winning the Acquisition Prize at Derinya for the Best Pastel in 1997.

In May 2004 she held a one-man exhibition at Jean Michel Cousteau Fiji Resort, a series of 23 pastels, most on paper, most of which have been sold to people from all over the world. She now works full time as an artist from her home in Plenty, Victoria.

In 2005 she painted a series of watercolour and ink drawings of Fijian children, images which are currently being developed into a series of designs for postcards to be sold in Fiji.

Her painting "Red Line Waiting' was selected to be exhibited in the Daffodil Day Arts Awards, a confronting piece depicting her experience of Radiotherapy after Chemotherapy; which was surrounded by controversy prior to the opening of the exhibition as the organisers of the exhibition (The Cancer Council of Victoria) were asked to remove it from public scrutiny as it depicted a bare breast!

Commonsense prevailed after intervention by Neil Mitchell and the painting was reinstated. This work has been sold to an American lady who is donating it to the Women's Breast Clinic of Maine General Hospital in San Fransisco, America. Also this year Bryony has painted three substantial works commissioned by an American, for his new home in Fiji.

In the exhibition "The world around us" to be hung at the Eltham Library Community Gallery between 23rd November and 6th December 2005, Bryony selected a wide range of subjects to depict her keen interest in the multitude of patterns created by subjects around us. The interplay of patterns of colour and light are a constant source of fascination for her.

She is a member of the Victorian Artists Society, Doncaster Templestowe Artist Society and Diamond Valley Artists Society.

Bryony studied at RMIT University Melbourne, Bachelor of Arts (Textile Design. She has undertaken many courses including: Life Drawing at Roar Studios, Fitzroy; Victorian Artists Society, Life Drawing The School of Creative Drawing by Peter Forester; General Drawing, Diamond Valley Artists Society, Life Drawing by Ron Brincatt.

For more on Bryony Dade see
www.bryonydade.com.au