Kobie Swart

About Kobie Swart

Kobie Swart studied fine arts at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and has worked as an artist, designer, illustrator, and art educator for the past 30 thirty years. She has illustrated several picture books for children and her paintings, prints and ceramics are held in private and public collections in Australia and abroad.

She says about her work: “I simply love colour and pattern. My work often starts as a meditative process, a jazzy jamming of mark making with no prior intention. I enjoy the element of surprise. But I am also a storyteller and a narrative element seems inevitable. Somehow, despite my best intentions, characters and situations find their way through the layers of paper, paint, or ink, sometimes to whisper, sometimes to shout, often mischievous, sometimes recognizable, always welcomed.”

Kobie currently works from her home studio in Montmorency, Melbourne, where she dreams of a studio with a view of the ocean and room to splash and explore.