Karrin Thurston
CREATIVE PRACTICE
artist, muralist, potter and poet
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am an artist, muralist, potter, poet and gardener. I use many different media – raffia, natural fibres/textiles in my weaving; acrylics, ink, watercolour and sand in my painting, and earthenware clay in my potting. Art is the expression of my soul and speaks to my relationship to the land, to the earth, to Country, and all that is creation.
I look to Nature for my inspiration and want to promote sustainability and the importance of the environment. I put so much of myself into whatever I am making that it never turns out the same as the mood and inspiration changes with my spirit, just as the seasons and nature evolve every day.
When in Lightning Ridge I was very fortunate to have had Aunty Rose and Aunty June to guide my art development. They helped me to reconnect to our Land and my stories through my art. I was born off Country and had never been given a totem, Aunty Rose gave me hers. I am Dhulii the sand goanna.
ARTIST BIO
Karrin Thurston is a proud Kamilaroi woman and lives in Upper Horton NSW. Interested in art from an early age, she has completed Certificates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts and Culture, and in Tourism at TAFE. She was the Regional Indigenous Cultural Development Officer for Outback Arts at Lightning Ridge for six years, and also art coordinator for Murdipaaki Regional Enterprise CDEP.
Karrin works in many media – weaving, pottery and painting. She is an artist, muralist, potter and poet. She is heavily influenced by nature and by Country. Her work is spontaneous, the expression of her soul and communicates her relationship and bond to the land and to the earth. It speaks to sustainability and to environmental issues.
She has exhibited widely in both solo and group shows, including Inverell Art Gallery, Gosford Art Gallery and Queen Street Woollahra. She has mural commissions in Mendooran, Cowra, Walgett, Collarenebri and Lightning Ridge. Karrin was invited and attended the worldwide mural conference in Chemainus BC in 1998. She designed the Warrambool Dreaming Weavings which were part of the String Theory Exhibition at the MCA in 2013.
Karin is the President of the Barraba Potters and Craft Guild which runs the Fuller Gallery and Claypan. Her Thorungulla studio is nestled in the Nandawar Ranges near Blue Nobby mountain.
RECOGNITION
EDUCATION/TRAINING
2008 - Completed Certs 1,2,3 of Aboriginal and Torres-straight Islander Art and Culture
2010 - Completed NSI TAFE Cert 1 in Aboriginal Tourism and Aboriginal Tour Guide with National Parks and Wildlife NSW
2013 - Completed TAE cert 4
MURALS/COMMISSIONS
1995 to 2005 – Painted murals throughout Castlereagh Country Stores – Mendooran
2000 – Painted two murals on the Royal Hotel Mendooran
2001 – Painted history of tennis on Tennis court – Mendooran
2001 – Coordinated the painting history of Sport in Cowra on Cowra Water treatment works (105m)
2007- Coordinated – Murals Outwest – murals in Walgett, Collarenebri and Lightning ridge
2010 –Painted 18m history of lightning ridge
2011 – Painted “underground mining” at Big Opal Lightning Ridge
2010 to 2015 – Painted mural throughout our home at Lightning Ridge – (green door road)
2015 – Painted “riding for our Lives “ at Rochester Mural Fest -Vic
EXHIBITIONS
2020 Inverell Art Prize, Inverell
2019 - 2020 Gallery on Gwydir, Bingara
2017 - 2020 Fuller Gallery/claypan, Barraba
2018 - 2019 Frost over Barraba exhibition, Barraba
2017 Wild Women of Arkaroola exhibition, Orange
2016 Playhouse Hotel, Barraba
2015 Queen street Gallery, Woollahra
2014 Winton Art exhibition (selected as a finalist)
2014 “I love a sunburnt country”, Winton
2014 Art Show, Mungindi
2013 MCA String Theory Exhibition Warrambool Dreaming Weavings
2012 Where is the art
2010 Art unlimited
2010 Orana health art comp
2008 - 2012 Naidoc art exhibitions , Lightening Ridge
2011 Sand Mud and colour – solo exhibit, Lightening Ridge
2010 - Two Rivers exhibition Gosford Art Gallery
2010 - 2014 Coonamble Archies
AWARDS
2001 – Winner of Telstra women in Business – owner business section for NSW
2002 – Australian Centenary Medal for business leadership
