Maeve Woods facts for kids

Maeve Woods is an artist from Australia. She lives and works in Tasmania.

Early Life and Art School

Maeve Woods was born in Melbourne, Australia.

In the late 1940s, after visiting London and Paris, she started art classes. She studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne. Her teacher, George Bell, taught her to paint en plein air. This means painting outdoors, directly from nature. He also encouraged working with others. These ideas were important to Maeve throughout her career. In the early 1950s, her art became well-known. The famous Australian author Patrick White supported her work.

Art Career and Travels

From the early 1950s, Maeve Woods worked with many different art materials. She was very interested in Melbourne's new experimental jazz music scene. She often used ideas like improvisation and rhythm in her artwork.

In the late 1950s, Woods moved to Mittagong, New South Wales. There, she worked with artists and musicians from Sydney. She had art shows in Barry Stern's gallery in Paddington in 1963. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Woods traveled a lot. She taught art classes in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

Maeve Woods had her first big solo art show in 1970. It was at the Watters Gallery in Sydney. She created many abstract and architectural collages. She used postcards and found objects to make these collages. Her work reminded people of old paintings by artists like Pontormo and Tintoretto.

During the 1980s, Woods also worked with film and slides. But she always kept painting and making collages. She often showed her art in Melbourne and Sydney.

From 1988 to 1998, Woods lived in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges. She continued to paint, using images and surfaces she found. She explored the natural world around her in her art. Since 1998, Maeve Woods has been living and working in Hobart, Tasmania. She has shown her art regularly throughout the 2000s and 2010s.

In 2013, Maeve Woods talked about her newest art. She said that her interest in color was important for all her works and their names. She explained that a hidden frame behind the painting made it strong. This frame also let the wild, uneven edges of the paper show. Because the painting was slightly raised from the wall, it cast a shadow. This shadow could interact with other images and feelings the paintings created.

Maeve Woods' Artworks

Maeve Woods has worked with many different art forms. She has been especially successful in painting, collage, and film. She has always been interested in the surface of her artworks. This interest started with her early lessons with George Bell. Much of Woods' art focuses on squares and frames.

Her work is often abstract, meaning it doesn't show real-life things exactly. Woods has always looked for new ways to use different surface qualities. She does this in her paintings, collages, and films. She often uses ideas from movie history, from directors like Hitchcock to Bunuel. Her art is kept in many important collections. These include state and national collections, like the Muswellbrook Regional Art Centre.

Art Exhibitions

• Surface, organized by Sean Kelly. Carnegie Gallery, Hobart. 2012
• Maeve Woods: Recent paintings. Venues. Watters Gallery. (May 20, 2009 – June 13, 2009)