Marion Borgelt facts for kids

Marion Borgelt (born 1954) is a famous Australian artist who lives in Sydney. She started her career as a painter. Now, her art includes paintings, sculptures, and large art installations.

Marion Borgelt has been an artist for over 40 years. She has had more than 50 solo art shows and been part of over 180 group shows around the world. Her artworks are in important public collections. These include the National Gallery of Australia and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Her art is also in international museums like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the USA and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in New Zealand.

Borgelt has created art for big projects globally. These include works for Baker McKenzie in Sydney and AMP Capital at 123 Pitt Street, Sydney. She also made art for Melco Crown Resorts in Macau, for their Morpheus (hotel) designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Her art is also owned by private collectors in many countries. These include the United States, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Marion Borgelt has won many international art awards. She received a French Government Art Fellowship and Residency in 1989. She also won the Muswellbrook Art Prize in 2020. Other awards include the Peter Brown Memorial Travelling Art Scholarship. In 1996, she was the first Australian to win the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award.

Early Life and Education

Marion Borgelt grew up on a farm near Nhill, in the Wimmera area of Victoria. From 1973 to 1976, she studied Fine Art at the South Australian School of Arts. She then completed a teaching diploma in 1977. In 1979, Borgelt moved to the New York Studio School to continue her art studies.

In the 1980s, Borgelt taught art at several universities. These included the Canberra School of Art and the UNSW School of Art & Design. She also gave guest lectures at other universities and art centers.

Artistic Ideas

Borgelt is interested in the universe, language, and how we experience things. She often talks about how math, science, and physics help us understand the world. She explores these ideas in her art.

Her interest in these subjects has led her to work with different experts. She collaborated with an etching studio in Paris in 1990. She also worked with a printer in 1995 and a glass studio in Italy from 2006 to 2007. More recently, she worked with mechanical engineers in 2020–2021.

Art Career

1980s Art

The natural world around Borgelt's childhood farm inspired her early art. She felt a strong connection to the wide, flat spaces of the Wimmera. She said it felt like living "under the sun," with hot, dusty wheat fields. She also admired the tall wheat silos, calling them "The Cathedrals of the Wimmera."

Borgelt found that nature's cycles were a rich source of ideas. Her work Fire, Wind and Water No. 1 shows this interest. She also focused on small details, like in Athenian Netherworld and Night Eye. These works have been compared to woven skin or webs.

In 1988, Borgelt was chosen for the Moet & Chandon Young Painters Tour. She started showing her art at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in 1982. Her art was also in the 4th Biennale of Sydney in 1982 and the Australian Perspecta Biennale in 1985. In 1986, she represented Australia at the 6th Indian Triennale.

1990s Art

Candescent Moon, Marion Borgelt, 2011

In 1989, Borgelt received a French Government Art Fellowship. This allowed her to live and work in Paris for eight years. Paris changed her art style. Before, her abstract works were more intuitive. In Paris, she started planning her art more carefully. She said Paris helped her find her "center."

Her Void series and Mnemona Suite (1994–1995) show this new, refined style. Borgelt's interest in the universe also appeared in her Blood Light series (1995–2005). This series explored both very large (macrocosm) and very small (microcosm) ideas.

In Paris, Borgelt also created her own set of symbols. These symbols were inspired by ancient art forms like Celtic art, Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Her works like Primordial Logic show these visual explorations. The circle shape often appears in her art. Borgelt says the circle represents "totality" and a sense of being complete.

Her series Bottled Histories used painted timber panels and collected vessels. Symbols on both the vessels and panels connected to each other. Borgelt's art from this time often used black, red, and white colors.

In 1998, News Corp Australia asked Borgelt to create a large artwork for their Sydney office. Primordial Alphabet and Rhythm was a 15-meter tall work. It included 12 large painted panels and 10 sculptural discs. This artwork showed the flow of communication and energy.

In 1999, Borgelt made her first large outdoor artwork, 55 Ring Maze. This maze covered 1.5 hectares at Arthurs Seat, Victoria. It combined art and nature, showing Borgelt's interest in living art and old patterns.

2000s Art

In the 2000s, Borgelt started exploring new materials and forms, including sculpture. In her 2004 series, Cryptologist's Memoir, she carved into books and molded wax. This created hidden symbols, making the works look like ancient books.

Her art in this period often explored opposite ideas. These included the tension between our feelings and our minds. It also looked at the idea that there are worlds beyond our everyday life.

Borgelt returned to her early interest in natural cycles. She showed the passing of time, using examples like the moon's phases. In 2004, JPMorgan Chase asked her to create a work for their Sydney office. Her 4000 kg work Time and Tide (wait for no man) used spiral shapes. It showed the moon's cycle, suggesting how time affects business life.

In 2005, Borgelt created her second large outdoor maze, Round Up Maze. This work was inspired by her childhood memories of sheep on a farm. In the same year, she was a judge for the Blake Prize, an art award.

During these years, her paintings became more three-dimensional. In her Liquid Light series, she painted canvases on both sides. Then, she sliced them and twisted them to show the inner layer. This technique made the art seem to move as viewers changed their position. This series led to a large artwork for the Sule Shangri-La Hotel in Myanmar. She also made a series for Crown Towers in Macau. In 2005, Borgelt created Man's Destiny Resides in the Sole for the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

In 2006, for her exhibition Nothing is Invisible, Borgelt showed her journey from her childhood home to the wider world. She said that the horizon line and the night sky were important influences. Also in 2006, she worked with a glass studio in Italy to explore lunar cycles further.

In 2008, Borgelt made her Strobe Series. These paintings used hand-painted lines and curves to create optical illusions. They looked like a seismograph, which records ground movements. Paintings from this series were shown in the Mirvac offices in North Sydney.

2010s Art

Musical Spheres, Marion Borgelt, 2020

In 2010, a show called Mind and Matter looked back at 15 years of Borgelt's art. It showed her use of different materials and her large commissioned works. This exhibition highlighted her ongoing interest in optics, structures, and nature.

In 2011, Bates Smart asked her to create Candescent Moon. This large artwork showed a lunar cycle for a building in Melbourne. It created an optical illusion that changed as people moved around it.

In 2016, a 20-year survey of her work, Marion Borgelt: Memory & Symbol, was held. This show recognized her creativity and how she used different styles.

In 2017, Borgelt created a moving artwork for Baker McKenzie in Sydney. The motorized work, Cascadence, showed colored elements rotating like falling droplets. In 2018, she made a series of large digital photographs for the Morpheus (hotel) in Macau.

2020s Art

In 2020, AMP Capital asked Borgelt to create Musical Spheres. This kinetic (moving) artwork is in Angel Place, Sydney. It uses mechanics to gently move large colored discs. This movement looks like hammers hitting piano strings. Music is a constant inspiration for Borgelt.

In her exhibition Silent Symphony, Borgelt's geometric works were described as having a hypnotic attraction.

Awards

Borgelt has received many awards, including:

• 2020: Muswellbrook Art Prize
• 2006: Visual Arts Board, New Work Grant
• 2001–2003: Australia Council Fellowship
• 2002: Judges Award, Hutchins Art Prize
• 2001: Australian Paper Art Awards (acquisitive)
• 1998: Blake Prize, Highly Commended
• 1997: Visual Arts/Craft Board, New Work Grant
• 1996: Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, USA
• 1996: Gunnery Studios Residency, New South Wales Ministry of the Arts
• 1994: Artist Grant, La Ministère de la Culture et de la Francophonie, France
• 1994: Kedumba Drawing Award (joint acquisition)
• 1993: Visual Arts/Crafts Board, Artist Development Grant
• 1992: Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery (acquisitive)
• 1990: Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery (joint acquisition)
• 1989: Dyason Bequest
• 1988: University of Technology Purchase Award, Sydney
• 1988: Muswellbrook Open Prize (acquisitive)
• 1988: Faber-Castell Art Award
• 1988: Visual Arts/Craft Board, Artist Development Grant
• 1988: French Government Art Fellowship and Residency
• 1987: Gold Coast City Art Gallery Purchase Prize
• 1986: The City of Lake Macquarie Art Prize (acquisitive)
• 1986: Sixth Ansett Hamilton Art Award (acquisitive)
• 1984: Visual Arts Board, Special Projects Grant
• 1983: Muswellbrook Drawing Prize (acquisitive)
• 1979: Dyason Bequest for Post Graduate Study in the United States of America
• 1978: Peter Brown Memorial Travelling Art Scholarship, New York Studio School, New York
• 1976: Harry P. Gill, Memorial Medal for Applied Art, South Australian School of Art, Adelaide
• 1975: Channel 10 Young Artist's Award, South Australia

Public Art Collections

Marion Borgelt's art is part of many public collections, including:

Selected Books and Publications

Marion Borgelt’s work has been featured in these books and textbooks:

See also

• Art of Australia