- Autumn Sleep, Watercolour80 x 60 cm
- Autumn Sleep, Watercolour80 x 60 cm
ABOUT
Melvy Ustariz Connell
I graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and then completed a Diploma in Secondary Education at Sydney University. I have been a high school art teacher for many years. Eight years ago I rejuvenated my art practice and began exhibiting again.
My early artworks were a response to the people, places and cultures that I knew. Today, I paint my plants and bushland near my home. I also focus on animals, their unique beautiful consciousness, their sentience and their innocent existence. I would like for humans to re-evaluate their relationship with animals. I hope that my artworks highlight the urgent need for animal liberation.
Grants, Awards, publications
1990 Artist Grant William Fletcher Trust. | 2019 Winner, Capture Fairfield Visual Art Competition, Fairfield Council. | 2022 Watercolour Prize, Liverpool Art Society, Casula Powerhouse. |
1989 Winner Photography Portrait Prize, Artspace, Redfern Sydney. | 2020 Watercolour Prize, Liverpool Art Society, Casula Powerhouse. | 2023 Artist Publication, Animal Liberation, Australia, Magazine, May Issue. |
2018 Mixed Media Prize, Liverpool Art Society, Casula Powerhouse.
| 2022 Winner, Capture Fairfield Visual Art Competition, Fairfield Council. | 2023 Winner Peter Adrian Markwick Memorial Award. Farifield Art Society.
2024 Winner, Capture Fairfield Visual Art Competition, Fairfield Council
2025 Highly Commended, Campbelltown Performing Arts Centre Friends exhibition |