Monika Zechetmayr Australian Landscape Painter Monika's Story:

Growing up in Munich, Bavaria and travelling in Europe with her family, Monika was surrounded by art in all its forms. Yet at age 14 she happened to read a book on cancer research and chose to study the scientific fields of health. Completing studies in Germany, the USA and Canada, in 1980, she celebrated her achievement of an interdisciplinary Ph.D. Though the next 20 years were dedicated to her university career in areas of health she also created art works. As the stress of teaching, research, publish-or-perish, administration and community work mounted, Monika increasingly found relief in losing herself in painting on wood, “graduating” to canvas and silk. Her development in academia and art work moved along in parallel lines. In Pennsylvania USA she received an award for a drawing and an abstract silk painting. She and four other women held an annual women’s art exhibition where the atmosphere and music was so electric that people had to be asked to leave at the end of the day. She exhibited in Washington D.C. and Virginia and many other places before she moved to Australia in 1994. She lectured and did research at the University of Tasmania, but left the teaching realm in 1997, remaining an honorary research associate until 2001. There was almost never a day when she did not create art works. There were exhibitions in Tasmania, Melbourne and other Australian locations. She opened a “wellness business” and an “art business” and held workshops in Victoria. Monika was also interested in ceramics and textile works. Thus, by default she ended up with a degree in Arts & Design from TAFE Tasmania. Her works today are in India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Australia, UK, USA, and Canada. When meeting her, she is reserved at first, but easily opens up to say “Blushingly I accepted awards in the USA and in Australia. I also accepted a, to me very meaningful, request to paint a work for the Sathya Sai Ashram in Puttaparthi, India, entitled "Unity - The World as One in Peace and Love". I also was pleased to be selected several times as a feature artist in publications from Tasmania and Victoria.”  There was life beyond Tasmania. Annually she ventured into remote regions, either with friends or her husband. It is here where she feels at home. Here, she says “I enjoy the open skies, the freedom of space, the marvellous colours, the unique energy all its own.” Recognising this passion her husband, whom she met in Launceston, suggested a move to the west. In mid 2006, after three garage sales and the sale of a 5-bedroom house and a ½ acre garden they loaded their 4WD and trailer. Their original plan was to head towards the Kimberley, a place Monika is particularly fond of. However, after a few circular journeys and a working stint at a station in the West Australian outback they ended up in Carnarvon.  “I will sit still and be content with what we are surrounded with,” was her decision. This lasted two months. They arrived in October and by December she became active in the Soroptimists group, with the Friends of the Theatre, is a competitive tennis player, works for 2 days per week as a counselor and, certainly, paints… “I just have to express myself in my quiet little corner where I meditatively paint and express my feelings. This nature I see and feel with my skin then flows in oils or acrylics. The land captured my heart and spirit. Sacrosanct feelings absorb the beauty of it all…where nothing matters; but eventually there grows an urge to commit the impression to canvas. I don’t seek acclaim or attempt to please others to obtain their praise. I have to be true to myself.” “Certainly, I do like to be appreciated, yet there hasn’t been a real pressure to earn an income from painting. So I can remain true to my feelings. I have a genuine joy of playing with colours, moods and different expressions. And I do it either in realism, with running paint, with fingers, or…. The mind boggles: the means to achieve are endless.” And if she doesn’t like a painting it will be thrown away. “All I need is the back veranda of our small duplex which serves as my studio.”  This year Monika won the Overall Prize for the 2007 Art Quest Exhibition, Exmouth, WA. Next is her 1st Carnarvon exhibition, opening 19 October at 6 pm at the Gallery de la Fascine in Robinson St, Carnarvon. Her first Gascoyne paintings are in Melbourne with the C.A.S.C. group and she participated in the brooches exhibition in Melbourne.