Home is where the art is

This was not so much a money-making scheme, she explained, but rather a way to support her habit, in a manner of speaking.

She needs to shed some of her works to make room for more, because her house is brimming with them.

‘I’m so petrified I’ll die and my children will have to get rid of all of this,’ she said, humorously but with a touch of seriousness.

Foeken has spent months preparing her house for the exhibition, which will fill not only her teaching studio, but also her picture rail-lined passage and lounge.

Her crowning achievement has been to transform her garage, once an ordinary brick-walled parking space, into a white-painted, brightly lit gallery in its own right, complete with more picture railing.

She has filled every inch to put together the 114-work show of linocuts, woodblocks, pastel, oil and watercolour paintings of landscapes, portraits and still-life studies, with a particular focus on Australian flora.

Among those to watch out for are Silver princess with drapery, a pastel of a eucalyptus flower arrangement with a calm, dignified look that Foeken described as ‘almost regal’.

By comparison, she said, another series of pastels ‘go for that roughness, shagginess, toughness and resilience of the banksia ” quite unlike the silver princess‘.

Foeken has exhibited her work in Perth, New York, Sydney and The Netherlands over the past three decades.

She has taught art at primary, secondary and tertiary institutions and at present runs her own classes for children, teenagers and adults.

WILLEMINA FOEKEN SOLO EXHIBITION– 3 Nolan Avenue, Southern River– October 4, 5, 11 and 12, 2pm-5pm– RSVP if attending to w.foeken@iinet.net.au