north east regional extra | October 30 - November 5, 2019
nemedia.com.au
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October 30 - November 5, 2019
Spoiling the bush
By BELINDA HARRISON
LANDSCAPE painter Andrew Pye may have dropped out of his highly sought after RMIT Fine Art degree 20 years ago, but that hasn’t hindered his love for painting or his ability to successfully exhibit the work he feels compelled to create. Speaking of his BA Fine Art he said, “I wasn’t ready. My art was not good and I was failing.” But Andrew didn’t stop painting, creating works of the urban terrace houses of North Carlton and Fitzroy where he was living instead. In 2005 he married Catherine, a nurse midwife, and spent time in Wangaratta and the North East when visiting Catherine’s parents’ farm, hoping to one day move to the area to be closer to the landscape. “Catherine’s not overly creative, but she is super practical, and that really helps with the art practice,” Andy said. “She has a really keen eye for what works … which helps me after I’ve been in the studio for 12 hours and can’t determine if my day’s work is any good.” In 2009 Andrew enrolled at Deakin University, completing a Bachelor of Arts with honours, and almost 10 years later with his Deakin degree ‘not being put to use’ he decided to return to study, enrolling in Master of Teaching (secondary) at Charles Sturt University. “Some of my favourite painters have been teachers so I went and did a Masters,” he said. He is just about to graduate and could specialise in teaching English, or more broadly in art, politics, history or humanities, unless his wife lets him study some more - a PhD would interest him. Andrew and Catherine have four children ranging in age from two to 12 years old so life can be pretty busy but, living in central Wangaratta in a charming home built in the 1880s, is much more relaxing compared to the ‘big smoke’.
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◆ THE QUINTESSENTIAL AUSTRALIAN: Landscape painter Andrew Pye creates Australian bush scenes from his home studio in Wangaratta.
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