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Artist’s work shines

TALENTED artist Melanie Caple has made a career in visual arts that took her to Singapore last month.

Growing up in Leongatha, Ms Caple studied art throughout secondary school without knowing it would one day send her across the globe.

“My job has given me the opportunity to do some pretty cool things and having a chance to travel for work has been a fantastic experience,” she said.

Years after graduating from Leongatha Secondary College, she returned to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT.

“I did not know I wanted to do after school but I knew I had an interest in art. Growing up in Leongatha I did not know other artists so after I travelled and spent time in the UK, I chose to come home and study,” she said.

“I worked a lot with oil paints on canvas but I have also explored photography and spray paint. At the moment I love working with pencils and ink on paper.”

Ms Caple has since completed a Masters in Arts Management.

“I thought it would be really cool to be able to facilitate arts,” she said.

Ms Caple now splits her time between Leongatha and Melbourne, where she currently works for Flinders Lane Gallery.

Representing the gallery has given Ms Caple the opportunity to travel to international galleries. Last month she travelled to Singapore for work.

“I travelled to Singapore on behalf of the gallery to see how Australian work is being received internationally, especially in Asia. I feel really lucky being able to travel for work. It has given me the best of both worlds,” she said.

She has also achieved major success at home when last year she received the Dick Bishop Memorial Prize through Latrobe Regional Gallery.

“It was an award for emerging Gippsland based artists. I had not known of many art awards like that prior and it felt really great to be acknowledged for doing work at my home in the hills,” she said.

Ms Caple credits her rural upbringing as a source of inspiration for her work.

“I love being at home and making work. I find I am still predominantly inspired by my surroundings,” she said.

“It is the little things in nature that inspire a lot of my work.”

After having achieved major success in all aspects of her artistic career in 2015, Ms Caple hopes to create new works for exhibition this year.

“I think I will have a consolidation year. After last year I feel I worked really hard and I want to see where that would go. I want to get back into the studio and make some new work too,” she said.

“I have started selling prints of my work through my website which has been really exciting. It has been a great way to make art accessible to more people.”

Ms Caple’s advice for aspiring artists is simple.

“You have to be brave and you cannot be afraid to work really hard,” she said.

“It is not the most easy career but it is really rewarding.”

Ms Caple’s work can be seen and purchased on her website at www.melaniejoycaple.com

Local star: Leongatha artist Melanie Caple stands in an exhibition in Singapore, where she travelled last month on behalf of the Flinders Lane Gallery.

Local star: Leongatha artist Melanie Caple stands in an exhibition in Singapore, where she travelled last month on behalf of the Flinders Lane Gallery.

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Posted by on Feb 9 2016. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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