Libbet Loughnan
Recent Awards:
- February 2019: Margaret Martin Award for Watercolor, National Arts Club, New York, USA
- October 2017: Shortlisted in Graeme Hildebrand Foundation prize, Red Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- Sept 2017: Shortlisted in Toorak Art Walk, Melbourne, Australia
- March 2016: President’s Prize, National Arts Club, New York, USA.
- Oct 2015: Obracodobra Art Residency, Oaxaca, Mexico.
- July 2015: First Prize in Art Lab Award 2015 and fully hosted and supplied Artist Residency, awarded by the Academic Council of the Academia Luciana, Civitella, Italy.
Exhibitions:
Solo -
- April 2021: Pop-Up at Casa Colonial, Oaxaca, Mexico
- October-November 2020: Ceres Gallery, New York, USA
- February 2018: Ceres Gallery, New York, USA
- May 2017: Bridge 38 Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- February 2017: Marquis Gallery, National Arts Club, New York, USA
- March – April 2016: Qube Gallery, Cebu, Philippines
- October 2015: Obracodobra, Oaxaca, Mexico
- April 2015: Gordon Art Gallery, Geelong, Australia
Fairs -
- September 2017: Art Gwangju with Gallerie Bruno Massa, Gwangju, Korea
- September 2015: Affordable Art Fair NYC with Gallerie Bruno Massa, New York, USA
- July 2015: Osaka Art Fair with Gallerie Bruno Massa, Osaka, Japan
- May 2015: New York Select Fair, New York, USA
- April 2015: Love Art Fair with Galleria Bruno Massa, Toronto, Canada
Group -
- August 2021: (sculpture) Eagles Nest Gallery, Aireys Inlet, Australia
- May 2019: St Charlie's Bar, Melbourne, Australia
- February 2019: National Arts Club, New York, USA
- January 2019: Ceres Gallery, New York, USA
- March 2018: Ceres Gallery, New York, USA
- February 2018: Red Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- December 2017: Tussock Gallery, Point Lonsdale, Australia
Loughnan’s paintings and sculpture explore connectedness and the fragility of this beautiful life. Her work reflects a childhood very rich in family warmth under the Australian sun in a little town called Ceres, stories encountered across countries in adult life, and a desire for more reflection on the place of humans within nature.
Usually working with acrylic on wood, Loughnan also produces watercolors on paper, and sculptures.
After training at Robert Drummond’s Geelong Fine Art School in the late 90s, Loughnan attended life drawing classes in Melbourne from 2001, the Beijing hutongs from 2009, and the National Arts Club of the USA, and the Art Student’s League of NYC (ASLNYC) after moving to NYC in 2009. She ran a number of short art programs among children living precariously in Oaxaca, Beijing and Yunnan, alongside other work.
In 2013 she shifted to more intensively produce pieces herself, and since then has exhibited in many group shows (in Barwon Heads and Point Lonsdale in Australia, Berlin in Germany, Lazio in Italy, Osaka in Japan, Puerta Galera in the Philippines, and Los Angeles and New York in USA) and increasingly in solo exhibitions (Geelong in Australia, Mexico city and Oaxaca in Mexico and Cebu in the Philippines in 2015 - 2016; New York in 2018).
Recent awards include the President’s Award at the National Arts Club, NYC (March 2016) and First Prize in Art Lab Award 2015 and fully hosted Residency in Civitella, Italy, awarded by the Academic Council of the Academia Luciana (August 2015).
Loughnan is inspired by artists Frida Kahlo, Brett Whitely, John Olsen, Françoise Gilot, Robert Drummond, Hunt Slonem, Brenda Napaltjarri, Robert Ingpen, her family, by scuba diving and exploring.