Bio
Elise Garnaut is a Berlin based Australian visual artist. She has been painting and exhibiting since a young age. She was born and brought up in Melbourne. Over the past 2 decades she has lived in Europe. She has exhibited in Hong Kong, Paris, London, Brighton, Berlin, Rome, Venice and Melbourne.
Her paintings unite the influences of great European painters, such as, Matisse, Chagall, Steinlen, Klimt and Niki de Saint Phalle in a vibrant, bold and naïve style. Her works combine the strong and brilliant colours of Australia and the floral motives and synthesis of line and colour typically found in oriental art.
In Rome, she worked with street cats and her speciality is in feline and animal portraiture, based on her volunteer work in animal welfare. Over time her art has taken on different faces, different purposes and different lives depending on her influences and surroundings.
In Paris she painted street performers, in Berlin she painted angels, in Rome she painted the city's street cats. In Brighton UK, she painted the gardens of the city’s residents. Throughout her many years as a travelling visual artist, she has always painted landscapes, more often than not, in the context of cities.
Elise also trained 3 years ago in India as a yoga and meditation teacher. Since then she has taught on yoga retreats in both Spain and the UK. In these settings she has also created visual art workshops that bring together the practise of art and mindful meditation.
CV
Education and Awards
1997 – Scholarship to study Italian Language and Art History.
Universita di Stranieri, Perugia, Italy
1996 – Intensive Course in life drawing, meditation and Mindful art.
Linden – St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts
1992 – 1996 B.A degree Double Major – Italian Studies and Linguistics
Latrobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Selected Exhibitions
2022 – Sensing Nature Through Art
Collective Mosaic created by art workshop participants.
Watercolour landscapes based on the nature of Strandbad Tegelsee, Berlin, Germany.
2021 – Christmas Cat Window: a feline nativity installation and cat collage.
Kultur Café, Berlin, Germany.
2020- Cosmopolitan Cats 2020.
Kulturrraum, Mainzer 7, Berlin, Germany.
2011-2019 – Brighton Fringe Festival Artists Open Houses.
Brighton, United Kingdom.
2009 Ritratto di Gatto: dall’Emisfero a Roma.
with Queenie Chow, Galleria 291 Est, Rome, Italy
2007 Cat’s Kitsch-a-Roma, Hong Kong City Festival.
The Economist Gallery, Hong Kong.
2003 Colours through the Australian Kaleidoscope.
The Australia Center, Berlin, Germany.
2002 Kunst ist fur jederman.
Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2002 Sommeil Eternel,
Hong Kong City Festival, Galerie Martini, Hong Kong.
1999 Noveau Salon d’Automne.
Galerie Art Present, Paris, France
1998 May Travelling Circus,
The Engineer, London, England
1998, 1999, 2000, Portes Ouvertes du 10eme Arrondissement
Paris, France
Art Workshops
2021-2022 Mindful Art Workshops.
Drawing and landscape painting.
Strandbad Tegelsee, Berlin, Germany.
2019 – Mindful Art Workshops.
Drawing and watercolour painting.
Yoga Sutra Shala Retreat Centre,
Benissiva, Spain.
2015-2018 – Mindful Art Workshops.
Laughing Buddha Retreats, Hastings, Sussex, Australia.
2008 Roman Cats Information Session and Drawing Workshop.
Bribie Island Library, Queensland, Australia.
2002 December Bilingual Art Coordinator.
Apache Art Centre, Paris, France.
Selected Bibliography
February 2008, Elise Garnaut, ABC Radio Bendigo, Interview with Dave Lennon.
February 2008, Elise Garnaut, Macedon Ranges Guardian, Victoria, Australia.
January 2007, Elise Garnaut, City Festival 2007, Official Guide presented by Hong Kong Fringe Club.
December 2004, Elise Garnaut, Gedanken Stringe Magazine, Berlin, Germany.
January 2002, Elise Garnaut, South China Mornington Post, Hong Kong.
January 2002 Elise Garnaut, City Festival 2002, Office guide presented by Hong Kong Fringe Club.