Coco Elder 

Coco is a practicing artist specialising in Painting and Ceramics. Her greatest inspiration and love of life is the Australian bush. As a child, Coco learnt to shape pots from clay found on the side of the road with weekends spent in the Blue Mountains. Her Father, also a painter, instilled the love of oil paints and dabbling with the elements of texture, colour and movement, in addition to inspiring aspects of Expressionism, Abstraction and painting with light.

Alongside her Visual Arts high school teaching qualifications, Coco has also been a Lecturer at the College of Fine Arts (COFA) at UNSW.

Her paintings have been inspired by the Australian bush, namely from the Ku-ring-gai area, (inhabitants of the Darug people), and more recently, the creeks and landscapes surrounding Bellingen, (inhabitants of the Gumbaynggirr people). She is drawn to the patterns in distant escarpments; “other worlds” in moving reflections of creek beds and pools of water; and the microcosmic chasms found within her favourite hardy flower - the banksia. Coco currently paints in her garden studio but thrives on sketching outdoors and drawing on nature’s own magical vistas.

“Painting brings me into the highest state of consciousness. It is in this moment, I lose myself and enter a state of formlessness. The paradox is, that my practice is about creating forms and shaping narratives. It is a journey that keeps me continually seeking….”.

“I’m always aware that I’m walking on the land of our Aboriginal Ancestors. I feel their presence on this land and have reverence.”