Wendy Lugg lives in Perth, Western Australia.
Although she qualified in Fine Art, majoring in painting, she has always
had a strong interest in textiles, and since the mid 80's, this has been
her chosen medium. Her fine art training has led her to work mainly for
exhibition and commission. Her major works are layered stitched
textiles,
many of which record her response to the Australian environment.
After she commenced exhibiting this new work in 1987,
Wendy soon developed a reputation as one of Australia's most
innovative quiltmakers. Her work has been published regularly, and she
has won a number of awards.
In 1989 she received a grant through the WA
Department for the Arts which enabled her to promote her work and to
accept invitations to teach and exhibit in South East Asia. In 1991 she was selected for an exhibition, featuring
work by 26 Australian textile artists, which visited twenty countries
during a two year tour.
She was one of three Australian quiltmakers
invited to participate in the prestigious 'New Wave International Quilt
Exhibitions' in the USA and Japan during the 1990s. These three exhibitions, and the
accompanying publications, featured some of the world’s top
contemporary quiltmakers.
Wendy has exhibited regularly in the ongoing juried contemporary Australian quilt survey shows at the Manly Gallery,
NSW. Her role has extended to delivering the 1994 invitational Manly
quilt show lecture and selecting the exhibition in 2003.
In 1997 her work was selected for the Quilt National
international juried contemporary quilt exhibition in the USA. She
has also been juried into the Visions exhibition. Wendy has also
had solo exhibitions in Australia, the UK, the USA and New Zealand.
Among her awards, Wendy counts several as
particularly significant to her development as an artist. In 1993
she was awarded the Quilters' Guild
Scholarship. She has also received a Churchill Fellowship, which enabled her to travel in 1997 to Korea and
the USA, to study fabric design and printing for the quilt market.
More recently, she was awarded a 2004 Australia Council new work
grant. This gave her the luxury of time to focus on exploring
mending as a metaphor for healing.
Wendy has undertaken a number of community arts and
public art projects in Australia, and her work hangs in a number of
public buildings. Her solo
exhibition ‘Common Threads’ has toured to five countries, with
assistance from ArtsWA and the Japan Foundation.
Arts residencies have been an ongoing part of her
practice. These range from being Artist in Residence at the1996 Romsey Arts
Festival in the UK, to a residency with two Indian artisans at the
Ballarat Art Gallery VIC as part of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Arts
Festival.
Backed by a Graduate Diploma of Education, Wendy has extensive teaching
experience, having lectured and conducted workshops throughout Australia and
overseas for more than twenty years. She has
judged exhibitions both in Australia and overseas, and has curated a number of
exhibitions.
Wendy has endeavoured to promote professional arts practise
through involvement, at committee level, in a number of arts
organisations. She is a Fellow of the Crafts Council of Western
Australia, now re-branded as 'Form'.
