Gold Coast local Charleen Morris is the powerhouse artist behind an impressive 49 pieces of public art, from Runaway Bay to Reedy Creek, Carrara to Currumbin Waters, Miami to Mudgeeraba.
Her first mural was created in 2014 in Palm Beach, and her most recent Artbox artwork, the Galahs pictured above, has recently been completed in Mudgeeraba.
Working as a graphic and textile designer and earlier in her career, one day Charleen decided to take up the challenge to “just paint pretty pictures” and the rest is history.
Congratulations on your 49th piece of public art, that’s quite an achievement. Do you have a favourite piece that you’ve created?
I don’t have a particular favourite, but I do feel a greater fondness to artworks that reflect a connection to places that I spend more of my leisure time. I love native flora that I can see when visiting Tallebudgera Creek estuary and Burleigh headlands, which is where the inspiration for my Dune Dwellers series came from. My Artbox in Tugun features lifeguard towers from these beautiful locations. When I think about what I want to paint, I want to draw attention to the stunning native plants that we could easily grow in our South East Queensland gardens.
Why is art important to you?
Art is a way of life. Even in our everyday individual lives, as human beings we live vicariously through our own sense of modernity, just as an artist works in their studio. We are influenced by our personal upbringings and our surrounding environments wherever we exist. I believe art draws many similarities to science, it is an exploration and development of ideas. Art, like science, takes the creator or viewer on a journey of discovery, questioning and drawing focus to the human condition, reflecting connection to ourselves as human beings including our differences – pleading to think beyond who and what we are.
How does it feel when you drive around the Gold Coast and see your own art on display?
It is an interesting experience. Naturally I feel a sense of pride, and I feel humbled and grateful to the City of Gold Coast that my artwork has been deemed worthy of being exhibited on the streets of this beautiful city.
What do you love most about living on the Gold Coast?
I have a strong connection to where I live. Besides my family history, the biggest drawcard for me is the natural environment – the subtropical forests within minutes of our urban environment. The subtropical climate and beaches remind me of my birthland in the Pacific, known as the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, the largest island off the Solomon Islands archipelago.
I went to Palm Beach Currumbin High School and after a short stint working as a graphic designer on the Gold Coast, I moved to Brisbane, then Sydney, and then travelled the world. I returned to beautiful Burleigh Heads. My Australian family has a long history in the area, from the early timber logging days of the 1930s in Numinbah Valley, to the Currumbin Valley banana plantations.
What inspires your art?
I am a flat colour painter who is influenced by the art of traditional Japanese textiles, which is a derivative of Japanese Manga art that I grew up with. My “What’s in a name?” series is inspired by wanting to know the meaning of the word Tallebudgera and delving into the meaning of several Gold Coast suburbs and their meaning in the language of the Yugambeh people.
I was stationed on Christmas Island between 2021 and 2022 as Arts and Design Facilitator at the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre. Thanks to my public arts experience on the Gold Coast, the Shire of Christmas Island commissioned me to paint three murals as part of a restoration development project in their newest marine inspired parklands project, which has collaboratively won a Western Australian State award.
My experience in this unique part of the world and forming connections with the beautiful Christmas Island community has inspired a new series of artworks to return with in the future and share with the Shire of Christmas Island community. On returning home to the Gold Coast August last year, I have begun a new series of 100 artworks, inspired by 100 of my own photographs of the Gold Coast taken throughout the years.
Head to charleenmorris.com or @charleenmorrisart on Instagram to see more of Charleen’s stunning work.
