Background

Fiona Cotton is a contemporary realist painter, specialising in still life painting  and portraiture.  She has spent time in Florence studying classical painting techniques. She has been a finalist in many art prizes including the AME Bale Art Prize, the Percival Portrait Prize, the Mosman Art Prize, the Rick Amor Self Portrait Prize and the EMSLA (Eutick Memorial Still Life) Award.

She began her art training at a young age with professional artist Mary Martin in the UK before moving to Australia in her teens. She has a BA in Fine Art and Drama (Flinders University), a Diploma of Education (Adelaide University), a Cert TEFL (RSA London) and an MA (Macquarie University). She developed a career in teaching and research in English and Linguistics all the while painting whenever she could. In 2010 she returned to painting from her academic position at University of New South Wales, Canberra. She has travelled extensively to study art in Europe, Asia and the USA. She studied with David Costello at the Canberra School of Art from 2010 to 2013, then in Italy, taking intensive courses at the Florence Academy of Art (2014, 2015), and the Charles Cecil Studios (2016). She has taken many master workshops including with Joshua LaRock, Michael Klein, Cesar Santos, Jason Arkles and Andrew Bonneau. Her work can be seen at the Aarwun Gallery, Gold Creek, Canberra and the AK Bellinger Gallery, Inverell.
 

Education

2019

2019

2019

2018

2017

2017

2016

2015

2014

Joshua LaRock Workshop, Florence Studio

Jason Arkles, Artistic Anatomy, Brisbane 

Andrew Bonneau Workshop, NPG

Michael Klein Workshop, Rosemary's Brushes

Andrew Bonneau Workshop, Brisbane

Cesar Santos Workshop, Florence Studio
Charles H Cecil Studios, Florence
Florence Academy of Art intensive program
Florence Academy of Art Still Life workshop
 

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2010-13  Canberra School of Art, part time

1969-73  BA Fine Art and Drama, Flinders University, South Australia