I'm Joanna Cole, a landscape painter born in 1972 on Kaurna and Peramangk Country in South Australia. I now live and work primarily from my home studio in Gadigal Country, Sydney (Bondi Beach), while also painting from the Hawkesbury River at LiKle Wobby, where I run Papillon Ar Mst Retreat and Residencies. Since 2017 I have dedicated myself to full-time landscape painting, using place, memory and environmental concerns to inform my work. My practice extends through artist residencies and exhibitions that address climate change, bushfire, flood, drought and land ownership, with a new focus emerging from LiKle Wobby and the Hawkesbury estuary.

Joanna Cole

I'm Joanna Cole, a landscape painter born in 1972 on Kaurna and Peramangk Country in South Australia. I now live and work primarily from my home studio in Gadigal Country, Sydney (Bondi Beach), while also painting from the Hawkesbury River at LiKle Wobby, where I run Papillon Ar Mst Retreat and Residencies. Since 2017 I have dedicated myself to full-time landscape painting, using place, memory and environmental concerns to inform my work. My practice extends through artist residencies and exhibitions that address climate change, bushfire, flood, drought and land ownership, with a new focus emerging from LiKle Wobby and the Hawkesbury estuary.

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I’m Joanna Cole, a landscape painter born in 1972 on Kaurna and Peramangk Country in South Australia. I now live and work primarily from my home studio in Gadigal Country, Sydney (Bondi Beach), while also painting from the Hawkesbury River at LiKle Wobby, where I run Papillon Ar Mst Retreat and Residencies. Since 2017 I have dedicated myself to full-time landscape painting, using place, memory and environmental concerns to inform my work. My practice extends through artist residencies and exhibitions that address climate change, bushfire, flood, drought and land ownership, with a new focus emerging from LiKle Wobby and the Hawkesbury estuary.

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Experience Level

Expert
Intermediate
Intermediate
Intermediate
Intermediate
Intermediate
Intermediate

Language

English
Fluent
Japanese
Intermediate
French
Advanced
Spanish; Castilian
Advanced

Work Experience

Landscape Painter (Full-time) at Self-employed / Independent Artist
January 1, 2017 - November 22, 2025
Committed to full-time landscape painting since 2017, with a solo show Never Fenced Country (2017) and numerous residencies and projects across Bondi Pavilion, Saint Cloche, Turdonale with Movers & Shapers, Magnenetic Island and Gaucin, Spain, Big Ci in the Blue Mountains, and the Art for Takayna field trip in Tasmania's old growth forest. Addresses environmental and social concerns through landscape; including bushfire, flood, drought, La Niña, climate change, and land ownership.
Interior Designer at Poliform (Australia)
January 1, 2003 - November 22, 2025
Returned to study interior design and worked with the Italian furniture company Poliform.
Full-time Landscape Painter at Self-employed / Freelance
January 1, 2017 - Present
Committed to full-time landscape painting since 2017; based in Sydney with ongoing residencies and exhibitions that address environmental and social concerns within the Australian landscape.
Textile Importing Company Employee at Textile Importing Company
January 1, 1990 - December 31, 1999
Employed by a textile importing company with travel to India and Japan; worked through the 1990s.

Education

Masters in Art (with Excellence) at University of NSW
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2020
Diploma in Interior Design at Commercial Arts Training College
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2009
Bachelor of Visual Communications - Illustration Design (with Honours) at University of SA
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 1997
Masters in Art (with Excellence) at University of NSW
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2020
Diploma in Interior Design at Commercial Arts Training College
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2009
Bachelor of Visual Communication - Illustration Design (with Honours) at University of SA
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 1997

Qualifications

Masters in Art (with Excellence)
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2020
Diploma in Interior Design
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2009
Bachelor of Visual Communications - Illustration Design (with Honours)
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 1997

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Education, Professional Services, Other
    Familiar Unfamiliar

    A solo art exhibition of landscape paintings from a residency in Andalucia, Spain. The eucalupts, are expats over there, introduced as quick growing, straight limbed shade providors for the soldiers in the Spanish Civil war. The Spanish entrepreneurs realised they make great timber and started harvesting for matches, paper and building materials. While the resilience, drought tolerant nature of the species had many benefits, there have been some causes for local protest against the Australian Natives. Most vehemently bushfires have been raging out of control on the Iberian Peninsular and the oil in the leaves of the gum trees have been blamed. Joanna Cole locates the eucalypt in its adopted homeland and making juxtapositions between the familiar, iconic Tasmanian Blue gum, in an unfamiliar country, and the Spanish Oyster thistle, familiar to Joanna as an introduced species to Australia, but unfamiliar as a staple Spanish ingredient. The flipping of context and perception makes for interesting conversation. The show was opened by Miguel Olmo, at Brenda Colahan Fine Arts. https://www.twine.net/signin