Jo Darvall
“I used my practice as a printmaker and painter to create new works that engaged in a type of conversation. Discoveries I noticed in my prints were incorporated into my paintings… It was a fascinating conversation, and I am still working out what it all means. I want to give space for the viewers to make their own interpretations too.”
- Jo Darvall
Jo Darvall is an artist whose work is influenced by sensory experiences and her long-standing connection to the natural world. During her thirty-year career spanning three continents, she has developed a distinctive visual language exploring the interplay between memory, place and the Australian landscape. Originally from Naarm (Melbourne), Darvall now lives and works in Western Australia, where her regular walks through forests and along the coast inform her intuitive, layered compositions.
Based in her studio in Walyalup (Fremantle) and as co-founder of the Swan River Print Studio at Goolugatup Heathcote, Darvall draws inspiration from the subtle patterns, sounds and changing light found in nature. “Darvall’s paintings capture the essence of West Australian forests, evoking the spirit of the landscape,” writes Dr Kevin Robinson. Her recent works reflect her ongoing engagement with the environment, blending figuration and abstraction to capture atmosphere and place.
Darvall’s work has been exhibited in twenty solo exhibitions and over fifty group exhibitions across Australia, China, London, Fiji and Singapore. In 2023, she won the Collie Art Prize, Australia’s richest regional art award. In 2024, she completed residencies at Edith Cowan University and the Western Australian Parliament, where her four-metre diptych was acquired for the state collection. Alongside her studio practice, Darvall continues to contribute to arts education and community initiatives, currently lecturing at Curtin University, while maintaining a strong commitment to arts-led cultural exchange.
Image: Christophe Canato
About the Artist
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Born 1966 in Yarram, VIC, lives and works in Fremantle
Education
Sessional Academic Curtin University Western Australia.
Bachelor of Arts, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne.
Encaustic Mono Printing Art Students League of New York.
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Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
Elemental Drift — Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, WA2024
You Yangs — Fox Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2023
Hydrosphere — Fox Galleries, Melbourne, VIC2022
Regeneration — Studio Gallery, Yallingup, WA2021
Winged Realm — PG Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Wandoo — Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, WA2020
Nature’s Marks — Studio Gallery, Perth, WA2019
Mooro Katta — PS Art Space, Fremantle, WA2018
Jo Darvall — Nyisztor Studio, Fremantle, WA
Like Water — Mundaring Arts Centre & No. 1 Pump Station, Mundaring Weir National Trust, WA2017
Raw Umber and Silk — Manet Museum, Beijing, China
All That Is Changing — Australian High Commission, Singapore2016
Reckless Romantics — Sagra Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Paris Bled into the Indian Ocean — Regional Public Art Gallery, Busselton, WA2015
Paris Bled into the Indian Ocean — Merenda Contemporary, WA2014
Walking the Pipeline to the Waters End — Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery, WA
Sensorium: The Unfurling — Sculpture Square, Singapore
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
Convergence — Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery, Perth, WA2024
Unfold Indian Ocean Triennial — Mundaring Arts Centre, Perth, WA
Group Exhibition & Artist in Residence — Art Forum, Singapore
Florabunda — Lost Eden Gallery, Dwellingup, WA2023
Sea Sings (Lumen and Winged Realm with Clare Humphries & Martin King) — Print Council of Australia Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Summer Exhibition — Swan River Print Studio, Earlyworks Gallery, Perth, WA
Duavata Josua Toganivalu et al. — Lancaster Press Gallery, Fiji
Sea Sings — Lumen and Winged Realm with Clare Humphries & Martin King, City of Albany, WA2022
ArtForum Group Exhibition — Singapore
The SWAN Tour — FORM@The Goods Shed, Perth, WA
IRON — Lost Eden Gallery, Dwellingup, WA
Unique Works on Paper — Holmes à Court Gallery, Vasse Felix, WA
The Swan — Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Bunbury, WA2021
Ecologies of Change — ROSL Clubhouse, London, UK
Now You See Me I: Women Artists from the CGG Collection — Perth, WA
Sea Sings: Winged Realm — Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Geraldton, WA
Nature by Three Artists — ArtForum, Singapore2020
Body’s of Work — Printmakers Association of WA, Perth, WA
Era of Isolation — Goolugatup Heathcote Art Gallery, Perth, WA
Wide 2020 Open Road — Nyisztor Gallery, Perth, WA
In Our Nature — Lost Eden Creative, Perth, WA
Collection 18: Paintings and Ceramics — Rochfort Gallery, Sydney, NSW2019
Bunbury Biennale — Bunbury, WA
Friends — Dianne Stringer Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Above and Below — Linton & Kay Gallery, Perth, WA
AAF (represented by ArtForum Gallery) — Singapore
Sea Sing, Black Sands & Winged Realm — Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery, Perth, WA
Collection 10 — Rochfort Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Silhouette: The Body of Nature — Rochfort Gallery, Sydney, NSW2018
AAF Art Forum — Singapore2017
Artists from South East Asia — ArtForum Gallery, Singapore
Arts Residency — Heathcote Museum, Perth, WA
All That Is Changing (collab w/Yeo Shih Yun) — Australian High Commission, Singapore
Art Residency — INSTINC, Singapore2016
Farrer Company Collection Art Book Launch & Exhibition — Singapore
Art Works Commissioned — Crown Towers Hotel, Perth, WA
Group Exhibition — ArtForum, Singapore2015
Custodians — Holmes à Court Gallery, Vasse Felix, WA
Art Works Commissioned & Collected — Royal Children’s Hospital, Perth, WA
AAF — Singapore2014
Asian Contemporary Art Show AAP — Hong Kong
One Farrer Hotel: 9 Painting Commission — Singapore
Artist Residency — City of Belmont, Perth, WA
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Awards
2025:
Finalist — Monoprint Art Prize, Firestation Print Studio, Malvern, VIC2024:
AIR to Parliament, Perth, WA
Award Winner — Fire Station Artist Book Prize, Melbourne, VIC
Finalist — Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing (Judge: Sasha Grishin), Sydney, NSW2023:
Award Winner — Collie Art Prize ($50,000), WA
Finalist — Fremantle Print Award, Perth, WA2022:
Finalist — Perth Royal Art Prize, Perth, WA
Finalist — Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, NSW
Finalist — Jury Art Prize, The Junction Gallery, Port Hedland, WA
Finalist — Minnawarra Art Award, WA
Finalist — The Swan, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Bunbury, WA2021:
Award Winner — City of Melville Art Awards (Local Resident Award), Perth, WA
Finalist — York Botanical Art Prize, WA
Finalist — Geelong Print Acquisitive Award, VIC
Finalist — Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Art Gallery, TAS2020:
High Commendation — Busselton Contemporary Art Award, Busselton, WA
Finalist — York Botanical Art Prize, WA2019:
Finalist — Perth Royal Art Prize, WA
Finalist — Still: National Still Life Exhibition, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW
Finalist — Fremantle Print Award, WA2018:
Finalist — John Leslie Art Prize for Landscape Painting, Gippsland Art Gallery, VIC2017:
Finalist & Highly Commended — ArtGeo, Busselton Art Gallery, Busselton, WA
High Commendation — Kalgoorlie Boulder Art Prize, Kalgoorlie, WA2016:
Finalist — Redland Gallery Painting Prize, QLD2015:
Award Winner — Mandjar Corporate Art Award, WA2014:
Finalist — Albany Art Prize, Albany, WA2013:
Highly Commended — City of Busselton Acquisitive Art Prize, Busselton, WA
Award Winner — Open Acquisitive Art Prize, City of Belmont, Perth, WA
Collections
Artbank
Museum of Fiji
Janet Holmes à Court Collection
State Library of Victoria
Crown Towers, Perth
Credit Suisse
City of Mandurah, WA
Royal Children’s Hospital, Perth
West Australian Water Corporation
One Farrer Company Collection, Singapore
Geelong Gallery, VIC
St John of God Health Care
City of Melville, WA
Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, WA
Coffs Harbour Regional Art Gallery & City Council
City of Belmont, WA
City of Footscray, VIC
Gippsland Art Gallery
Howey Hotel, Melbourne
Oil on canvas
120 × 100cm