ARTIST PROFILE

Kimberly Swan is an emerging visual artist based in the Hunter Valley/Wonnarua country NSW. Kimberly’s practice explores they every day, examining how objects and place interact to shape our experiences. By recording the nuances of these often-personal spaces, Kimberly is able to process change in her world. Executed with playfulness and a light sprinkling of irony, her paintings are characterized by painterly figurative and domestic scenes, unconventional landscapes and arranged objects from home. 

 

 

With a background in both Visual Communication and Natural History Illustration, Kimberly has developed strong drawing and observational skills that she builds into her work. In 2020 she moved to painting mostly with oils and more recently has been exploring different surfaces, incorporating sculptural elements and assemblage into her paintings or as stand-alone pieces.

 

Kimberly cites Rachel Milne as one of her biggest influences on her painting works after completing a twelve-month mentorship program with the painter in 2022. 

 

“Kimberly has turned the ordinary into adept, inviting works with subject matter and composition that are distinctly her own”

• Rachel Milne

 

 

Kimberly has exhibited across most of the Hunter region’s independent galleries either solo or within group exhibitions. In recent years her work has made finalist in the Lethbridge 20000, Newcastle Club Foundation Art Prize and the Hunter Emerging Art Prize.

 

Her most recent solo exhibition held in early 2025 provided a quirky and intimate lens into Kimberly’s life in Maitland. Figurative oil paintings accompanied drawings, print media, assemblage and mixed media works to round out a thoughtful show tackling historical themes, domesticity and recreation.