Welcome to my website. Please enjoy looking through, and if you have any comments or questions email me at dougpurnell@optusnet.com.au
I love the process of painting and discovering what appears on the page. Making the work has been more important to me than showing the work. And, then there is a place for sharing and showing the work.
I have been painting all my adult life. I am a retired minister in the Uniting Church and have continually worked to find connections between art and faith. That included 17 years as a director of the Blake Society.
Early, I was influenced by working in the studio of landscape painter David Mercy in Carlton (Vic). Later, I spent time as a visiting fellow at Princeton Theological Seminary in the US. There I met major US artist, Thomas George who became a teacher, friend, and mentor for 30 years. Tom had exhibited with Betty Parsons Gallery in New York for 12 years, and had a solo show of his work in the Museum of American Art in Washington DC.
In the early 90’s I completed a doctorate, the dissertation was titled “Doing Theology through Expressive Art: A series of paintings informed by the theology of Paul Tillich.” The thesis continues to shape and form my work.
I have had three residencies at the Henry Luce III Centre for Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC. USA (1994, 1998, and 2008) I had another residency at Andover Newton Theological School in Boston, Ma. USA (2002)
I have exhibited work in Australia and the US and am represented in public and private collections in both countries.
I set a goal for retirement, that I would spend fifteen years working with discipline in my studio every day, and, in that time I hoped that I might produce a mature body of work. And, I wrote a manifesto that I pinned on my studio wall, I have pinned it here too.
I love the process of painting and discovering what appears on the page, and making the work is more important to me than showing the work.
Two exhibitions planned for 2020 have, sadly, been postponed.
An associated interest is that I curate a contemporary Stations of the Cross exhibition. This began in 2007. Each year I invite 15 leading artists to participate www.stationsofthecross.net.au
And twice I curated a similar 'Seasons of Birth' exhibition.
I have been painting all my adult life. I am a retired minister in the Uniting Church and have continually worked to find connections between art and faith. That included 17 years as a director of the Blake Society.
Early, I was influenced by working in the studio of landscape painter David Mercy in Carlton (Vic). Later, I spent time as a visiting fellow at Princeton Theological Seminary in the US. There I met major US artist, Thomas George who became a teacher, friend, and mentor for 30 years. Tom had exhibited with Betty Parsons Gallery in New York for 12 years, and had a solo show of his work in the Museum of American Art in Washington DC.
In the early 90’s I completed a doctorate, the dissertation was titled “Doing Theology through Expressive Art: A series of paintings informed by the theology of Paul Tillich.” The thesis continues to shape and form my work.
I have had three residencies at the Henry Luce III Centre for Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC. USA (1994, 1998, and 2008) I had another residency at Andover Newton Theological School in Boston, Ma. USA (2002)
I have exhibited work in Australia and the US and am represented in public and private collections in both countries.
I set a goal for retirement, that I would spend fifteen years working with discipline in my studio every day, and, in that time I hoped that I might produce a mature body of work. And, I wrote a manifesto that I pinned on my studio wall, I have pinned it here too.
I love the process of painting and discovering what appears on the page, and making the work is more important to me than showing the work.
Two exhibitions planned for 2020 have, sadly, been postponed.
An associated interest is that I curate a contemporary Stations of the Cross exhibition. This began in 2007. Each year I invite 15 leading artists to participate www.stationsofthecross.net.au
And twice I curated a similar 'Seasons of Birth' exhibition.
C-V13, acrylic on canva,s (183 x 122cm) ,2020