On the canvas: Marni Korneluk
Australian artist Marni Korneluk tells us about making paints from natural pigments, creating art for charity, and finding an artistic style that is authentic to herself.
As told to The Maker’s Story…
“I am Marni Korneluk, 36, a mother of two wild boys and an artist. Our little family live in Albury–Wodonga, on the border of NSW/VIC, Australia.
I have always been an artist. I often say I was born with pencils in my hand. One of my earliest drawings is still on the fridge at my Nan and Pop’s place. I’m pretty sure its dated 1992 (I was born in1984).
My creative journey began way back when I was born, however it probably started to evolve in 2009 when I began a career as an apprentice tattoo artist up in Queensland. Prior to that you would still find me dabbling away with many different mediums. Even painting small murals along the way. I worked in the tattoo industry for roughly four years and ending up leaving to focus more on my young son who was born in January of 2013.
During this period, I was often home with just us two and I would whip out the art materials for some therapeutic drawing. This quickly reignited my love and passion for art and uncovered a treasure trove of buried skill that would see me stay up into the very early mornings drawing away. My muses with pencils were (and still are) musicians that I love to listen to. Elvis, Xavier Rudd, Kurt Cobain, Amy Shark and so on. I also really enjoy drawing animals and I often draw pet portraits for people.
I have collaborated four times for charity with my art. The first was in honor of my late Nan (Grandmama). When she was alive, she would often volunteer for the blind, and since I didn’t quite have the time for that, I auctioned off my piece – a hand-painted skateboard with Hilltop Hoods portraits painted on it (hand-signed by all three members) and raised $600 for Seeing Eye Dogs Australia.
The second charity auction was for The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. We had to take our youngest son there for assessments when he was three months old. This piece was a portrait of Bliss n Eso and was also hand-signed by all members. From memory, I believe $350 was raised for this.
At the beginning of 2020, my partner Trevor asked me to do face painting for an event he and his friends from The Carlective had created. This event was to raise money for victims and services of the severe and devastating bushfire season of 2019/2020. I was so honored to be a part of this and so proud of Trev and his friends as they raised a whopping $43,000.
During all these years of creative life and up until around March of 2020, I was constantly working on art projects of many different kinds. Paintings, murals, pet portraits etc. However, once Covid-19 hit I decided to put the breaks on and simply focus on homeschooling and my mental health. I said “no” quite a lot in 2020.
Except for one thing.
A friend of mine is a marketing manger for a local winery in our region, Cofield Wines. She asked me to design a wine label for the release of their 2020 Rare Rose. Again, this was for charity and ended up raising $15,000 for our local Albury–Wodonga Cancer Centre Trust, in memory of Karen Cofield who passed from the disease in 2017.
Photography @shotbykyzephotography
As this was one of the only collaborations/commissions I took on in 2020, it gave me so much space to really explore more mediums, techniques and to simply just have fun without the pressure of getting it right.
And I got some things right, but I also got a lot of things wrong! Many, many mistakes were made, canvases destroyed and discarded, paper ruined, pens, pastels, watercolours, paints – all of it was used so quickly. And this is where I had my light bulb moment of creating my own pigments. I wanted and needed a more sustainable practice.
So off I went and collected ash from bonfires, charcoal, sand, stones, rocks and dirt of any kind to break down into a fine powder. And with it (in my opinion) merged the most beautiful colours and paintings and it gave me the gift of being truly present throughout the whole process. It is extremely meditative. It’s such a joy to paint this way and I feel the paintings are just that little more special and magical.
Unless I am doing a portrait of any kind, I don’t plan my pieces out. They are all purely intuitive, I might have a colour palette in mind, but the painting process is an intuitive one. I allow myself and the paintings to have time and space between the layers to allow them to dry, but more so that I can come back with fresh eyes and new perspectives to work through them. My days are pretty full these days. With two young boys, work and other commitments, as long as I can squeeze in some sort of creative work, I am happy. Busy, but happy.
I have quite a few favourite pieces from over the years and they are all so different. The difference lies between the mediums used and the sentiment around the piece. I absolutely love my first large earth painting “Presence” – I’m not sure I can part with it. And I also love the Hilltop Hoods skateboard because of the connection it has to my Nan and her legacy. I am loving the abstract botanicals a lot too. I feel I have finally found my authentic art voice. Which is very satisfying as it’s been a life’s work to arrive here.
Currently my workspace is a nook in our loungeroom. I have a desk for where I do any portraits and small watercolour/acrylic/ink paintings, shelving full of wellbeing and spiritual books, lots of paint, pencils, inks etc. all stored in every spare space, as well as finished and unfinished pieces scattered around. I have moved my earth pigments and canvases outside and that’s where I let it all get messy and magical.”
Albury–Wodonga, Australia
