Lydia
Nell Pearson
- Sitter: Lydia Pearson
- Medium: Watercolour and gouache on paper
- Dimensions: 57 x 77 cm
- Representation: Edwina Corlette Gallery
About the artist
Nell Pearson lives and works in Byron Bay. She won a full year scholarship to the Julian Ashton School of Art for Drawing in Sydney and at the Victorian College of Art in Melbourne. She works across painting, sculpture, performance and ceramics. More recently her desire to make garments has brought her into the fashion world working with Jessica Blume in Byron Bay on the label Blume which pay homage to long dreamy summers and ethical manufacturing. Having this interest in fashion and how clothing sits on our outer skin is no surprise. Part of Edwina Corlette’s stable of artists, Nell Pearson’s her works always start from the human figure with each image built on a foundation of investigation.
About the sitter
As public figure, Lydia Pearson is a celebrated designer and University lecturer. She is also the artists aunt. Nell Pearsen says of Lydia: “Though I am proud of her achievements, I wanted to show her as a worthy subject apart from those things, as the person who I know so well and love so dearly – the woman who helped raise me, who nurtured my creativity and inspired me to become an artist. Stripping back the flourishes of colour and pattern, this portrait explores a more intimate version of Lydia Pearson”. With Pamela Easton, Pearson created one of Brisbane’s most iconic fashion brands, Easton Pearson. Each had a different fashion aesthetic – Lydia loved lace and beaded gowns, Pamela was into 1950s dresses and sunglasses, but hey had a shared sensibility that became their signature look. In 2014 Lydia and Pamela closed their label. Since then Pearson has maintained her fashion ties working as a lecturer in the Creative Industries Faculty in the School of Design at QUT.
