Coco Elder in her Studio in Bellingen

Current Exhibitions       

Art2Muse Gallery, Woollahra - Enquire – https://art2muse.com.au/artists/coco-elder/ 

Bellingen Gallery – Bellingen - Enquire- https://www.instagram.com/bellingengallery/

 Tree-O Gallery – Raleigh- Enquire - https://tree-o.com.au

Coco Elder is an Australian artist specialising in painting and ceramics. Her early childhood experiences of weekends spent with her family in the Blue Mountains, making miniature gardens & collecting clay from the side of the road to make pots fired in the open fire place, put her in touch with mother earth and helped her to resonate and connect with nature. Elder’s experience of studying Landscape Architecture sparked her interest in botany & geology and opened her perception to the delicacy of various microclimates and how this affects the lie of the land.

Following her degree in Fine Arts, majoring in Painting and Ceramics, a visit to Cezanne’s studio and Mont Sainte-Victoire in Provence, influenced the way she was able to make sense of the Australian bush.

“ I began to see the triangular forms in nature that Cezanne spoke of… created by forms of foliage, branches and even spurs, gullies and ridges. The interlude between shadows and light creates a visual pattern that enable me to make sense of what might appear to be wild & unruly within nature”.

Alongside her Visual Arts high school teaching qualifications, Coco has also been a Lecturer at the College of Fine Arts (COFA) at UNSW.

 She now resides in Raleigh, in the Bellingen Shire where she works from her studio at home and takes her inspiration from the creeks and landscapes from Gumbaynggirr Country's Bellinger Valley and surrounds.

  “I hope to lead my audience on a journey and have them reflect on the grandeur of our natural landscape. One that is to be revered and protected”.

 Coco Elder has exhibited throughout numerous galleries including Art2Muse, Rochfort Gallery, Charles Hewitt, Dickerson Gallery, Avalon Art Gallery, Palm Beach Art Gallery, Tree-O Gallery, and Dorrigo Rainforest Exhibition Centre.

Elder has been a finalist in numerous awards including the, The Environmental Art and Design Prize, the National Emerging Art Prize, the Lethbridge Landscape Art Prize, Paddington Art Prize & Mosman Art Prize. She was a prize winner at the Sydney Royal Agricultural Easter Show, and the E.J Mantova Art Prize. Coco was commissioned by Hornsby Hospital to produce a large body of work for one of the new wings during their 2022-2023 renovation.