Samantha Wortelhock
Curriculum Vitae
1965 Born Nairobi, Kenya.
1987 Began painting
1988 Emigrated to Australia from the UK
Exhibitions
1990 Field of Dreams Gallery, Queen Street Woollahra
1991 Coach House Gallery, The Rocks, Sydney
1991-1992 First exhibiting Artist in Residence Mulgara Gallery, Uluru
1993-2003 BreakAway Art’s Heaven and Earth Gallery, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney
2004 BreakAway Art Gallery, Byron Bay
2004-2009 Exhibiting in Terra Nova Gallery, Kuranda FNQ
2005-2015 Started Family. Undertook selective mural projects Australia wide for Dept of Education.
2008 Designed “Creative Thinking techniques” programs for the Dept of Education.
2010 ‘Creating Community’ The program was designed to bring students from varying cultural backgrounds & 3 very different schools together. This culminated in an exhibition at the Ballina Regional Gallery, where the children met and experienced in awe, their counterparts paintings for the first time.
(This proved to be a pivotal moment for all who viewed it including myself…where I really understood how Art pushed through prejudice, to reclaim our common ground. This experience was the springboard for me to continue to devote the coming years to community projects.
Design and Delivery to design and facilitate motivational arts space programs for the following organisations & foundations:
2012 EnViTe – working with long term unemployed clients
2012 Tania Major Foundation, Pormpuraaw Arts Centre
2013 Queensland Health, Kowanyama, Cape York (Addiction services).
2013 NORTEC, Murwillumbah, sponsored “Treasures of the Tweed” the largest mural in the Sthn hemisphere.
2013 Motivational Address to Women in business on International Women’s Day by invitation of the Lismore Chamber of Commerce.
2014 Royal Flying Doctor Service in Aurukun, Cape York. D+D 4 month motivational program called “Clean Slate”.
2015-2024 Designed and painted well over on hundred public art projects for the Dept of Education in schools nationwide, based on specific needs of each school.
2017 “Safe on Social” Online Safety education. Designed series of murals in schools to educate and mitigate online risk for young people.
2020 Community Recognition Statement by Tamara Smith in the Parliament of NSW for her work in schools.
2023 School Uniform Designs for Dept of Education.
2024 Tania Major Foundation. Last mural,Kowanyama. Cape York.
Published works
Spirit of My Country. Australia Post and Weldon Books
Dark Sparklers, a book about the Cosmic Songlines. Contributed a number of paintings by invitation of Dr Hugh Cairns and Wardaman Elder, Bill Idumduma Harney, launched at Government House Darwin.
Four Circles, a book about customary Lore, by Dr Hugh Cairns and Wardaman Elder, Bill Idumduma Harney
2021 Moved to Yuin country on the Sapphire Coast to immerse back into my first loves, oil painting and Artivism and begin the Resurrection series.