Normana Wight was born in Melbourne and is one of three women artists to have work included in The Field, at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968. She originally trained as a painter before studying printmaking and making textiles.
She first studied painting at RMIT, and after short time as a fabric designer, worked as a high school art teacher. In 1962 she travelled to Europe where she studied printmaking at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts. On her return to Australia in 1964 she moved to Sydney, and then rural Mittagong, the hub of an active arts and crafts community. In 1967 she returned to Melbourne where she taught art history, painting and then printmaking at the Preston Institute of Technology.
This relocation, and the fresh perspectives that had come from her international experience meant that she came to the attention of John Stringer and Brian Finemore who were the curators of _The Field _exhibition which was the first temporary exhibtion at the new National Gallery of Victoria building in 1968.
In 1981 she was appointed lecturer in printmaking at the University of Southern Queensland at Toowoomba, and moved to Brisbane. In 1986 she undertook a residency at the Peacock Printmakers at Aberdeen in Scotland. Her continuing interest in textiles led to her being commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to make a tapestry portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch (with flowers). Completed in 2000, it immediately became one of the most popular works in the gallery. This was followed in 2001 when she undertook a 3-month residency at the Victoria Tapestry Workshop to explore the potential of tapestry/digital media ( Imprint winter 2001).
In 1974 she started her Postcards project, where prints in editions of between 20 and 40 were made in reaction to the precious nature of the commercial gallery scene. This was discontinued in 1991, but resumed in 2007. She also makes limited edition artists’ books.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2011
