Micro Grants Recipient | Christine Porter

Christine Porter’s paintings tell stories about rural Australia, concentrating on images of the sheep and wool industries. Her printmaking describes a more personal narrative. Her Bachelor of Visual Arts, from Southern Cross University has added another layer of meaning to her work.

Since 1990, Christine has received more than 200 accolades nationally and internationally. In 2006 she was awarded the MacGregor Fellowship from the University of Southern QLD, for travel to the UK. Her painting “Shearing Shed Interior” won Best In Show at the 2019 Australian Watercolour Muster. But for COVID-19, she would have been in Italy this May, as the Australian Representative Artist, at the Fabriano In Acquarello International Watercolour Convention.

Christine’s artwork is in the collection of the International Watercolour Museum in Mexico City, the National Gallery of Australia, many public, corporate and private collections internationally. Her 2021 solo exhibition planned for the Stanthorpe Regional Gallery will be her 40^th solo exhibition, others of which include shows in Edinburgh, and various regional and commercial galleries Australia-wide.

Christine has been teaching painting, printmaking and art-business since before the internet. Rather than being separate from her art practice, Christine considers teaching integral to it. Weekend workshops, The Studio Door series, residential retreats and individual tuition are all ways that Christine engages with her students, many of whom live in regional and remote areas – isolated not just by geography, but now also virus-fear and drought-blight.

Satellites, digital technology and the internet have all made access to information easier. A double-edged sword: on the internet veracity is not a given.

Drawing on her thirty-something years as an arts educator and practitioner, through the Micro Grants funding opportunity, Christine will create a four-week online teaching program to learn how to program, present, video and create an online art course.

During the research and development period supported by the grant, Christine will learn to use professional standard equipment and software. She will increase her presentation skills such as how to engage with an invisible audience, as well as best use of audio, basic video editing, and digital marketing strategies.

Long term income will come from the creation of more digital products. The internet will provide a larger pool of potential students than those she can physically meet with, the products will add value to her current teaching model, and eventually an alternative *passive* income stream will evolve.