JANINE GOOD

In her Drouin Studio Janine Good working on Shinin Thru.

Photographer Stewart Chambers.

Photo courtesy of Pakenham Gazette.

Article “Her art is all Good”, People in profile, Pg 10 Wednesday, 30 January, 2013.

VISUAL ARTIST

• Artist Statement

• Biography & Career Overview

• CV - highlights

• CV - detailed

My Art Journey

“Art and Painting have been my life’s passion.

As a child I drew obsessively, winning awards at our local Dandenong Art Festival.

After secondary school I enrolled in a Diploma of Graphic Design at RMIT but discontinued because it was about commercial marketing rather than art. I moved to the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne’s east and established my Monbulk painting studio.

During 1986-88 I was fortunate to gain entry to attend art classes at Merv Moriarty’s Healesville Studio (of Flying Art School fame), consisting of drawing and painting from life models and intensive colour theory.

While working part-time doing secretarial duties for a cluster of rural Primary Schools, I returned to Box Hill TAFE to upskill for 2 years, studying Printmaking, Sculpture and Ceramics with some excellent tutors including Van Komin (sculpture),

Ian Gardiner (printmaking) & Kevin Boyd (ceramics).

Janine Good, Embrace 2,

Carved Sandstone 1997,

80x35x30cm

Since 2001 I have lived in rural Drouin with my musician partner amongst a wild rambling garden surrounded by pasture.  Apart from a stint as coordinator of the local Festival Art Show, I was painting instructor at the Pakenham Living Learning Community Centre, from 2006 to 2024, enabling me to connect with community to share my knowledge and passion for Art.

Merv Moriarty 1938-2021, one-of-a-kind brilliant educator

See ABC Documentary

Painting at Arkaroola Flinders Ranges SA in 1989

Tertiary Study

A decade later in 1996 I returned to formal study, now a mother of two small children, (initially to study Art History by Distance Education while living in Queensland) but on returning to Victoria the following year,   I completed my Bachelor of Visual Arts on-campus at Monash University Gippsland in 2001 with mentors Rodney Forbes (Australian Galleries) & Julie Adams.

Of particular interest to me is colour, it seems to be the impetus that inspires my creativity, I am intrigued by the colour in light and in darkness. But I’m also drawn towards strong compositional structure.

Janine painting in Southern France, Salies-de-Bearn, foothills of the Pyrenees, during a three-day painting event Le Peintures du Salies-de-Bearn, France 2015.

Mt Tambourine QLD 1990

Drouin Studio 2009

I feel proud to practice a cultural expression that’s integral to human existence. I have an enduring love of Art History and my influences have been many and varied: from the Heidelberg painters to the Angry Penguins; the Impressionists to Frida Kahlo; Van Gogh to Edward Hopper; William Young to William Kentridge.  

I love the ordinary themes and painterly, colourful works of Lucy Culliton, the textural surfaces and powerfully intense statements of Mandy Martin but also the looseness and surprise of Elisabeth Cummings, to name three contemporary female Australian artists I aspire towards.

Drouin Studio, Open Studios 2022

• being a Finalist and attending the amazing Opening Event of the Waterhouse Prize at South Australia Museum in 2012;
• participation in Creative Environment 2007 a Regional Arts Victoria funded project for West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority; and
• my road trip to Central Australia in 1989 to paint and experience the heart of Australia and our First Nation’s ancient culture.

Community

My most recent challenging but rewarding project has been my role as Creative Recovery Artist Facilitator (2020-2022) for communities in Cardinia Shire impacted by 2019 Bunyip State Forest Complex bush fires.

Central Australia 1989

•  painting in a three-day Plein Air Regional Art painting event in Salies-de-Bearn, Southern France in 2015;
• my 2012 Collaborative Art-Music performance eMotion with energetic garage thrash band ShyRobyn;

Creative Recovery Project

Working with bushfire-affected community,

Drystone Workshop, Tonimbuk 18-04-2021 Photo: Sue Jarvis

My Drouin Studio during West Gippsland Open Studios 2022

Associations

I became a Member of The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors (MSWPS) in early 2020 and am now Honorary MSWPS Treasurer. Founded in 1902 by Ola Cohn, it is one of the longest running art societies in Australia and I hope to follow in the footsteps of some of the most celebrated women artists such as Lina Bryans, Clarice Beckett, Ethel Carrick-Fox, Sybil Craig, Ethel Spowers and Jessie Traill to mention just a handful of previous members.

I have strong associations with art organisations in the Latrobe Valley due to attending university there. I am currently a member of

ARC Yinnar  (The Art Resource Collective) and have Life Membership with

Latrobe Regional Gallery . ”

 _Janine Good 2026

Memorable highlights of my art career