ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is about connection to people and connection to place.
To express an idea, I work across mediums trying to find the best fit for my concept; often starting with words on paper or drawings, to paintings, ceramic works, printmaking, and soundscapes.
Central to my art practise is the exploration of contrast; the movement between light & dark, hard & soft, focused & blurry.
My work has this element of celebrating the joy of the medium; thinking about the materiality of charcoal, paint, ink, clay, and sound, and playing within this space to explore what each of these mediums does best.
If I think about my chosen creative outputs as destinations, drawing is a place I pass through to reach an end point; each outcome informed by the drawing process, sketching ideas, writing words, feeling out form, imagining weight, and playing with proportions.
My work serves as a way to help understand the world around me, and my place in it by analysing personal experiences through a constant cycle of writing and drawing, and looking at the artworks I create. In this way, my work is often self-referential. I place my own work into the centre of focus, for example: I might make an observational sketch of a ceramic sculpture, or a painting from a soundscape, or a screen-print from an experience. My process produces this hall of mirrors that echos off into the distance; each concept finding its appropriate medium eventually through time, by being open to and following that creative process.
I believe that as artists, developing our ideas and visual language allows us to create our own little worlds; worlds we can escape into for comfort. In these worlds we create our own rules, logic, visual language, values, and processes. We play with recurring themes. We place things on pedestals, people, objects, ideas. We arrange these things in a hierarchy of importance. This play by exploring with constant arranging, and rearranging, helps us to realise what’s important to us, and this keeps me engaged and hungry as I move forward with my art practise.
CV
Education
Currently - 2026 - Master of Fine Art - Visual Arts. Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A.
2023 - Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts - Drawing. National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
2022 - Bachelor of Fine Arts - Ceramics. National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
Glaze Master Class with Greg Daly. Sturt Gallery, Mittagong, Australia.
2021 - Etching Short Course with Angus Fisher. National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
2020 - Painting Short Course with Les Rice. National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
2001 - Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design. Enmore Design Centre, Sydney, Australia.
1998 - Design Fundamentals. Enmore Design Centre, Sydney, Australia.
Higher School Certificate. St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia.
Teaching Assistant
2024 – Art Foundations - Drawing 107. Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A.
2023 - 2024 – Art Foundations Ceramics 225, 226, 325, 425. Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A.
2023 – Art Foundations - Sculpture 108. Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A.
Stephen Bird, Drawing on Clay / Drawing with Clay, Margaret Olley Drawing Week. National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
2022 – Robert Barron Masters Assistant, Ceramics, Throwing. Gulgong Ceramics Conference, New South Wales, Australia.
Linda Sieffert Throwing Short Course. National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
Solo Exhibitions
2010 - The Seedy Underworld of Subculture and Sex by Numbers. Urban Uprising Gallery, Darlinghurst, Australia.
2009 - Stop Putting Me Down / I Am Bigger Because I Have You. Military School Teuliè, Milan, Italy.
Upcoming Exhibitions
April 10, 2024 - Graduate Student Showcase, Fine Arts Gallery, Student Union Building, Boise State University, U.S.A.
July 4 - July 28, 2024 - The Denouement - Drawing Together the Strands of Grief. Draw Space, Enmore, Australia.
August - October, 2024 - Strange Landscapes. Blue Galleries, Boise State University, U.S.A.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 - AI Studios x Treefort - Benjamin Hunt, Kevin Ambrose Gray, Willow Wells, Scott Elk, Jen Alvi, Greyson Bailey, Ike Jay, Sean Ahern, Justin W John, Alex Irani, E. James Meeker, Stephanie Galla - AI Studios Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.
As Of Late - Scott Elk, Courtney McClelland, Beatrice Weidner, Australian Galleries, Paddington, Australia.
Annual Student Juried Exhibition, Curated by Emily Somoskey - Blue Galleries, Boise State University, U.S.A.
2023 - DAYDREAMS - MFA Exhibition Online, Annual Exhibition of MFA Artwork for National and International Graduate Students, The University of Montana, Missoula, U.S.A.
CONNECT / FRAGMENT - NERI Gallery, Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A.
PostGrad Exhibition, National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
A Fresh Perspective. Kerrie Lowe Gallery, Newtown, Sydney, Australia.
PRAXIS - Drawing MFA Exhibition. National Art School Stairwell Gallery, Australia.
Drawing Week Exhibition. Rayner Hoff Space, National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
2022 - National Emerging Art Prize - Ceramics. Michael Reid Gallery, Australia.
Emerging World Stage Exhibition. Gulgong Ceramics Conference, Australia.
Natural Haptics, Ceramics. National Art School Stairwell Gallery, Australia.
Bachelor of Fine Arts Graduation Exhibition, Ceramics + Drawing. National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
2021 - Drawing Week Exhibition. Rayner Hoff Space, National Art School, Sydney, Australia.
Blue Mountains Print Prize. Lapstone, Sydney.
2020 - Springwood Art Show. Blue Mountains, Australia.
2015, 2014, 2013 - Summer Camp Queer Art Exhibition at Bondi Pavilion, in collaboration with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival and Sydney Art Week. Scott Elk with 2013; William Yang, Florence Broadhurst, 2014; Mulga the Artist, Luke Atkinson, Mark Coker, 2015; SKULK, Andrew Georgiou, Lynnea Stewart, Jeremy Lord, Russell Tate. Bondi Pavilion, Sydney, Australia. -Organised and curated.
2012 - Art Equity Pop Up Gallery. Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia.
Melbourne Art Fair. Art Equity Upraw Collection, Melbourne, Australia.
2011 - Art Expo Sydney. Art Equity Upraw Collection, Sydney, Australia.
Mardi Gras Gallery. Urban Uprising, Sydney, Australia.
Saddle Bar Art Residency. Surry Hills, Australia.
Tour De Bear. Bears Artspace Monstrosity Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
Fragility. International Day Against Homophobia Exhibition, Pine Street Gallery, Surry Hills, Australia.
2010 - Move It! Wallraf Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany.
Mardi Gras Gallery. Tap Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
2000, 1999 - Mosman Youth Art Prize. Mosman Art Gallery, Mosman, Australia.
Images of the Cross. Millennium Gallery, Potts Point, Australia.
Awards / Prizes
2024 - Juror’s Award. Annual Student Juried Exhibition, Selected by artist Emily Somoskey - Blue Galleries, Boise State University, U.S.A.
2023 - Finalist. DAYDREAMS - MFA Exhibition Online, Annual Exhibition of MFA Artwork for National and International Graduate Students - Painting. The University of Montana, Missoula, U.S.A.
Graduate Assistantship - Academic Scholarship, Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A.
2022 - Australian Galleries Exhibition Award,
BFA Graduate Show 2022, National Art School, Australia
Australian Ceramics Association Prize,
BFA Graduate Show 2022, National Art School, Australia
Finalist. National Emerging Art Prize - Ceramics. Michael Reid Gallery, Australia.
Finalist. Emerging World Stage Exhibition. Gulgong Ceramics Conference, Australia.
2001 - Ken Cato New York Scholarship AGIdeas Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
2000, 1999 - Mosman Youth Art Prize - Painting. Highly Commended. Mosman Art Gallery, Mosman, Australia.
Artist Panel
2024 - AI Studios x Treefort - Artist Panel Discussion with artists Jen Alvi, Scott Elk, Benjamin Hunt, and Willow Wells in conversation with Kevin Ambrose Gray - AI Studios Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.
PRESS
TREEFORT FESTIVAL, BOISE, IDAHO, MAR, 2024
ARTICLE IN THE CANBERRA TIMES, 3 NOV, 2023
WRITTEN BY LIZ HOBDAY. EXCERPT:
You can read the full article here
ART / EDIT Magazine, #33 SPRING EDITION, 2022
THE ARTBLOG.ORG, USA, 6 March 2010.
Written by Stefan Zebrowski-Rubin
Review of the Bingo v.2.0 exhibition
Urban Uprising, Darlinghurst. Sydney.
You can read the full review here
SX MAGAZINE , SYDNEY AUSTRALIA. 17 February, 2010
Written by Garrett Bithell. EXCERPT:
BIKKEMBERGS PRESS RELEASE FOR THEIR
SPRING/SUMMER COLLECTION 2010,
25 June 2009. MILAN, ITALY. Written by Inge Piryns.
This is an excerpt from the ACCOMPANYING
DOCUMENT / ABOUT THE ARTIST
EXTENDED BIOGRAPHY
Scott Elk is an artist from Sydney Australia, exploring the world through ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, and sound.
With a background in visual arts, Scott’s disillusionment with the commercialisation of his creative energy pushed him to make the decision to pursue art full time, wishing to use his powers for good, working on art and projects personally driven, and causes he believes in.
The various mediums Scott uses in his artwork has guided his foray into professional work experience, as well as pursuing tertiary education and teaching at some of the world’s leading art institutions with the sole intention of expanding his learning as a student to better produce artwork.
Often working in series, Scott’s personal exploration of a subject crosses disciplines to help tell a story. The long hours spent honing his craft is evident in the technical proficiency of his chosen mediums, with artworks in a series, pieces in a much bigger puzzle. The stories are often personal recollections and moments of intense emotions that have inspired Scott to pick up a pen or a stick of charcoal, to scribble some words or pictures to start his observations. It’s this concept driven aspect that injects Scott’s work with the passion of someone speaking with enthusiasm and curiosity about life. Undeniably interested in the materiality of his mediums, Scott’s work plays in this space like a kid with all the crayons in the pack, using every colour to speak about his love.