Artists Statement
Deanne Eccles
My practice is grounded in an embodied investigation of colour, perception, and the psychological forces that shape human experience. Working primarily in abstract oil painting, I approach colour not as a decorative element but as an active intelligence from which form emerges.
Influenced by Goethe’s theory of colour, Steiner philosophy, and over twenty years of Butoh training, my work is informed by somatic awareness and close observation of the natural world. I understand perception as a lived, bodily process rather than a purely visual one, and this approach underpins both my studio practice and my broader research.
Through painting, I explore the relationship between inner states and external form — how emotional memory, ancestry, and unconscious patterning manifest through colour, movement, and spatial tension. My paintings arise through a responsive, intuitive process in which form is allowed to emerge from sustained engagement with colour, gesture, and attention.
Alongside my visual practice, I have developed Body Sense, a perceptual methodology that extends my research into embodied experience and the unseen dimensions of perception. This work informs how I think about painting as a site of encounter — where sensation, memory, and meaning converge.
Ultimately, my practice seeks to create spaces of heightened perception, inviting viewers into a more intimate, embodied relationship with colour and abstract form.
Experience/Training/Exhibitions/Scholarships/Residencies
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Deanne Eccles is an Australian interdisciplinary artist whose practice centres on abstract oil painting informed by somatic perception, colour theory, and embodied research. Her work positions colour as an active, sensory intelligence from which form emerges, situating her practice within an expanded understanding of the Colour Field tradition.
Eccles’ approach resists purely analytical or postmodern frameworks, instead privileging direct sensory engagement and embodied response. Australian art expert Dr Maudie Palmer AO has described her paintings as “sentient landscapes,”recognising their capacity to register lived experience, perception, and environment.
For over two decades, Eccles has explored the relationship between body, perception, and environment across painting, performance, movement, music, and writing. While her practice is multidisciplinary, painting remains the central axis of her work. Her sustained research has led to the development of Body Sense Perception and Response, a methodology that integrates somatic awareness, movement-based intelligence, and Goethean colour theory.
After completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) at La Trobe University in 1993, Eccles shifted her focus toward theatre and movement, undertaking extensive training in Body Weather with Japanese artist Min Tanaka and Australian dancer Tess de Quincey. Her movement research has been further shaped by long-term training with practitioners including Helen Sharp and John Howard (Body Voice / Ilse Middendorf), Sophia Polenska, Yumi Umimare, Suzanne Kersten, Dawn Langman, and others.
In 2005–06, Eccles undertook advanced study in Europe, researching Goethe’s theory of colour in Venice and at the Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland. During this period she also lived and worked in Istanbul, engaging with international artists, including Japanese Butoh dancer Tetsuro Fukuhara, whose guidance further refined her understanding of environmental alignment, slowness, and perceptual attention in both movement and painting.
Subsequent periods living and working in Spain, including Andalusia, extended her research into emotional transmission through performance, particularly through flamenco, deepening her inquiry into how affect and sensation might be carried through colour and abstract form.
Returning to Australia, Eccles continued her practice while raising a family, maintaining studio work and exhibiting locally. Since 2017 she has recommitted fully to her professional art practice, presenting major solo exhibitions and participating in national and international group exhibitions and art fairs, including UnFair Milan.
Her work is held in public collections, including the National Library of Australia and La Trobe University.
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2025 — Butoh Intense Training, Yumi Umimare
2023 — Butoh and Shamanism, Yumi Umimare
2006 — Philosophy of Colour, Venice, Italy
2006 — Goethe’s Colour Theory, Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland
2002–04 — Body Voice (Ilse Middendorf Method), Dieter Richter, Helen Sharp, John Howard
2002–03 — Body Weather Training, Tess de Quincey
2001 — Body Weather Training, Min Tanaka
2001 - Performance with Truth and Intensity, Zofia Kalinska (actress and collaborator with Tadeusz Kantor’s, Cricot 2 Theatre company.
1999 — Diploma of Education, University of Melbourne
1997–98 — Advanced Associate Diploma, Rudolf Steiner Teacher Training
1993 — Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), La Trobe University
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1990–1992 — Ella Donald Fine Art Scholarship
2025 - The Denis Diderot Grant
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibitions
2023 — Body Sense, Westend Artspace, West Melbourne
2022 — Sublime, YAVA Gallery, Healesville
1997 — Ill Communication, Fitzroy Gallery, Melbourne
1996 — Deanne Eccles, Fitzroy Gallery, Melbourne
1995 — Deanne Eccles, Fitzroy Gallery, Melbourne
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 — Abstraction, YAVA Gallery, Healesville
2021 — Zine, Memo Gallery, Healesville
2016 — Fire and Community, Melba
2015 — Community Spirit, Memo Gallery, Healesville
2014 — Open Studios, Yarra Valley
2006 - Exhibition of Colour, Venice
1994 — Roar Studios, Fitzroy, Melbourne
1993 — Artspace, Bendigo
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2026 — Paris
2025 — Red Dot Miami
2024 — Artio Gallery, New York
2023 — UnFair Milan
2023 — Van Gogh Gallery, Madrid
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Masterful Minds Digital MagazineNov. 2024 — featured artist (online publication; Circle Foundation for the Arts / World Wide Art Books) (2025)
1999— National Library of Australia, oil painting
1995 — La Trobe University Collection, oil painting
(Works held under Deanne Bail, aka Deanne Eccles)
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2026
Artist-in-Residence, Château d’Orquevaux Artists & Writers Residency, Champagne-Ardenne, France
Recipient of the Denis Diderot Grant
(3-week residency: 8–28 July 2026)Artist-in-Residence, Château d’Orquevaux Artists & Writers Residency, Champagne-Ardenne, France.
Awarded the Denis Diderot Grant, a competitive international residency supporting artists whose practice demonstrates artistic depth, exploratory rigor, and contribution to interdisciplinary exchange.
