Trudy Rice
Barongarook, Victoria
Inspired by nature, Trudy’s works on paper invite you to pause, connect, and immerse yourself in the beauty and tranquility of the natural world.
Message
Trudy Rice is an Australian contemporary printmaker creating original, nature-inspired artworks on paper. Her practice centres on slow, layered printmaking processes including solar plate etching, monotype and collagraph, resulting in richly textured works that reflect a deep connection to place, observation and time.
Inspired by Australian flora and fauna; banksias, seed pods, birds and insects, her work explores the quiet poetry of gardens, bushland and rural landscapes. Each artwork unfolds through multiple layers, allowing repetition, pressure and chance to shape the final image and inviting a slower, more considered way of looking.
Trudy works between studios in South Melbourne and the Otways, Victoria, where daily encounters with land, light and seasonal change inform her practice. Her work has been recognised through finalist selection in major Australian awards including the Burnie Print Prize, Castlemaine Experimental Print Prize and Firestation Monoprint Prize. She exhibits widely, and is represented by Queenscliff Gallery on the Victorian Bellarine Peninsula with works held in private collections in Australia and internationally.
Statement
I am an Australian contemporary artist and printmaker working primarily on paper, creating nature-inspired artworks that explore connection, place and quiet observation. My practice is informed by a lifelong attentiveness to the natural environment, particularly Australian flora and birdlife. Birds, seed pods, insects and shifting light recur throughout my work, not as symbols of spectacle, but as intimate markers of lived experience and belonging.
Printmaking is central to my practice. I work with layered processes including solar plate etching, monotype, collagraph and hand stencilling, often combining multiple techniques within a single work. These methods allow me to build richly textured surfaces over time, balancing careful drawing with the unpredictability of ink, pressure and process. Working slowly and deliberately is essential; it mirrors the rhythms of nature and invites a more contemplative way of seeing.
My work has evolved through years of studio practice in both urban and rural environments. Time spent between my Melbourne studio and a property in the Otways has deepened my engagement with landscape, seasonal change and the act of sustained looking. Across both earlier and recent bodies of work, my focus remains consistent: creating contemporary works on paper that offer moments of calm, beauty and attentiveness, and that invite viewers to reconnect with the natural world through considered, layered printmaking.