Artist Regina Law has been inspired by the natural world for as long as she can remember.
From her earliest memories, Regina Law was the “arty kid, always in the craft corner at school”. The youngest of six children, she migrated with her family from Germany to Australia in 1974, when she was six years old. They settled in Sydney’s south, where weekend rambles in the Royal National Park were a formative influence on her burgeoning love for the natural environment.
Thanks to a combination of the need to earn a living and family expectations — her father was a physicist — Regina set her artistic ambitions aside and embarked on the next best thing, a career in interior design following a degree from the University of Technology, Sydney. She worked mainly on domestic projects, specialising in kitchens, before branching out into her own ventures creating curated photo albums and furniture design. Along the way, she met and married her “kindred spirit”, Philip, whom she’d known since childhood. She describes him as a “GP with an artistic heart” and they’ve been a couple since she was 21. In 1990, they moved to Kentlyn on south-western Sydney’s rural fringes, where she project managed the building of their first home as an owner-builder.
The move also rekindled her artistic inclinations as now the Dharawal National Park was on her doorstep. It also introduced her to the Wedderburn Artists’ Community, a living and working space for artists started in the 1970s on land donated by artists Barbara and Nick Romalis. The bequest enabled — and continues to support — a host of artists including Elisabeth Cummings, John Peart, Roy Jackson, Joan Brassil, Su Archer and David Fairbairn. “Living nearby, I was lucky to be able to get to know Barb quite well,” Regina says. “She was a potter and sculptor as well as a painter and printmaker and she encouraged me to follow my dreams and concentrate on creativity. She also introduced me to Elisabeth Cummings and they’ve both given me guidance and encouragement through the years.”
When Regina and Philip’s three children came along, they built a second house on their block. As the children became more independent, Regina found the time and headspace to follow her heart. She started studies in fine arts and graduated with a TAFE diploma in 2010. Regina, the occasional dabbler, finally emerged as professional artist.
Her oeuvre is broad and her home and studio in a former shed on the property are filled with diverse works ranging from large landscapes and sculpture to fine ceramics and woven works in wire and fibre. “There aren’t enough hours in the day,” she confesses. “My mother’s passing made me realise life is finite and now I’m driven to get as much done as I can while I’ve got the energy and inspiration.”
In her “spare” time, Regina teaches life drawing at Campbelltown Arts Centre and life drawing and drawing for set and costume design at NIDA (the National Institute of Dramatic Art). “I love working with students and helping them build confidence in their own abilities,” she says.
While Regina has exhibited her work in countless local galleries and regional exhibitions, she recently had her first commercial gallery exhibition with Project Gallery
in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra. Titled Explorations, the works were the offspring of a long-anticipated road trip she and Philip undertook towards the end of the COVID lockdowns.
“We lived very simply and camped in a little tent most of the time,” Regina says. “We spent four months on the road and covered a lot of country from western NSW across the Nullarbor, up to Karijini National Park in the Pilbara and then up the Gibb River Road to Purnululu.
“We took the long road home and came back through Darwin, Litchfield National Park, Mataranka, Alice Springs and across to central Queensland. It felt like a whole new chapter had opened up and the work has just been pouring out of me ever since.”
Regina adds that the grandeur and permanence of the stunning environments they visited helped her reflect on the fleeting nature of life. “You feel insignificant in such a vast landscape,” she says “But rather than finding it discouraging, I found it liberating. I have so much yet to do.” AC
