Young Artists Celebrate Frida Kahlo in Portraiture Exhibition

At Redcliffe’s Art So Lively Academy, young art students are often given challenging subjects to create in their quest to develop their budding art practices.

The academy’s head teacher, Gabrielle Turnbull, who has long admired the work of the renowned Mexican visual artist Frida Kahlo, decided she would be the perfect subject for a series of portraiture lessons for the students. Their finished works will be displayed in an exhibition this month at the academy, located in Comino’s Arcade.

Frida Kahlo’s Life and Art

Frida Kahlo’s life was one of difficulty and hardship, but through perseverance, she overcame the obstacles and produced some of the artistic world’s greatest paintings. Born into a difficult marriage, she contracted polio at the age of six, was abused by a schoolteacher and nearly died in a bus crash.

As an adult, she became interested in politics and joined the Communist Party, where she met her partner, Diego Rivera. But illness was never far from her. She died in 1954, aged 47, having created over 200 paintings in her lifetime. In 2021, her work Diego y Yo sold for US$34.9 million, a record price for a Latin American artist.

Exciting Redcliffe Art Exhibition

The students at the Art So Lively Academy, aged between seven and 15, embraced Frida Kahlo’s story. To the pleasant surprise of their teacher, Gabrielle, the portraits the students produced of Frida Kahlo are ones that even adult artists would be happy to lay claim to.

Gabrielle is excited to share this artistic revelation with the community at the art exhibition on Thursday, 20 March. The Honorary Consul for Mexico in Queensland, Anthony Hogarth, will be present to launch the exhibition. Gabrielle’s book on art I Spy…Arti-Facts will also be launched at this event.

Art So Lively Portraiture Exhibition

• Thursday, 20 March, 7pm (doors 6pm)
• Art So Lively Academy
• Comino’s Arcade, Redcliffe Parade, Redcliffe.

Read more stories from our Redcliffe Guide print magazine here: