Robyn Varpinshas worked as an artist since finishing Art School in 1982. She has been involved in a wide variety of creative endeavours including teaching clay sculpture at the Fremantle Art Centre. She is also a qualified psychotherapy Counsellor, with a degree from Notre Dame University. Art and therapy dovetail together seamlessly, and allow a variety of therapeutic responses.
Some of her clay pieces are stylised and symbolic, while others are realistic… yet with a rawness that makes them very intimate. She leaves the clay unglazed to convey the interior experience of being human. Her use of coloured slips suggests her fascination with colour.The clay used is a strong raku clay that is suitable for in or outdoors, she fires them in her gas kiln.
“The purpose of my art is to share with others the beauty I see … I seek to portray a sense of peace and resolution. My subjects are calm and reflective and encourage a similar response in the viewer. I look beyond the visual to the essence of a thing … to convey what is inside”.