Biography
Jill McLeod was born in Hawaii in 1968, and after a childhood spent travelling and growing up in NZ, arrived in Australia in 1989. She studied visual arts at the University of Ballarat, (Horsham campus) in 2000-02, In February, 2004 she was selected as a finalist in Australia's richest annual art prize the Metro 5 Art Award. In addition to making art McLeod travels and climbs extensively overseas, often venturing off to Europe to construct large scale bamboo installations with Natimuk based company Bambuco.
Inspired by the landscape in the Wimmera region of central western Victoria, McLeod's work is semi abstract yet strongly grounded in place. Jill lives and works in Natimuk and her paintings are a response to the extremes and subtleties of the surrounding Wimmera landscape. Her paintings explore the mood and atmosphere of the region whilst contemplating the effects that weather conditions have on the land and the psyche of the people who live there.
In her work there is an ongoing exploration into changes in the environment, through natural elements and human activities marking the passage of time.There is a map-like quality to her work, reinforced by the use of an abstracted aerial viewpoint. This idea of looking at the land from above stems from the many years she has spent climbing at nearby Mt Arapiles.
