Bea Maddock

Beatrice Louise (Bea) Maddock AM (b 1934), artist, recognised for her innovative printmaking and multi-panelled landscape paintings. In her studios in Launceston and Oatlands she produced arguably her most important work, TERRA SPIRITUS...with a darker shade of pale, 1993–98. Juxtaposing indigenous and non-indigenous place names along Tasmania's coastal profile, this complex, mystical work is a profound and symbolic statement about co-existence.

Born in Hobart, Bea studied art at the Hobart Technical College and in London and Italy, and lectured in printmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts. Returning to Tasmania in 1983, she became head of the School of Art, Tasmanian College of Advanced Education. She was a member of the Council of the National Gallery of Australia from 1985 to 1988. Her work is represented in all major Australian galleries.

Further reading: R Butler & A Kirker, Being and nothingness, Canberra, 1992; B Maddock, Terra Spiritus...with a darker shade of pale, Launceston, [1999].

Bridget Arkless