About

Growing up in a small coastal town in the North of Ireland, Bernadette Devlin (Nee McMullan) studied Fine Art at the University of Ulster at Belfast in the 80’s. Her talent as a ‘colourist’ won her an award to further her studies, gaining a Master’s Degree of Fine Art specializing in painting.

Early influences came from her travels to Europe, viewing the renaissance masters and the work of impressionist and post-impressionists’ painters, such as, Matisse, Cezanne and Van Gogh.

Moving to Belfast to study art, exposed Devlin to the art collection of the Ulster Museum and for the first time she experienced firsthand  the expansive colour drenched paintings of post war British abstract artists like, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton and William Scott, who were to greatly influence her practice through the university years. While Elements of figuration continued to be evident through her Bachelor years, by the end of her Masters she had abandoned representation and embraced an entirely abstract language producing gestural paintings with a primary focus on colour.

Further studying a post graduate certificate in Art and Design Education at Liverpool Polytechnic and marrying in the late 80’s, Devlin continued to paint and teach, balancing her art while raising a young family of four. Through these years Devlin’s work, underwent a few significant evolutions, moving back towards figuration, she drew on her observation of the domestic world she inhabited and landscape immediately surrounding her.

The family relocated to Australia in the early 2000’s where she continued to balance her art practice with fulltime teaching and raising her children.

Through drawing, painting and printmaking, engaging with art continues to be an almost daily practice. 

Exploring colour, light, composition and atmosphere, her work grows from observation, intuition, and a connection to spaces, objects and landscapes past and present. 

Bernadette Devlin Art would like to acknowledge the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters of the Mornington Peninsula. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and honour their enduring connection to Country, culture, and community. I recognise that sovereignty was never ceded and acknowledge the continuing strength, knowledge, and creativity of First Peoples.