BACHELOR OF DESIGN ( ILLUSTRATION )
ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF ARTS
Biographical Summary / Profile
Mirella attained a Bachelor of Design / Illustration from the University of South Australia, Adelaide, graduating with distinction. She then worked as a graphic designer in Melbourne, Australia, whilst also securing freelance illustration commissions. Of note was a weekly caricature for a leading Melbourne newspaper.
Having won a scholarship to study Visual Communication at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, she moved to Europe. Thereafter followed a decade-long career as a freelance illustrator, based in the Netherlands and then London, securing work throughout Europe, the USA and Australia from some of the industry’s top advertising agencies, design studios and publishing companies. Her work has been featured in the prestigious European Illustration annuals.
Returning to Australia, she settled in Sydney and co-founded a youth-focused clothing and related products brand. The label sold through retail outlets nationally, in New Zealand and London.
In 2022 Mirella was awarded Associate status with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts.
Mirella’s art demonstrates a strong foundation in design and the craft of drawing, with a refined understanding of composition. Her work can be structured with a very considered interplay of positive and negative elements, or in contrast very loose and animated where the quality and movement of line-work dominates, as per her charcoal and soft-pastel drawings.
Mirella lives and works in Adelaide, South Australia.
Awards and Prizes
2024 Commended Award for artwork exhibited in Summer Exhibition, RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA.
2024 Highly Commended Award for artwork exhibited in Spring Exhibition, RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA.
2024 Merit Award, for artwork exhibited in ‘Winter’ group exhibition, RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, South Australia.
2024 Finalist, Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize
2024 Finalist, RSASA Portrait Prize 2024
2023 Commended and Hanger’s Choice Awards for artwork exhibited in ‘Calamine & Zinc’, members’ group exhibition at RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts
2023 Finalist, RSASA Abstract Prize, both artworks entered through to finals.
2023 Merit Award for artork exhibited in ‘Breezing’, members’ group exhibition at RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2022 Excellence Award for artwork exhibited in ‘Factor 50’, members’ group exhibition at RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2022 Awarded Associate status with Royal South Australian Society of Arts
2022 Commended and Hanger’s Choice Award for artwork exhibited in ‘Sun’s Up’, members’ group exhibition at RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2022 Finalist, Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize, Adelaide, SA.
2022 Finalist, Solar Art Prize, Adelaide, SA.
2022 Merit Awards for both artworks exhibited in ‘Free Fall’, members’ group exhibition at RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA.
2021 Merit Awards for both artworks exhibited in ‘Big & Bright’, members’ group exhibition at RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA.
1988 Illustrations featured in the 1988-89 European Illustration Annual
1987 Scholarship to study at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Exhibitions
2024 Summer group exhibition, RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide.
2024 Rising Sun, Summer group exhibition, Adelaide, South Australia.
2024 Spring group exhibition, RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide.
2024 Winter group exhibition, RSASA, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide.
2024 Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize
2024 RSASA Portrait Prize 2024
2023 A Continuous Line, group exhibition, Pepper Street Gallery, Magill, SA
2023 Breezing, group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2023 Where the Wild Things Are, group exhibition, Pepper Street Gallery, Magill, SA
2022 Factor 50, group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2022 Interior, group exhibition, Gallery M, Marion, SA
2022 Sun’s Up, group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2022 Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize, finalists exhibition, Gallery M, Adelaide, SA
2022 Sub Zero, group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2022 Solar Art Prize, finalists exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2022 Free Fall, group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA
2021b Big & Bright, group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, SA.
2004 – 2015 Participation in selected group exhibitions and art events to include: SALA (South Australian Living Artists Festival), Rotary and Lions Club Art Shows.
