Shirley Ploog is a Visual Artist based in Barwon Heads, Victoria who is passionate about the environment and capturing the beauty and fragility of nature. 

Walking is a key part of Shirley’s art practice enabling her to slow down, to observe and to participate in the beauty of her coastal town. Shirley’s curiosity of the layered and patterned organic details of nature has been her oeuvre for many years. She continues to be captivated and curious about all those often overlooked minute entities combining to create graceful and fragile worlds. In these most challenging times there has been a changed perspective to this ritual with amplified appreciation, interaction and keener observation of nature’s minutiae. 

Shirley loves both drawing and painting, always searching and developing a language which expresses her love for nature. Over the years Shirley’s use of drafting film has been her preferred substrate combining graphite, charcoal, inks and oils to create works that evoke a calm sense of quiet. 

In recent times Shirley has continued to explore her visual language in oil paint transferring her drawing techniques to the canvas. Ploog uses very thin layers of oil in combination with solvents to create a translucent matrix of natural elements evoking a sense of fragility and gentle delicacy. There is an energy to the work, almost a feeling of the essence of nature creating a quiet conversation. This invites the viewer to take a closer look at the delicate mark making to reveal the subtle nuances within her world. 

2023 is an exciting year for Shirley with two solo shows and a number of group exhibitions.

Her first solo show will be at Tacit Galleries, Collingwood in May. Her selection to participate in an Artist in Residence program at The Lon, Point Lonsdale will enable her to immerse herself amongst the moonah trees and rockpools on their 250 acre property working ‘en plein air’ and in the studio. This will culminate in a solo show in December. 

Shirley has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions and has been a finalist in numerous art prizes namely the Heysen Prize for Landscape, Maritime Art Prize, Wyndham Art Prize, Stanthorpe Art Prize, Lethbridge 10,000 Art Prize, Omnia Art Prize and the Macquarie Emerging Art Prize.