EMMA COULTER/ BIOGRAPHY

Working in the expanded field, Coulter has created her own colour-based abstract language which she applies across painting, sculpture, site-specific installation and public art disciplines. Through her work, she explores ideas that relate to the history of art, painting, minimalism and abstraction.

Concepts of memory, time and feeling, are intertwined with formal concerns of abstraction, perception and reduction. Spatial propositions synthesise contextual ideas as tools to reorganise meaning.

Coulter’s notable accolades include major public commissions for Yarrila Place, Coffs Harbour, (2023); City Square, Melbourne (2021); Footscray Community Arts Centre, (2021), and QUT Art Museum, Brisbane (2021).

Prestigious prizes and grants awarded include the Linden Art prize (2016), the Footscray Art Prize (2021), an Ian Potter cultural trust grant (2018), a Creative Victoria grant (2022), and the Fiona Myer Award (2015), amongst others.

Her inclusion in significant Australian institutional exhibitions includes, presentations at the Museum of Brisbane, (2020), QUT Art Museum (2021), Shepparton Art Museum (2023), Latrobe Art Institute (2018), Linden New Art (2016), and Hawthorn Town Hall Gallery, Melbourne (2025).

Her work is held in the national collections of ANZ Banking, Artbank Australia, the City of Melbourne, QUT Art Museum, Citibank, and St John of God Healthcare, as well as private collections throughout Australia, and internationally in Singapore, Berlin, London and USA.

Practicing over more than two decades, Coulter has held over 18 solo exhibitions, throughout her career, also partaking in innumerable group exhibitions. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Highlights include exhibitions in New York, and Germany, supported through key grants.

Coulter has earnt a Master of Contemporary Art from the Victorian College of the Arts (2015), as well as degrees in the Built Environment (2000) and Visual Arts (1998) from the Queensland University of Technology.