Eveline Kotai

Eveline Kotai was born in 1950 in Perth, Western Australia and lives and works in Fremantle, Western Australia. For over 40 years, Eveline has exhibited extensively in Australia and won numerous awards. Her art practice traverses the media of painting, drawing, print and textiles.

Eveline has become well-known for her idiosyncratic stitched collages – a self-devised technique which involves the artist cutting up her paintings into thin strips and reconfiguring them across a surface with the use of a sewing machine and invisible thread. Her technical aptitude and a deep sense of subject leads to the production of continually unexpected colour, pattern and textural combinations. Eveline’s work is infused with reference to landscape, Buddhist philosophy and design principles, embracing the unpredictable across her artistic approach.

Eveline has been awarded numerous art prizes, including the 2018 Cossack Art Prize, and the nationally acclaimed 2012 Blake Prize, where she was co-winner. Of this winning work, 'Writing on Air - Mantra', arts writer John McDonald described her distinctive method as: ‘... infinite in its applications’ and ‘… virtuosic in its stylistic variations … While her structures may be rigid, Kotai uses colour to create patterns and rhythms that dance on the canvas.’ (The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 2012).

Eveline’s work can be found in many major collections throughout Australia, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, Parliament House, City of Bunbury, City of Fremantle, City of Joondalup, Edith Cowan University, The University of WA, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, St John of God Health Care, Wesfarmers, Bankwest, Artbank, Murdoch University, Kerry Stokes Collection and Janet Holmes à Court Collection.

The monograph Eveline Kotai: Invisible Threads was published by Art Collective WA in May 2019, featuring essays by Julie Ewington and Nyanda Smith.