Colleen DaRosa began her art career working across a range genre. These included drawing, acrylic and oil painting, Plexiglas sculpture and portraiture.
She has been a finalist in local and national art prizes including the Northern Rivers Portrait prize and won the juried packer's prize for the 2016 Prospect Portrait Prize - Prospect Gallery, Adelaide.
Colleen reinvigorated her art practice and graduated with a Diploma of Fine Arts at TAFE in 2011. Colleen then gained first class Honours in a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Southern Cross University in 2014. During the period 2011 to 2013 she spent several summers in Scandinavia and England including study at London School of Art, Central St Martins.
Her time spent in Scandinavia has been pivotal to guiding her current practice. Light became central to her explorations in visual art. The influence of a Nordic aesthetic has influenced the motifs and architectonic devices Colleen DaRosa enlists. They often echo the way in which the glow of light and natural forms seep into the fabric of Nordic design and architecture. She prefers a minimal aesthetic and is interested in achieving a poetic sensual expression.
Colleen employs a range of light transforming media in her investigation with light. She has been using a hand-cut paper technique with a deliberate layered construction. Colleen also working with the lustrous qualities of encaustic and light-enhancing three-dimensional works in Plexiglas.
In 2017 Colleen designed a series of light boxes commissioned for the vanguard public art project Elysium in Byron Bay. The Elysium project was initiated by Creative Road’s Rebecca Townsend and designer Jane Fullerton. This laneway rejuvenation involved a unique fully curated approach.
