The Emotional Landscapes of Loralee Jade
Based in Tasmania, Loralee Jade explores motherhood, memory and belonging through a practice shaped by observation, lived experience and the emotional complexities of everyday life.
Words HANDE RENSHAW Photos EDEN WILDAY & LORALEE JADE
‘I love that my practice isn't separate from my everyday life. Even when I'm not physically painting, the work continues. It's there in conversations, walks, books, dreams, memories and moments of observation,’ says Loralee Jade.
Vein Of Milk And Light by Loralee Jade.
‘At the moment, I work within fragments. Ideas are interrupted by making lunch, finding a dummy or tending to someone else's needs. Drawings are ruptured by tiny hands reaching for colour. The rhythm of making is rarely linear.’
“What feels most meaningful is that both motherhood and art ask me to pay attention. To be present. To stay curious. To remain open to transformation.”
‘I think that's what I'm noticing most right now: how much tenderness exists beneath the surface of everyday life, and how often we're all just trying to find our way through it.’
The Alchemist Fire by Loralee Jade.
‘It's not lost on me that I have two of the greatest jobs in the world, being an artist and being a mother. Both continually challenge me, humble me and expand my understanding of what it means to be alive.’
Loralee Jade with her daughter, Stasia.
Based in Tasmania, Loralee Jade draws from lived experience, creating paintings that explore motherhood, memory and belonging. Working between abstraction and figuration, her practice reflects on the emotional complexities of being human, transforming personal experience into works that speak to something shared.
'I see painting as a way of paying attention. It's where I make sense of the things I can't quite articulate anywhere else,' she says.
While creativity has always been part of her life, it was following a profound personal loss during her teenage years that Loralee began to recognise what art had been offering her all along, a space to process, reflect and make sense of experiences that felt too large for words.
That pursuit of meaning remains central to her practice today. Rather than depicting physical landscapes, Loralee is interested in what she describes as 'emotional landscapes, the internal terrains we move through'. Her paintings emerge through layers of colour, recurring figures, animals and gestures, exploring the emotional truths that arise from lived experience.
In recent years, motherhood has become a defining influence on both her life and work. Yet her paintings extend beyond motherhood itself, creating space for broader conversations around vulnerability, protection, identity and the contradictions that shape human experience.
'I'm increasingly interested in the space between care and fear, and our ability, or inability, to hold contradictions,' she says.
Motherhood has also deepened Loralee’s understanding of the themes she has long explored. 'I love that my daughter is woven through it all. She's such a significant part of what I do, though she has absolutely no idea. The work isn't always about her, but she has changed the way I see, feel and move through the world. Her presence runs through everything.'
The boundaries between art and everyday life have become increasingly intertwined. Her studio practice exists alongside conversations, books, memories, walks and the small rituals that make up family life.
'I love that my practice isn't separate from my everyday life. Even when I'm not physically painting, the work continues. It's there in conversations, walks, books, dreams, memories and moments of observation. It doesn't feel fractured by the realities of daily life; it's woven through them,' she says.
This openness has also shaped her relationship with materials. Introduced during a period of depression, silk transformed the way Loralee approached making, encouraging a more intuitive and responsive process. ‘What captivated me was its fluidity. The dye moves through the fabric in ways that can't be entirely controlled, and after working that way, I found returning to canvas surprisingly difficult. Eventually I did return, but with a very different approach. I began bringing some of that openness and fluidity into my paintings, especially in their earliest stages,’ she shares.
Looking ahead, Loralee has recently completed a new collection for Tappan and is preparing for a duo exhibition with Ash Leslie at Leda Gallery. Alongside these projects, another body of work is beginning to emerge, guided less by outcomes than by curiosity.
'The coming year feels less about arriving somewhere specific and more about deepening what's already emerging – paying attention to the threads that keep resurfacing and seeing where they lead,’ she says.
To stay up to date with Loralee Jade's work, visit her website or follow @loraleejadeartist on Instagram.
