CRYSTAL TATE

CRYSTAL TATE is a multidisciplinary artist based on Gumbaynggirr Country, Mid North Coast NSW. Raised in an alternative community, Crystal was encouraged to follow her creative interests from a young age. And because she was a stubborn first child, and told she should, she of course- did not.

In school, instead of drama, she took chemistry. But she couldn’t bring herself to not take art… And despite being selected to exhibit and then have her works purchased by Art Express, she grew into a very serious nurse.

After all, art was frivolous, and wasn’t work supposed to feel, well, like work???

It was after several conversations with her patients who were facing their end of life reflections that Crystal started to see a pattern. ‘Life’ was not a destination, there were no ‘winners’, life was the accumulation of tiny everyday moments. And the moments that mattered, that lit up their souls, were placed within a couple of special places and held by a very small number of people.

This realisation brought her back to her art practice. Suddenly she understood what it had taken almost 35 years for her to see…

Art was not frivolous. It did matter.

By creating art that connects us to the people and places that matter most, Crystal realised that she could brighten our walls with art that invites us to remember the ACTUAL meaning of our lives (and in doing so she has added so much joy to hers).

She now focusses on painting and drawing as her primary practice and she creates both analogue and digital artworks.