A last look at Coral Tulloch Unmasked

Bidding reserve: Highest bid so far:- $150

The Captivating Coral Tulloch

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The mask that Coral made

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Title: Carnivale

It looked like this before she worked her magic on it

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Coral on her mask.

“Masks = Venice!

“When Isobelle approached me to paint a mask, I was transported back to Venice 30 years ago. I was working in a studio in Florence but allured by the the Venice Carnival, I set off and dressed for two weeks in mask.

“When I first walked into the street I was insecure of my new clothes, the persona I had chosen, but within moments, anyone passing bowed. I had become the character of the mask. In respect of the mask, everyone, including the masked, bow to each other.

“And no one can you refuse you anything when you are in mask (within reason!) This meant that other artists from my studio in Florence could come and camp in our hotel room, as was our wish. We would walk the streets by day, draw consequences at night and float from one musical street fair to another, in and out of cafes, dancing with others in the square until the rising water sent us home through streets powdered with snow.

“The carnevale was traditionally a time where, when work was finished you could go into the street with your mask on and become that character, no matter what your day job and status was, all was levelled by the mask. No matter who you were, where you came from, the mask transported you to another reality.

All of these drawings come from sketchbooks Coral

made during her time in Florence.

“When I received my mask from Isobelle I wanted to evoke the same feelings. I used some of the images I remembered and drew from that time. I also saw the mask like a world and decided to paint it as a map, showing the scale of longitude, latitude that transports us from one place to another, one culture, one society to each another, that makes our world one.”

-Coral Tulloch

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About Coral Tulloch

Coral was born in Melbourne and now lives in Hobart, Tasmania with her husband and daughter, Tully. A history in promotion and illustration in newspapers led her to create a syndicated page for children that has appeared for over 20 years in papers both nationally and internationally.

During this time she studied fine art at East Sydney Technical College, Animation at Randwick Technical College, and has had periods at studios, drawing in Florence and lithography at The Academy of Applied Arts in Prague. Continuing work in advertising, film and magazine production, her main focus remained with children’s literature.

She has worked in both fiction and non-fiction on over 50 books for children, both for trade and educational publishers in Australia and internationally.

With a continued passion in environmental education she was accepted for a voyage to the Antarctic continent and Subantarctic in 1999. She researched, wrote, produced the initial design and illustrated her factual work on Antarctica, The Heart of the World, Antarctica (ABC Books). It is a highly informative, fully comprehensive non-fiction book capturing one of the world’s most intriguing continents. Readers can undertake their own journey to Antarctica with the help of this highly illustrated guide. Learn about Antarctica’s unique geography, its captivating animal and plant life, its history of human exploration and scientific research. The book won the Wilderness Societies Environment Award for Children’s Literature in 2004 and was named one of the best ten books of the year by US Science Books and Films several years later

Coral’s work for more than a decade has centred on her voyages and experiences of the Antarctic, with several works produced. Her book, Sydney of the Antarctic is based on a true story. Sydney Walton Mouse dreams of a life of adventure. Most of all, he wants to go to Antarctica, where it is wild and white and wonderful. Then one day, Sydney’s dream comes true.

Coral also created One Small Island with Alison Lester (who also decorated a mask for this fundraising auction, too). In 2012 the book won the Wilderness Society’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature and the CBCA Eve Pownell Award for non-fiction. It is a timely reminder of the need to protect the environment and the degradation that can happen in the hands of humans.

Coral lives in Hobart, Tasmania.