Artist : Sophie Corcoran

Sponsor: Cassegrain Wines

Location: Cassegrain Wines, 10 Winery Drive, Port Macquarie NSW 2444

Description / Inspiration

In 2013, Cassegrain Wines was a founding sponsor of the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail and requested that the sculpture be painted by Port Macquarie artist, Sophie Corcoran, who had moved to Paris in 2012. Cassegrain Wines arranged for the sculpture to be transported to France and the streets of Paris inspired Sophie's design for this new Hello Koalas sculpture, which is called 'Froggy'.

Sophie didn't speak the language and confesses she didn't have much understanding of the differences in culture. Sophie learnt very quickly that living in France is very different to Port Macquarie!

Sophie called the design 'Wrapped in Paris' conveying the beauty and intensity of Paris while also portraying that one can be completely overwhelmed and engulfed in its history, monuments, art and culture. The blue background represents Paris at twilight, when the sky turns to this incredible royal blue and suddenly the city of lights appears, and the colours of yellow, orange and blue soak the city.

Artist Biography

Sophie has been painting watercolours since she can remember! However it wasn't until she first traveled to Europe where Sophie found her individual style; it was actually in Amsterdam where she started to really have fun playing with colour and lines of perspective.
Now quirky unconventional use of colour is a strong characteristic of Sophie's work. She loves to distort perspective and use colour as an emotive language.
Sophie returned home after spending two years living in Paris where she enjoyed the inspiration and creative energy that only Paris could provide. She was very fortunate as much of her income came from selling her watercolours. Sophie's style in Paris changed somewhat to include even more detail. She found it difficult to leave out details of Paris because in Sophie's words: "it's all these little details that make Paris such an incredible city!"

Sophie now has a busy life as an artist living in regional NSW and working in the tourism sector.