Sieglinde Karl-Spence

Biographical information

Sieglinde Karl-Spence (born 1943) spent her childhood years in her native Germany before emigrating to Australia with her family in 1953. After 25 years living and working in Launceston, Tasmania, Sieglinde has recently re-located to Bundeena, Royal National Park, NSW.

Sieglinde trained as a jeweller, graduating with a Diploma in Jewellery and Silversmithing from Middlesex Polytechnic, London, in 1978. Since the late 1980’s her practice has focused on installation and performance, including works of a site-specific, transitory nature such as Healing Mandala – 365 offerings, Mildura Arts Festival, 1996 and Red Bead Seed Offering, Botanic Gardens, Darwin, 1997.

She has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally, including Unfamiliar Territory; 1992 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, and Crossing Borders: History, Culture and Identity in Australian Contemporary Textile Art, a major survey of Australian textiles curated by Professor Sue Rowley in 1995 which toured throughout the United States of America.

In 2002 Sieglinde was again part of The Adelaide Festival of the Arts – this time collaborating with chef Gay Bilson to produce the edible-lei Project- at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide.

Sieglinde has had some rewarding artist-in-residency projects over the last 15 years in Tasmania, often working with the local community. King Island Cultural Centre, Burnie City Gallery, to name a couple.

More recently in 2011 Sieglinde won a commission to make a large scale work using found natural materials and install the work at the Launceston General Hospital  in the new wing of the Holman Clinic.

Sieglinde has been focused on making small transient mandala installations in the last couple of years.

Sieglinde’s work is represented in all the major galleries in Australia.