In her practice, Kohl Tyler contemplates notions of ephemerality, interconnectedness and one’s place within the cosmos. Drawing inspiration from both physical and phenomenal elements of the natural world she processes her ecological grief, making work that posits future ecologies, imagined organic remnants and investigates the natural archive. She works across ceramic sculpture, watercolour painting, and social practice.
Kohl Tyler is an Aotearoa/New Zealand-born artist who’s been based in Naarm/Melbourne since 2018. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at Whitecliffe College of Art and Design in 2016 and was awarded the Artist Alliance Graduate Award in 2016. In 2017, she won the Estuary Art and Ecology Award at Malcolm Smith Gallery in Auckland, NZ. She has presented solo exhibitions in Aotearoa and Australia including; All is Ephemeral, FELTspace, Adelaide, SA (2024), Signals, Printmaker Gallery, Melbourne, VIC (2022), and Moving Past the Sun, Weasel Gallery, Hamilton, NZ (2020) and recent group exhibitions include Ceramics Now, MARS Gallery, Melbourne, VIC (2024) and Ceramics, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, VIC (2024). In 2022 she presented Offerings, a social art installation held at the UNESCO heritage-listed Carlton Gardens in Naarm, Australia, supported by the City of Melbourne Art Grants. Her work is held in the collection of the Gippsland Art Gallery, VIC and in private collections throughout Australia, Aotearoa and the USA.
Awards and Grants
2024 National Emerging Art Award, The Garden Gallery, Sydney, NSW (Finalist)
2024 People’s Choice Award, Omnia Art Award, Melbourne, VIC (Winner)
2022 Quick Response Arts Grant, City of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC (Recipient)
2021 Small Artwork Prize, East Gippsland Art Gallery, Gippsland, VIC (Finalist)
2019 Lethbridge 2000 Award, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD (Finalist)
2017 Estuary Art and Ecology Awards, Malcolm Smith Gallery, Auckland, NZ (Winner)
2016 Artist Alliance Graduate Award, Whitecliffe College of Art and Design, Auckland, NZ(Winner)
Collections
Gippsland Art Gallery, Gippsland, VIC.
Education
2016 Bachelor of Fine Art, Whitecliffe College of Art and Design, Auckland, NZ.
Residencies
2023 Guest Artist in Residence, Northcote Pottery Supplies, Melbourne, VIC.
Solo Exhibitions
2024 All is Ephemeral, FELTspace, Adelaide, SA
2022 Signals, PG Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2022 Offerings, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, VIC (Public installation)
2020 Moving Past the Sun, Weasel Gallery, Hamilton, NZ
2020 Umbra, NOVACANCY Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2017 Purlieus, Skinroom Gallery, Hamilton, NZ
Group Exhibitions
2024 National Emerging Art Award, The Garden Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2024 Ceramics Now, MARS Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2024 Omnia Art Award, St Kevins College, Melbourne, VIC
2024 Ceramics, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2024 Botanical Spells, CBOne Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2023 ALCHEMY, NotFair Art Fair, Melbourne, VIC
2022 Recent Acquisitions, Gippsland Art Gallery, Gippsland, VIC
2021 WRAP Small Artwork Prize, East Gippsland Art Gallery, Gippsland, VIC
2020 Metamorph, NOVACANCY Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2019 Friends and Family, Daine Singer Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2019 Lethbridge 20000 Art Award, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2018 collect.document.archive, Weasle Gallery, Hamilton, NZ
2018 Trace, Black Asterisk Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2018 Ngā Tipu Taketake - Indigenous Flora. Touring Exhibition: Auckland Botanical Gardens, Wellington Botanical Gardens, & Millenium Gallery, Blenheim, NZ.
2017 Estuary Art and Ecology Prize, Malcolm Smith Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2017 Art of Giving, Bayleys House, Auckland, NZ
2017 Paperhouse, Alberton Heritage Building, Auckland, NZ
2017 Paperwork, DEMO, Auckland, NZ
2016 Grad Show, Whittecliffe College of Fine Art, Auckland, NZ
2015 Natures [Un] Natural, This That Gallery, Auckland, NZ 2015 Dealing with Misanthropy, Pearce Gallery, Auckland, NZ 2015 Borderline, Pearce Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2014 Painting(s), Karangahape Road Mercury Theatre, Auckland, NZ
Bibliography/Press
2024
Breaking the Mould: Dynamic, experimental and thought-provoking, these female ceramicists have cast the wheel aside in favour of techniques that redefine traditional pottery. Carli Phillips (2024), pg.50, Issue 15, Winning Magazine. https://www.winningmagazine.com.au/post/breaking-the-mould-1
2023
The Artist Making ‘Other-Worldly’ Ceramics Inspired By Plants, Coral and Fungi. Christina Karras (2023, Oct 8th) The Design Files. https://thedesignfiles.net/2023/10/studio-visit-kohl-tyler
2017
Natural Beauty: A Moment With Artist Kohl Tyler-Dunshea. India Essuah (Aug. 11, 2017). The New Zealand Herald, Viva. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/viva/culture/natural-beauty-a-moment-with-artist-kohl-tyler-dunshea/VJYOB6574YONT63F7OABTVGN6Q/
Skinroom - Happenstance & Purlieus. Peter Dornauf (Aug, 2017), Pg. 33 Nexus Magazine.
https://issuu.com/nexusmag/docs/nexus_issue_19_issuu_88e275fcc48b4c
CO-EXISTENCE Botanical watercolours and the restricted body. Ellie Lee-Duncan (Aug, 2017) Eyecontact.
Kohl Tyler-Dunshea Creates Minutely Observed Botanical Watercolours. Fiona Lascelles (Feb, 2017) Cuisine Magazine, Design Files. https://www.cuisine.co.nz/design-files/