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MIA SCHOEN was born in Germany, living there for the first two years of her life, and spending a further two years in Argentina, where she learnt to speak Spanish but soon forgot this ability when at the age of 4, her family chose to settle in Perth, Western Australia. Growing up on the edge of national park in the hilly suburbs of the Darling Ranges, she was often to be found bush-walking or catching tadpoles (to be released). She showed an interest in art from the age of 2, producing some remarkable scribble/bean collages believed to be 'el gato' or at least titled as such. Her ambition for the arts blossomed at the age of five when she consolidated the idea of being better than her elder sister (at art). She attended Kalamunda Senior High on a special art scholarship that enabled her to take extra-curricular art classes and start making art a lot. On finishing highschool she was encouraged to do something practical with her art so she obtained a diploma of graphic design and although providing her with useful skills she decided this path was not for her and headed to the United States for a look at the age of 20. When she returned she enroled at Curtin University to study painting, around this time she learnt to play guitar, joined a band (Molasses), and dropped out of school to head to Melbourne and play music. She continued to make art and participated in a number of group exhibitions all the while playing shows with her band Sleepy Township among others. At the age of 29 she resumed her art studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, completing her BFA honours in 2005, she won a few prizes donated by generous benefactors of the VCA. The most exciting of which was the Wallara Travelling Scholarship which enabled her to travel to the USA to study new estates, a recurring theme in her painting. Mia currently lives and works in Jacana, Melbourne, she continues to paint and to play and record with her band New Estate, she is represented by Kozminsky Gallery of Melbourne. |
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