Arts Alliance of Pine Rivers Inc

Ken Armstrong

Ken was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and studied at the Dundee College of Art. He specialised in portraiture and, following a career move into the British Army, focused on military subjects and landscapes. He completed several commissions of a military nature and had his work published by D C Thompsons.
His military career took him to most parts of the world and, wherever he went, he recorded what he saw with sketches . Ken was also lucky enough to spend a year living and working in Italy. “The experience gave me the opportunity to see the works of the Great Masters first hand and develop my painting style."
It was not until he left the Army and joined a Trading Company in the Sultanate of Oman that he found time to take up his brushes again and record the Arab way of life.
As Ken explains, “ Oman was a country bypassed by the modern world. It had a long history of trading, including Slave trading, but it was not until the discovery of oil in the late 60s and the accession to the throne by Sultan Qaboos that the country started its headlong rush into the 20th century. I had the opportunity to capture a fast disappearing way of life in the towns and remote villages before
the bulldozers and concrete machines moved in. That led to a series of paintings still treasured by my family.”
Since moving to Australia in 2003, Ken has been busy experimenting with the Australian light and colour offered in Queensland and elsewhere, producing a range of works including landscapes, portraits, bird scenes, figure work and religious pieces.

In 2006 Pine Rivers Shire Council wanted a body formed to represent the wealth of artistic talent in the Shire. This included Artists, Writers, Performers, Bush Poets, Musicians etc. In early 2007, the Arts Alliance of Pine Rivers was formed and Ken elected its first President.
“It’s a great challenge trying to unite talented people from such varied disciplines but, for the Arts Community to have a say in how money for the Arts is spent in the Shire, we need such a political body.
The Arts Alliance is capable of lobbying Councillors more effectively than individual Artists or Performers and, with the changes expected in Local Councils, we are needed all the more.”
Ken lives in Albany Creek and works from his studio set in the garden surrounded by the Bunyaville State Forest.

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