Filippa Buttitta is a professional artist who owns and operates ‘Twiverton Gallery’. Her interest in portraiture began from an early age and she began to paint intuitively prior to engaging in study at various art colleges and universities. Her fascination with capturing people in drawing, painting and sculpture emerged as a young child and has stayed with the artist until present. Filippa spent several years practicing what came naturally as a self taught skill before deciding to study at several art schools to further develop her techniques in drawing and painting. As an adult, Filippa studied drawing, painting and sculpture in a BA of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts (Sydney University) and then further completed 2 masters degrees with a focus in exploring Australian cultural identity in a Master of Art and then a Master of Fine Arts at the College of Fine Arts (UNSW). Filippa also has a Diploma of Education from Sydney University as well as an Associate Diploma in Expressive and Performing Arts from the UNSW - with Distinction. Buttitta’s portrayals of many Australians are visual explorations of cultural identity and interpret a time, place and perspective in Australian socio-cultural and iconic history. Her ‘Rags to Riches’, ‘Fragments of a Photograph’ and ‘Triggers of Memory - Fragmented Preservations of Cultural Identity’ series identify un-institutionalised forms of cultural identity that have emerged from Australian immigration and include observations of her Italian heritage. These series of works span over 3 decades and have led to two thesis papers which academically explore new forms of cultural identity emerging in Australia. Buttitta’s most recent pursuit is exploring the ‘Lost Child in the Bush’ trope as a potent and iconic Australian cultural theme. Using her own daughter as the figure of the lost child in the bush, Buttitta re-awakens an ongoing Australian anxiety and re-imagines it not only as female contemporary artist but also as a mother (a pursuit that has not widely been pursued by historical female artists before nor canonised as such in Australian art history). Buttitta has been a finalist in numerous awards including the Archibald’s Salon de Refuses, The Portia Geach Memorial award, The Mosman Art Prize, The Hunters Hill Art Prize, The Fisher Ghost Art Prize and has been a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Art Prize. Filippa is available for live 'on the spot' drawing commissions as well as painted portrait commissions either from life or from photographs. You may contact Filippa by email: [email protected]