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• CSA National Conference - Colour Matrix Sydney 2025

  • Start
    31 Oct 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM
  • End
    2 Nov 2025
  •  
    5:00 PM
  • Location
    RAHS History House, 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney + online

  
  

  The CSA national conference Colour Matrix Sydney 2025, to be held on October 31 to November 2, has a diverse program of 27 presentations in sessions on colour science (five), colour education (six), environmental colour design (five), colour naming (two) and colour in art and art materials (nine). Each morning and afternoon session will conclude with a Q&A session to provide an opportunity for our speakers to respond to each other’s presentations and to questions from the in-person and online audience. There are also six hands-on activities relating to colour in art, design, architecture, science, digital technology and nature. Many of our presenters have accepted our invitation to attend all or most of the remainder of the conference free of charge, which we hope will provide plenty of opportunities for informal discussions between these colour specialists from numerous different disciplines and our other attendees. 

  The theme Colour Matrix acknowledges the importance of cross disciplinary approaches to colour in this era of ever-narrowing specialization. Participants are invited to consider how their own work involving colour may be of interest and of importance in other disciplines, or to critically contrast and perhaps reconcile different specialized approaches to colour within their own discipline. We encourage participation from designers, artists and other colour practitioners whose work references scientific or philosophical understanding of colour, from colour educators whose teaching programs span the art-science divide, and from scientific, historical and other researchers who believe that their insights about colour have relevance beyond their specialized areas of interest. 

  All enquiries: csa.nsw.chair@gmail.com
  

  Registration
  

  One downside of our wealth of presenters is that places for other in-person attendees will be limited. To help address this problem, we're asking in-person attendees to register for the three days separately, and we're also providing the option to register for in-person attendance for one day and online attendance for the remainder of the conference for a small additional fee. While requiring separate registration for the three days may be a little irksome for people who want to attend the whole conference, we hope this arrangement will allow more people to secure a place in the sessions that most interest them. 

  Speaker profiles and registration are available at the following lknks:

  Friday Oct 31 (be sure to indicate your 1st and 2nd preferences for the PM activities)

  https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269269

  Saturday November 1

  https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269298

  Sunday November 2

  https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269299

  Online attendance (Friday AM, Saturday and Sunday)

  https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269327

  Bookings for the conference dinner on the evening of Saturday November 1 will be taken closer to the event.
  

  Pricing
  

  Non-members (full-price and concessional), please note that if you plan to attend in-person for all three days, the cost ($330/$240) would be about the same as if you join as a member to gain access to early registration, and then pay the discounted members’ rate. You can join at https://coloursociety.org.au/membership

  All prices include access to all recordings	Non-member full price	Non-member concession	Member full price	Member concession
  In-person attendance per day including light lunch & teas	110	80	75	60
  One day in-person attendance including light lunch & teas plus full online access	150	120	115	100
  Full (2.5 days) online access	110	80	75	60

  Provisional Timetable (subject to change without notice)

  FRIDAY OCT 31	COLOUR SCIENCE + SITE VISITS AND ACTIVITIES
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Welcome and speaker introductions
  9:30 – 10:00	Jean Pretorius - A Book with a View: Dr Christine Ladd-Franklin’s “Colour and Colour Theories” (1929)
  10:00 – 10:45 (Keynote)	Paul Martin - Colour in the Eye and Brain
  10:45 – 11:15	David Briggs - The Apparent Physicality of Colour
  11:15 - 11:35	MORNING TEA
  11:35 – 12:05	Erin Goddard - Colour Constancy and Attention
  12:05 – 12:35	Branka Spehar - Colour–Shape Correspondences: The Role of Complexity
  12:35 – 1:00	Questions and discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 3:00	Ophthalmology Lab tour, Sydney Eye Hospital (limit = 10) OR Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection tour (limit 25) OR Royal Botanic Garden colour scavenger hunt (limit 25)
  3:30 – 4:30	Painting conservation lab tour, AGNSW (limit 44) OR Colour schemes along Macquarie Street walking tour (limit 25) OR Royal Botanic Garden colour scavenger hunt (limit 25)

  SATURDAY NOV 1	COLOUR EDUCATION  + COLOUR IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Speaker introductions
  9:30 -10:00 on Zoom	Stephen Westland and Maggie Maggio – Universal Principles of Color: The Story Behind the Book
  10:00 – 10:30	Edward Charbonneau - Color Theory and Literacy: a Reflection on an In-progress Color Course
  10:30 – 11:00	David Witt – “Colormxr” and Interactive Color Creation: A New Approach to Color Learning through RGB+CMY Color Mixing
  11:00 – 11:20	MORNING TEA
  11:20 - 11:50	Paul Green-Armytage - Teaching without Teaching
  11:50  12:00	Ruth Marrion - Personal Colours and Image Consultations: How Valuable are these to a Client’s Authentic Self-Expression?
  12:00 – 12:30	Emrah Baki Ulas - On How Little We Know About Light and Colour
  12:30 – 1:00	Questions and Discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 2:30	Julian Rennie and Alessandro Premier - Colour Conservation Study of William Gummer's Country Homestead
  2:30 – 3:00	Samantha Donnelly and Sonia van der Haar - Trauma-Informed Colour Design: The Impact of Colour In Women’s Shelter Environments
  3:00 – 3:10	Rebecca Boehme - Indelible Illumination - The Evolving Power of Colour in Stained Glass
  3:10 – 3:30	AFTERNOON TEA
  3:30 – 4:00	Rebecca Cadorin - Coloured Lighting in Collaborative Workspaces - Enhancing Mood, Focus and Wellbeing
  4:00 – 4:30 on Zoom	Pia López-Izquierdo and Dolores Terriza - “ET IN ARCADIA EGO”: Designing Healing Environments Through Art
  4:30 – 4:55	Questions and discussion
  Parallel session	Nick Harkness’ new colour exercises

  SUNDAY NOV 2	COLOUR NAMING + COLOUR IN ART AND ART MATERIALS
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open at 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Speaker Introductions
  9:30 – 10:00 on Zoom	Verena M. Schindler - Kawésqar Colour Names and Associations
  10:00 – 10:30	Madeleine Snook - Conceptual vs Texture-Dependent Colour Terms in British English, Korean, and Scottish Gaelic
  10:30 – 11:00	Diana Young - Colours in Australian Indigenous Contemporary Art
  11:00 – 11:10 on Zoom	Verena M. Schindler - Diamant II – A Sculpture by Sanford Wurmfeld
  11:10 - 11:30	MORNING TEA
  11:30 – 12:00	Michelle Hiscock - Thomas Bardwell and Colour in 18th Century Portrait Painting
  12:00 – 12:30	Natalie O'Connor - The Elaboratory of Colour
  12:30 – 1:00	Questions and Discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 2:30	Vladi Rosolova - Light, Colour, and Colour Constancy in Painted Art
  2:30 – 3:00	Tim Miller - Painting and the Sensation of Seeing Colour
  3:00 – 3:10	Leone Burridge and David Briggs - Exploring Monocular Rivalry in Painting
  3:10 – 3:30	AFTERNOON TEA
  3:30 – 4:00	Steven Patterson - Beyond the Palette: Sustainability Challenges and Solutions in Artists’ Materials
  4:00 – 4:30 on Zoom	Enikö Majoros - Artistpigments.org - From Database to Multidisciplinary Exploration of Color
  4:30 – 4:55	Questions and Discussion

  About the conference venue

  Our conference venue is the Royal Australian History Society's History House at 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney, directly across the road from The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. The conference will be hybrid with provision for both in-person and online presentations and attendance.

  We ask our members and friends to please spread word of our conference by sharing this link: https://coloursociety.org.au/event-5983396  or our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn posts. 

  A poster advertising the conference can be downloaded here.

  
  

  Show details
• Colour Matrix Sydney 2025 full online access

  • Start
    31 Oct 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM
  • End
    2 Nov 2025
  •  
    5:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  
  

  Schedule

  FRIDAY OCT 31	COLOUR SCIENCE
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Welcome and speaker introductions
  9:30 – 10:00	Jean Pretorius - A Book with a View: Dr Christine Ladd-Franklin’s “Colour and Colour Theories” (1929)
  10:00 – 10:45	Paul Martin - Colour in the Eye and Brain (Keynote)
  10:45 – 11:15	David J. C. Briggs - The Apparent Physicality of Colour
  11:15 - 11:35	MORNING TEA
  11:35 – 12:05	Erin Goddard - Colour Constancy and Attention
  12:05 – 12:35	Branka Spehar - Colour–Shape Correspondences: The Role of Complexity
  12:35 – 1:00	Questions and discussion
  	(Friday afternoon events not available online)

  
  

  SATURDAY NOV 1	COLOUR EDUCATION + COLOUR IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Speaker introductions
  9:30 -10:00	Stephen Westland and Maggie Maggio – Universal Principles of Color: The Story Behind the Book
  10:00 – 10:30	Edward Charbonneau - Color Theory and Literacy: a Reflection on an In-progress Color Course
  10:30 – 11:00	David Witt – “Colormxr” and Interactive Color Creation: A New Approach to Color Learning Through RGB+CMY Color Mixing
  11:00 – 11:20	MORNING TEA
  11:20 - 11:50	Paul Green-Armytage - Teaching Colour without Teaching
  11:50  12:00	Ruth Marrion - Personal Colours and Image Consultations: How Valuable are these to a Client’s Authentic Self-Expression?
  12:00 – 12:30	Emrah Baki Ulas - On How Little We Know About Light and Colour
  12:30 – 1:00	Questions and Discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 2:30	Julian Rennie and Alessandro Premier - Colour Conservation Study of William Gummer's Country Homestead: Tauroa, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand
  2:30 – 3:00	Samantha Donnelly and Sonia van der Haar - Trauma-Informed Colour Design: The Impact of Colour In Women’s Shelter Environments
  3:00 – 3:10	Rebecca Boehme - Indelible Illumination - The Evolving Power of Colour in Stained Glass
  3:10 – 3:30	AFTERNOON TEA
  3:30 – 4:00	Rebecca Cadorin - Coloured Lighting in Collaborative Workspaces - Enhancing Mood, Focus and Wellbeing
  4:00 – 4:30	Pia López-Izquierdo and Dolores Terriza - “ET IN ARCADIA EGO”: Designing Healing Environments Through Art
  4:30 – 4:55	Questions and discussion
  Parallel session	Nick Harkness’ new colour exercises

  
  

  SUNDAY NOV 2	COLOUR NAMING + COLOUR IN ART AND ART MATERIALS
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open at 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Speaker Introductions
  9:30 – 10:00 on Zoom	Verena M. Schindler - Kawésqar Colour Names and Associations
  10:00 – 10:30	Madeleine Snook - Conceptual vs Texture-Dependent Colour Terms in British English, Korean, and Scottish Gaelic
  10:30 – 11:00	Diana Young - Colours in Australian Indigenous Contemporary Art
  11:00 – 11:10 on Zoom	Verena M. Schindler - Diamant II – A Sculpture by Sanford Wurmfeld
  11:10 - 11:30	MORNING TEA
  11:30 – 12:00	Michelle Hiscock - Thomas Bardwell and Colour in 18th Century Portrait Painting
  12:00 – 12:30	Natalie O'Connor - The Elaboratory of Colour
  12:30 – 1:00	Questions and Discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 2:30	Vladi Rosolova - Light, Colour, and Colour Constancy in Painted Art
  2:30 – 3:00	Tim Miller - Painting and the Sensation of Seeing Colour
  3:00 – 3:10	Leone Burridge and David Briggs - Exploring Monocular Rivalry in Painting
  3:10 – 3:30	AFTERNOON TEA
  3:30 – 4:00	Steven Patterson - Beyond the Palette: Sustainability Challenges and Solutions in Artists’ Materials
  4:00 – 4:30 on Zoom	Enikö Majoros - Artistpigments.org - From Database to Multidisciplinary Exploration of Color
  4:30 – 4:55	Questions and Discussion

  
  

  
  

  Pricing

  All prices include access to all recordings	Non-member full price	CSA member  full price	Non-member concession	CSA Member concession
  2.5 days online access	110	80	75	60

  
  

  Show details
• Colour Matrix Sydney 2025 Friday session

  • When
    31 Oct 2025
  •  
    9:20 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    History House, Macquarie St, Sydney
  • Spaces left
    34

  Register

  Use this page to register for in-person attendance on Friday Oct 31. 

  
  

  Schedule

  FRIDAY OCT 31	COLOUR SCIENCE + SITE VISITS AND ACTIVITIES
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Welcome and speaker introductions
  9:30 – 10:00	Jean Pretorius - A Book with a View: Dr Christine Ladd-Franklin’s “Colour and Colour Theories” (1929)
  10:00 – 10:45	Paul Martin - Colour in the Eye and Brain (Keynote)
  10:45 – 11:15	David J. C. Briggs - The Apparent Physicality of Colour
  11:15 - 11:35	MORNING TEA
  11:35 – 12:05	Erin Goddard - Colour Constancy and Attention
  12:05 – 12:35	Branka Spehar - Colour–Shape Correspondences: The Role of Complexity
  12:35 – 1:00	Questions and discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 3:00	Ophthalmology Lab tour, Sydney Eye Hospital (limit = 10) OR Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection tour (limit 25) OR Royal Botanic Garden colour scavenger hunt (limit 25)
  3:30 – 4:30	Painting conservation lab tour, AGNSW (limit 22) OR Colour schemes along Macquarie Street walking tour (limit 25) OR Royal Botanic Garden colour scavenger hunt (limit 25)

  
  

  Pricing

  All prices include access to all recordings	Full price non-member	Full price member	Concession non-member	Concession member
  Friday in-person attendance including light lunch & teas	110	80	75	60
  Friday in-person attendance including light lunch & teas plus whole-conference online access	150	120	115	100

  
  

  Speakers - Friday 

  Dr Jean Pretorius is a former President of the Colour Society of Australia, co-founder and Director of the Simon Marais Mathematics Competition and founder of Paintlife Pty Ltd. He is a member of the Advisory Board to MATRIX (Australia's residential research institute for mathematical sciences) and serves on the Investment Committee of Jencay Capital. In the past decade, Jean established himself as a professional artist after formal training at the prestigious Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney. As an artist and mathematician he continues to explore how colour shapes us and we shape it.

  Professor Paul R. Martin has over 35 years research experience in experimental anatomy and physiology of the visual system, and has published over 100 research papers on these topics in international scientific journals. His career publications have been referred to (cited) over 6,000 times in the scientific literature and his research received ongoing funding by the Australian Research Council, and the National Health and Medical Research Council from 1993 to 2022.

  Dr David Briggs is a classically-trained painter, art educator and researcher who has taught colour, painting and drawing classes since 1996 and has created online resources on colour for painters since the launch of his website The Dimensions of Colour in 2007.  David is Past President, Vice President, and NSW Division Chair of the Colour Society of Australia, Co-Chair of the International Colour Association (AIC) Study Group on Arts and Design and a committee member of the AIC/ISCC Colour Literacy Project and CIE Technical Committee 1-99.

  Dr Erin Goddard is a Scientia Senior Lecturer in Psychology at UNSW Sydney, where she has been since 2020. She received her PhD in 2011 from the University of Sydney, before completing postdoctoral positions at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University in Sydney, and at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. I joined UNSW in 2020. Her research aims to understand the workings of human visual system, including colour vision, and its interaction with related brain systems (e.g the influences of task, attention and memory on visual processes). She uses a combination of behavioural methods (psychophysics) as well as neuroimaging (fMRI and MEG) to address these questions. For further details of her research, see http://goddardlab.psy.unsw.edu.au/

  Professor Branka Spehar is a Professor of Psychology at the School of Psychology, University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Her research interests include lightness and colour perception, perceptual organization, attentional capture, and, more recently, the perceptual foundations of aesthetic experience. She is particularly interested in the neural mechanisms underlying these processes—how they are affected by varying spatial and temporal contexts, how they develop, and how they are tuned to the statistics and characteristics of natural images.

  Kerry O’Donnell (Macquarie Street walking tour) is the CSA NSW Division Secretary. She studied art and design before working as a designer and colourist for woven and printed fabrics in the textile industry. She then taught design and colour at TAFE NSW for many years. She has a strong interest in colour and its effects in all areas of design and art.

  The Activities

  The Billson Research Laboratory is named after eminent Ophthalmologist Professor Frank Billson AO and is located at the Save Sight Institute (old Sydney Hospital Building) on Macquarie St (centre block, second floor). It was built with funding from the University of Sydney Medical Research Foundation and a donation by Marno Parsons AM, and opened in 2011. The laboratory is home to basic and clinical researchers who study the normal structure of the eye and visual pathways, and investigate the causes of (and develop treatments for) blinding diseases. The tour comprises a brief introduction to the study of nerve connections in the eye that serve the sense of vision, and a visit to the confocal microscopy suite for high-resolution analysis of human retina. There will be two tours of 20 – 30 minutes for a maximum of five participants each. 

  The Caroline Simpson Library is a specialised research library open to anyone with an interest in the history of house and garden design, interior furnishings and domestic life in NSW. Its collection features a wide range of formats, including architectural pattern books, architectural fragments, wall and floor coverings, trade catalogues and sample books, garden ornaments, hardware and fittings, soft furnishings and trimmings, personal papers, manuscripts, pictures, photographs, books, periodicals and oral histories.

  Macquarie Street originally formed a central axis for the colonial Governors' Domain and Civic Precinct. Today it is a hub for government, research, legal and medical professions, and for recreation in the Botanical Gardens, Domain and Hyde Park. It has a rich array of architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries, with government and public institutions intermingled among commercial and residential buildings. Colour schemes reflect the changing fashions and tastes of their time and are based on the materials and technologies used to produce them. In interior and exterior architecture, colour schemes can have practical as well as sociological uses including to communicate mood and atmosphere or to display status. As you explore your way along Macquarie Street guided by CSA NSW Secretary Kerry O'Donnell, you will analyse exterior and interior colour schemes, their uses and effect, and the materials used to create them in some of these interesting and varied buildings from a range of periods and styles. A handout/work sheet and colour reference material will be provided.

  Opened in 1816, the Royal Botanic Garden is the oldest scientific institution in Australia and one of the most important historic botanical institutions in the world. For the colour scavenger hunt devised by Dr Paul Green Armytage, and conducted by Paul and Dr Natalie O'Connor, participants have a printed set of colours to find as they walk around. Participants may wish to keep looking throughout the conference. The essential point of the exercise is that it should get people really looking at colours and seeing the subtle differences.

  
  

  Show details
• Colour Matrix Sydney 2025 Saturday session

  • When
    1 Nov 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    History House, Macquarie St, Sydney
  • Spaces left
    33

  Register

  
  

  Schedule

  SATURDAY NOV 1	COLOUR EDUCATION + COLOUR IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Speaker introductions
  9:30 -10:00 on Zoom	Stephen Westland and Maggie Maggio – Universal Principles of Color: The Story Behind the Book
  10:00 – 10:30	Edward Charbonneau - Color Theory and Literacy: a Reflection on an In-progress Color Course
  10:30 – 11:00	David Witt – “Colormxr” and Interactive Color Creation: A New Approach to Color Learning Through RGB+CMY Color Mixing
  11:00 – 11:20	MORNING TEA
  11:20 - 11:50	Paul Green-Armytage - Teaching Colour without Teaching
  11:50  12:00	Ruth Marrion - Personal Colours and Image Consultations: How Valuable are these to a Client’s Authentic Self-Expression?
  12:00 – 12:30	Emrah Baki Ulas - On How Little We Know About Light and Colour
  12:30 – 1:00	Questions and Discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 2:30	Julian Rennie and Alessandro Premier - Colour Conservation Study of William Gummer's Country Homestead: Tauroa, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand
  2:30 – 3:00	Samantha Donnelly and Sonia van der Haar - Trauma-Informed Colour Design: The Impact of Colour In Women’s Shelter Environments
  3:00 – 3:10	Rebecca Boehme - Indelible Illumination - The Evolving Power of Colour in Stained Glass
  3:10 – 3:30	AFTERNOON TEA
  3:30 – 4:00	Rebecca Cadorin - Coloured Lighting in Collaborative Workspaces - Enhancing Mood, Focus and Wellbeing
  4:00 – 4:30 on Zoom	Pia López-Izquierdo and Dolores Terriza - “ET IN ARCADIA EGO”: Designing Healing Environments Through Art
  4:30 – 4:55	Questions and discussion
  Parallel session	Nick Harkness’ new colour exercises

  
  

  Pricing

  All prices include access to all recordings	Full price non-member	Full price member	Concession non-member	Concession member
  Saturday in-person attendance including light lunch & teas	110	80	75	60
  Saturday in-person attendance including light lunch & teas plus whole-conference online access	150	120	115	100

  
  

  Speakers

  Maggie Maggio is a designer, artist, and art educator who has studied, taught, and worked with color for over forty years. Her personal explorations into the science of light and pigments led to the creation of workshops for artists and designers who want to incorporate the latest research in color science into their creative practice. As a member of the board of directors of the US Inter-Society Color Council (ISCC) and co-chair of the International Color Association Study Group on Color Education, Maggie focuses on bridging between the art, science, and industry of color and advancing color literacy for the twenty-first century. She is the current chair of the Joint International Color Association/ISCC Color Literacy Project, advocating for the integration of art and science in color education programs worldwide.

  Stephen Westland is Professor of Color Science and Technology in the School of Design at the University of Leeds (UK). He was previously head of the School of Design at Leeds (2006–2013). His research interests are color design, color vision, and color measurement, and he has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and books about these topics. He is a Fellow of the Society of Dyers and Colourists and was President of the Society in 2019. In 2008 he was awarded the Davies Medal from the Royal Photographic Society (London) for his color research. He has won numerous research grants from both government and industry holds several visiting professorships including at the University of Texas (USA) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan (China).

  Edward R. Charbonneau is an adjunct faculty member of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He holds an MFA degree in Visual Studies from MCAD (2006) and BFA degree in painting from the College of Visual Arts (1999), formerly of St. Paul, Minnesota. His teaching methodologies are informed by his color theory research and practice. He independently writes, voices, and produces the podcast, Chromosphere: The Color Theory Podcast, which is currently in its fourth season with a global audience. For the past 37 years, he has created murals and large-scale installations for businesses, and private individual collectors. He lives in St. Louis Park, and works in a painting studio in St. Paul, Minnesota.
  

  David Witt is a Human Machine Interface and User Experience designer with over 25 years of professional design and fine arts experience. Colormxr and Interactive Color Creation evolved from David’s MFA research at Parsons School of Design, and studio art practice in New York and San Francisco, reflecting his interests in the synthesis of visual art, color experience, and human-centered design.

  Paul Green-Armytage was born and educated in England, graduating as an architect in 1964. He had some ten years’ experience as a practising designer in England, Canada and Australia, working as an architect, exhibition designer and set designer for television, before taking up a position, in 1976, as senior lecturer in charge of the first year program in design at what is now Curtin University. He was awarded his PhD in 2005, for his thesis Colour, Language and Design. He has contributed papers to leading scientific journals and many national and international conferences, several by invitation. He has served as Vice President of the International Colour Association and as President of the Colour Society of Australia. Paul is a founding member of the Colour Literacy Project.

  Ruth Marrion is a Life Member of the Colour Society of Australia and a former Chair of the Western Australian Division. Always interested in understanding how people communicate with each other, both verbally and non-verbally, Ruth came to the conclusion that matching clothing colours to her given colouring based on advice found in a popular book gave the wrong message about her personality. Ruth trained in Personal Colours Analysis before completing in 2000 a critical examination of the assumptions and practices in this industry as a Master's study supervised by Paul Green-Armytage in the Department of Design at Curtin University.

  Emrah Baki Ulas is an internationally acclaimed lighting designer, speaker, and educator whose work spans the intersections of light, colour, perception, and the built environment. Following an engineering degree and theatrical lighting studies in Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turke,y he obtained a Master's degree in Architectural Lighting Design at the University of Wismar, Germany and then his PhD at the University of Technology, Sydney, for his thesis "Casting a New Light on Museums and Galleries; towards modern industry guidelines for lighting in museums and galleries". Emrah is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and Technical Director at Steensen Varming. Emrah brings a unique voice to conversations about light, art, and science.

  Julian Rennie has been a part-time Tutor in the Departments of Architecture, Interior Design, and Landscape Architecture at Unitec, Auckland, for the last 25 years and has been a practicing Architect for the last 35 years. He graduated with a B.Arch. (Honours) from Auckland University in 1983. Julian has had papers published in Black Book: Drawing and Sketching (2020, 2024), Auckland, New Zealand: Guidelines and Comparison with Notable Buildings 1923-28 (2023), Journal of the International Colour Association (2024) International Journal of Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics Science, (2023), Cities People Places (2016), TRACEY (2014), Journal of Pedagogic Development (2013), ScreenCity Journal (2013). Julian has presented at various Conferences around the world over the last 15 years, and has also been awarded various architectural prizes within New Zealand.

  Alessandro Premier is an architect (registered in Italy), graduated with a Master’s-degree from IUAV University of Venice (Italy) and PhD in Architectural Technology at the Department of Architecture of the University of Ferrara (Italy). Alessandro joined the University of Auckland in 2018, where he is Senior Lecturer (above the bar) of Architectural Technology and is currently teaching environmental design at the School of Architecture and Planning. He is also member of the Future Cities Research Centre and one of the founding members of the Eterotopie Colour, Light and Communication in Architecture Research Lab in Italy, where he carries out design and research activities on architectural technology and environmental sustainability. Alessandro specializes in the architectural integration of innovative materials, products and technologies to improve the environmental quality of liveable spaces and has authored more than 100 publications including books, curatorship, conference papers, journal articles and magazine articles.

  Samantha Donnelly is an architectural designer and academic in the School of Interior Architecture at University of Technology Sydney. Since graduating from the University of Adelaide, she has worked in architectural practices and as a sole practitioner, delivering designs, concepts, and illustrations for not-for-profit projects to support disadvantaged communities and housing for women at risk of homelessness. Her research focuses on how tailored design can support specialist services for women and children leaving domestic violence, and the social impact of trauma-informed design for people who need safe, affordable, and sustainable homes.

  Sonia van de Haar is an artist and architectural colour specialist. She formed Lymesmith in 2011 as a colour focussed studio working to produce site specific artworks and material palettes for the built environment. Born in Wollongong, NSW, Sonia studied painting at the School of Art and Design (SOAD), ANU. Whilst studying fresco painting at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, her journey towards an integrated art and architecture practice began. Her subsequent completion of an architecture degree at the University of NSW led to the formation of Lymesmith studio which reflects her cross-disciplinary interests, and position outside of traditional gallery-based art making. In both her architectural and artwork, Sonia is known as Lymesmith.

  Rebecca Boehme is a Melbourne-based glass artist who specialises in stained glass painting and leadlighting, heritage glass restoration and conservation. After completing a Certificate in Glass and Glazing at Melbourne Polytechnic in 2020, she has worked in several professional glass studios across Australia, gaining hands-on experience in both traditional and contemporary glass techniques. Rebecca is currently based at Almond Glassworks in Melbourne, Australia. She is an active member of the Colour Society of Australia, the British Society of Master Glass Painters, and the Australian Artisans Guild. In 2025, Rebecca was awarded the prestigious Mason Family Fellowship through the International Specialised Skills Institute, recognising her commitment to advancing skills and knowledge in the field of stained glass and conservation.

  Rebecca Cadorin is a lighting designer and researcher at Arup Sydney with 20 years of experience in the built environment. I’m passionate about creating spaces that inspire and foster meaningful experiences, believing strongly in the power of place to shape human behaviour. My work spans from concept to commissioning, and I thrive on collaboration with clients, end users, and project partners. With a background in interior design, I’ve undertaken research into the psychological effects of coloured light and exploring how it can be used to enhance wellbeing in the environments we inhabit.

  Pia López-Izquierdo holds a PhD in Architecture (Cum Laude) from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), where she is Associate Professor and Course Leader in Interior Design, and a Masters in Philosophy of Perception from the Écoles des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris. She was a Research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Seminar on the Philosophy of Perception, and leader of the international research group TECA (Enactive Theory of Colour in Architecture). Her research explores the physical, emotional, and cognitive impact of colour in architectural space and people’s behaviour. Pia is the author of Chromatic Tales of Modernity (UPM, 2012), a thesis that establishes the emotional nature of colour perception. She developed the Enactive Colour Theory and the Enactive Colour Concepts for architecture that combines philosophical, artistic, and architectural approaches to social spaces like hospitals and schools through the concept of Colour Tabulae—a method to integrate painting and architecture.

  Dolores Terriza trained in Medicine and Surgery at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, she has developed her clinical career in the fields of Gastroenterology and Radiodiagnosis, with specialization in both areas, having worked at leading institutions such as Hospital Gregorio Marañón and Fundación Jiménez Díaz (Madrid, Spain). She also holds a Masters in Communication from the Universidad de Alcalá. She is a member of both the Spanish and European Societies of Radiology, and an active collaborator in the TECA-UPM research group (Enactive Theory of Color in Architecture, a research group of the Polytechnical University of Madrid), where she contributes to ongoing investigations into the cognitive and emotional dimensions of color in relation to architectural thought and the aesthetic experience of space.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• Colour Matrix Sydney 2025 Sunday session

  • When
    2 Nov 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    History House, Macquarie St, Sydney
  • Spaces left
    32

  Register

  
  

  Schedule

  SUNDAY NOV 2	COLOUR NAMING COLOUR IN ART AND ART MATERIALS
  9:00 – 9:20	Doors open at 9:00 am
  9:20 – 9:30	Speaker Introductions
  9:30 – 10:00 on Zoom	Verena M. Schindler - Kawésqar Colour Names and Associations
  10:00 – 10:30	Madeleine Snook - Conceptual vs Texture-Dependent Colour Terms in British English, Korean, and Scottish Gaelic
  10:30 – 11:00	Diana Young - Colours in Australian Indigenous Contemporary Art
  11:00 – 11:10	Verena Schindler - Diamant II – A Sculpture by Sanford Wurmfeld
  11:10 - 11:30	MORNING TEA
  11:30 – 12:00	Michelle Hiscock - Thomas Bardwell and Colour in 18th Century Portrait Painting
  12:00 – 12:30	Natalie O'Connor - The Elaboratory of Colour
  12:30 – 1:00	Questions and Discussion
  1:00 – 2:00	LUNCH
  2:00 – 2:30	Vladi Rosolova - Light, Colour, and Colour Constancy in Painted Art
  2:30 – 3:00	Tim Miller - Painting and the Sensation of Seeing Colour
  3:00 – 3:10	Leone Burridge and David Briggs - Exploring Monocular Rivalry in Painting
  3:10 – 3:30	AFTERNOON TEA
  3:30 – 4:00	Steven Patterson - Beyond the Palette: Sustainability Challenges and Solutions in Artists’ Materials
  4:00 – 4:30 on Zoom	Enikö Majoros - Artistpigments.org - From Database to Multidisciplinary Exploration of Color
  4:30 – 4:55	Questions and Discussion

  Schedule subject to change without notice.
  

  
  

  Pricing

  All prices include access to all recordings	Full price non-member	Full price member	Concession non-member	Concession member
  Sunday in-person attendance including light lunch & teas	110	80	75	60
  Sunday in-person attendance including light lunch & teas plus whole-conference online access	150	120	115	100

  Concession rate applies to pensioners, full-time students, unemployed and similar low-income earners.

  Speakers

  Verena M. Schindler is an Art and Architectural Historian, Colour Researcher, Chair of the Study Group on Environmental Colour Design of the International Colour Association, and represents the Swiss Colour Association “pro colore”. She also studied Spanish literature and linguistics in Zürich and Madrid. Affiliated with Atelier Cler Études Chromatiques in Paris for many years, she has worked at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, and the Department of Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, and also as an art teacher. She has researched, published and edited extensively in colour in art, architecture, urban planning and design. She is a member of several editorial boards and an Academic Editor of Color Research and Application
  
  

  Madeleine Snook was born and raised in Gosford, NSW Australia and has since lived in France, Scotland, Canada, South Korea, England, and Spain. She graduated with First Class Honours in Linguistics from the University of Sydney in 2018 with her research thesis Animal-Directed Speech in Scottish Gaelic and English, and as of July 2022 graduated from the University of Cambridge (Lucy Cavendish College) with a Master’s degree in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics with her research thesis Conceptual vs Texture-Dependent Colour Terms in British English, Korean, and Scottish Gaelic: a comparative analysis of colour category application, scope, and foci. Snook’s primary areas of research interest are colour term categories, Korean, Celtic languages and literature, semantics, animal-human communication, and animal cognition. 

  Dr Diana Young

  is Reader in Museum Anthropology and Material Culture at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. As a scholar, a curator, and as Director of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum (2009-2017), Diana has worked widely with Indigenous artists, and Indigenous cultural property. She has published widely on the socialness of colours. Her interest in colours was reinforced by her first career experienced in the blue-grey universe of UK commercial architecture.

  Michelle Hiscock trained at the Canberra School of Art, Australian National University, graduating in 1991, and has lived in Japan and France and travelled widely in Europe and especially Italy. She has held solo exhibitions since 1992 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, has been a finalist in several art prizes, and has taken part in group shows in Australia, London and Switzerland. She is represented by Australian Galleries in Sydney, and her work is represented in private and corporate collections. Michelle is an expert in the history of painting techniques, materials and methods. and is a painting lecturer at the National Art School and has given many talks and demonstrations at the Art Gallery of NSW. 
  
  

  Natalie O’Connor is an artist, researcher, and educator whose experience in the international colour manufacturing industry has heavily influenced her practice. She holds a Bachelor of Education, a Master's degree, and a PhD at UNSW for her thesis, The Nature of Redness- A Practice-Based Research into Red Pigments to Offer a New Understanding of Material Colour. Her practice and thesis are concerned with the permanency and fragility of colour and the technical innovations of the artist’s palette that result from a collaborative dialogue between artists and scientists since the early nineteenth century. She engages deeply with the colour red, investigating its materiality and revealing its inherent qualities of colour. O’Connor’s artwork, The Gol Gol Layer Colour Observations, has developed over the last ten years and primarily consists of a series of experimental observations of a unique area in remote Australia. 

  Vladi Rosolova is driven by her passion for light and its’ limitless power to transform space and influence our experience of the world around us. With more than ten years experience working as a lighting designer for leading Sydney (AUS) and London (UK) lighting consultancies and over six years of experience working in architectural offices in both the Czech Republic and Australia, Vladi has deep understanding of creation of architectural spaces, lighting concepts and principles as well as required technical knowledge.

  Tim Miller has been an exhibiting artist for 45 years, and has pieces in a number of major collections including Parliament House and the National Museum. Predominantly a landscape painter, Tim has a deep interest in the science of colour vision in relation to painting. In 2009 he set himself the extraordinary task of drawing every sundown for a full year, producing each study directly from observation in the fading light. Tim's also paints large-scale oil paintings, including a series showing parts of the Central West as they would have been in 1810, for the exhibition Macquarie 1810-2010 at Parliament House in Sydney. Tim had a solo exhibition at the Orange Regional Gallery in 2015.

  Steven Patterson is CEO of Derivan Pty Ltd. As a second-generation paint maker, Steven has inherited a legacy of expertise in the formulation and production of high-quality artist acrylics. and has been immersed in the science and art of color since childhood. Over the decades, he witnessed Derivan's evolution from its modest origins in a Sydney inner-city stable in the early 1960s to becoming a multinational enterprise with manufacturing facilities spanning three continents, dedicated to producing premium artist acrylics and mediums. Steven's leadership approach is defined by environmentally sustainable innovations, a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and active community engagement. His passion for color chemistry fuels his continual exploration of new pigments and their potential applications in advancing the field of artist materials.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• Add your name to the Colour Society of Australia Contact list!

  • When
    31 Dec 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  If you're not currently receiving event emails from the Colour Society of Australia, you are cordially invited to add your name to our Contact List using the "Register" link on this page. Our event emails announce our live and online events around Australia, and usually contain worldwide colour-related news as well. To get in the loop, just click on the green "Register" button and fill out your details. Registration is free and open to anyone interested in colour, anywhere around the world. You can unsubscribe at any time on our website or by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link at the end of all of our emails.

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