About
Tom Ansell is a West-Australian-based Muralist and Visual Artist interested in and practising artworks influenced and informed by both realism and surrealism. Tom completed his BA: Visual Art at ECU in 2014 before going on to study his BA: Visual Art Hons. in 2015-16. During his Honours, Tom had his first foray into public art. It was working with local sculptor, Alex Mickle, on a large project for the City of Bunbury that Tom completed his first public artwork, a 5 m-long re-imagining of the Carbet Castle, a barque that had its demise in Koombana Bay. The finished work, titled The Rescue, can be seen at the intersection of Koombana Drive and Estuary Drive, Bunbury.
In 2016, Tom completed his first mural, a 4.5m x 4m hand-drawn piece titled Sister Cities. This piece drew on Tom's fondness for drawing and mark-making, and was completed entirely in mural markers. In the years following this, Tom had a hiatus and worked as a Tutor, completed formal training to become a Lecturer at TAFE, and continued visual art commissions on the side whilst strengthening his visual art skills through the online program of Watts Atelier.
It was in 2021 that Tom began to see the viability of pursuing murals as a full-time business. In April 2021, Tom completed Biboolboorn, a 5m x 5m depiction of an imagined saltwater paperbark tree. This was his first painted mural and led the way to open up more consistent murals and develop his business.
