ABOUT DOROTHÉE

Raised in Switzerland
Proud to be an Australian
Her Colourful Work
Inspired by this Beautiful Country

Hunter Valley Artist Dorothée Heibel (née Oetterli), was born in 1946 in Solothurn, the ancient seat of the French Ambassadors in Switzerland nestled in the foothills of the Jura Mountains.

Having acquired a Pre-School Teacher Diploma in 1967 Dorothée took up various posts in Switzerland.

In 1983 Dorothée, with husband Detlef, decided to leave Switzerland and settle in Australia for good. "It was a bit like dying in order to start a new life”, Dorothée was to say in hindsight.

Besides being a full-time mother of three, Dorothée assisted her husband in the business of importing Swiss Quality Products and introducing swatch to Australia as well as dabbling in designing logos, watch faces and other corporate images. Later she attended workshops under the tutelage of Annette Pringle, Alex Dalrymple and Jasper Foggo. Her work was selected by the adjudicator of the 1991 Mosman Art Prize, William Wright (then Assistant Director at the Art Gallery of NSW) to be taken in amongst the 50 out of 480 entries selected to be included in the resulting Council Chambers Exhibition. Her painting 'The Fish' was snapped-up by the avid art collector Reg Richardson. As a self- taught artist this gave her the stimulus to paint in earnest and challenge herself with every piece she took on.

Since then, Dorothée assisted her husband in Estate & Vineyard Management in the Hunter Valley and is today her ill husband's carer. As an artist she has won several awards, has worked on commission and her paintings are held in private collections in Europe, Japan, the United States, Singapore and Australia. Her major aspirations are to continue to develop her style, to explore new media and to continue making herself and others happy through her original, positive works of art.

The arrival of picadots©.
Dorothée's latest venture is the creation of Affordable Art. Images have been carefully selected from her paintings and reborn as prints on canvas. These prints are sold under the registered name of picadot© and are now available to you. Find out more about picadots© here.

Dorothée's exhibitions

Some thoughts and facts from Dorothée