Milsons Point, New South Wales, Australia
Kim Carpenter is a visual artist and theatre practitioner. He was the founder and Artistic Director of Theatre of Image for 30 years until he closed the company in 2019. As Director and/or Designer he has worked for most major drama, dance and opera companies in Australia and internationally.
Kim Carpenter AM is a celebrated multi-award winning artist and international set and costume designer (over 100 productions) working in the fields of visual theatre, dance, drama, children's theatre, opera, puppetry, physical theatre and musical theatre. "I am - and always have been - a storyteller. My art currently focuses on characters and stories in atmospheric, stylised and often fantastical worlds. My medium is water colour, inks and crayon on Arches Water Colour Paper. I have been represented in Australian and International exhibitions. My most recent exhibition in Sydney in 2020 was inspired by my adaptation of The Happy Prince for The Australian Ballet and featured 26 paintings and 14 designs."
The Happy Prince was a new Australian ballet commissioned by The Australian Ballet as part of their 2020 season. It opened at QPAC in Brisbane in February 2020 I also held an exhibition of my paintings and drawings based on The Happy Prince in Sydney in October 2020.
I am currently working on creating a new all-Australian ballet with renowned Australian Choreographer, Graeme Murphy and the highly acclaimed Australian composer, Chris Gordon (Master And Commander, Mao's Last Dancer) to premiere in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in 2020 It is The Happy Prince - Oscar Wilde's most famous and well-loved fairytale. This started out as Theatre of Image's first work for children and families and remained in repertoire for 16 years, touring nationally and internationally and winning copious awards
I was the CEO and fulfilled the roles of commissioning new work including engaging the creative team. I worked either by creating a new work or adapting an existing book. Unusually all my work was visual theatre and multidisciplinary involving text, drama, comedy, digital imagery, puppetry, dance, movement and physical performance. I worked with my general manager and we together acted as producers. The work was presented by major arts festivals in Australia and overseas as well as major venues like Sydney Opera House. Mostly the work was made for family audiences but we did produce work for adult audiences as well
Directing final year students in their graduation play. Mentoring a design student. This is a major production in the large NIDA theatre
Managing the design course, interacting with students and staff, working on projects