Carin Dickson
My CV & Biography

Carin was born in Natal , South Africa 22/03/1979.
She studied art at the National School of Arts in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
She matriculated in 1996 with 4 distinctions in art for drawing, sculpture, computer graphics and painting.
In late 1996, whilst still in school, Carin started painting murals for a company called Wallscapes as a part time job.
In early 1997 She started working for herself , painting murals in various entertainment venues all around Johannesburg. By the end of that year she had worked in all of the top and most well known venues in Johannesburg.
In 1998 Carin did mural work in a few restaurants, nightclubs and private homes. Towards the end of the year she had contract work with Caesars casino, doing their arcade centre.
In 1999 Carin did contract work in Carnival city casino, Monte casino and Caesars casino….and a few more restaurants and private homes.

Over the last few years Carin has built up a highly recognised name for herself painting murals in many homes and entertainment venues across South Africa, the best of which are featured on her website.

In 2001 Carin received a large commission for a few canvas paintings from Standard Bank , Johannesburg head office. In that same year she painted a massive mural on a government building in Jhb city centre for a BMW advert featured on TV.
She also started painting large scale backdrops for eventing companies and smaller decorative backdrops for festivals and parties, some of which were featured and sold at Solipse Festival in Zambia.

In Feb 2002 Carin travelled to Thailand where she was commissioned to do a painting for a Thai restaurant on Koh Phangan. That year she continued taking on large projects with a team by her side doing paint effects and murals in large shopping malls , private homes and upmarket restaurants.

Between Dec 2002 and April 2003 Carin travelled to the USA , where she spent a few weeks painting murals in private homes in Mojave and LA, California, one for the likes of Burt Rutan, the famous designer of “Spaceship 1 “and Mike Melvill, the infamous pilot!
She also travelled to Mexico where she displayed her backdrops at a News years event called Sonpax on a beach near Cancun.

In May 2003 Carin was commissioned to paint a 250sq.m mural for the Aztec Country Club resort on the Costa del Sol, in Spain. She spent 3 months there, painting what is claimed to be the biggest mural on the Costa del Sol!
She was interviewed live about it on an English tv channel in Spain and was featured in Hi Society Magazine and local newspapers.
At the end of 2003/2004 Carin started fine art painting in oils. She moved to Cape town, where she exhibited her work in various galleries around Cape town and a number of times at the renowned Kirstenbosch gardens.

In Dec 2005 she displayed her 8m high Uv backdrops and surrounding themed backdrops at Vortex, to a crowd of 6000 people, one of the biggest festivals in Capetown.

In 2006 Carin decorated all the biggest Psytrance events in Cape town and Johannnesburg and in August that year was commissioned to display her backdrops at a festival called Voov in Germany. They we mounted onto staging and had an audience of 8000 people.

In 2007 Carin was commissioned by an event organiser in Thailand, Koh Phangan to paint a series of backdrops for Ban Sabaii in Ban Tai and Black Moon parties, for which she still does on a continuous basis. She was also featured in a German magazine, Mushroom mag. Her art was on the front page and there was a small article on her inside.
That same year herself and 2 other artists spent 2 months painting murals in what is known as the biggest Sunday School in the southern hemisphere, for the Christian Family Church, in Benoni.

In October 2008 Carin displayed a 6m high, 20m wide 3D Uv stretch flower and some backdrops at Shanti Jatra Full moon festival in Nepal, on a riverside beach at the base of Mt. Everest.

During the last 3 years Carin’s Uv backdrops and décor has taken off hugely, selling them around the world and displaying them at many various events throughout South Africa, Nepal, Namibia, Thailand, Slovakia, Germany and receiving more and more international interest.

Carin is currently working on a concept for her first solo exhibition combining all aspects of her art into one. She is planning on launching these paintings in late 2009.