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About Lara

Forged as an artist in the white heat of London’s punk rock scene in the 70s, Lara Seresin already had art flowing through her veins.

Video by Lynette Wallworth.

Growing up in Wellington, New Zealand, her mother Helen Seresin was a well-known landscape and portrait painter. Her father, Harry Seresin, was instrumental in creating the first professional theatre in New Zealand. Her siblings were equally creative, pursuing music, painting, filmmaking, writing, costume design and even gold prospecting.

 

It was a truly bohemian upbringing in a deeply bohemian family, giving Lara qualities of outsidership, individuality and a perpetual lust for freedom.

 

If art flowed through her veins, then so did spirituality. Even as as child, Lara wrestled with the big existential questions, which eventually led her to qualify as a transpersonal art therapist.

 

And if all this sounds dry. It’s not. Lara has a self-depreciating and rollicking sense of humour.

To go back to the beginning, in 1978 at 16, Lara was given the opportunity to relocate to London, just as punk rock was exploding. She went to the progressive state school Camden School for Girls and at 17, began a Foundation course in Art & Design at Hornsey School of Art – one of the youngest there.

 

In 1979, Lara started her Fine Arts Degree at Byam Shaw College of Art, going on to complete her BA at the City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia. Upon graduation, she returned to London, where she undertook a year of short-term studies at Byam Shaw, focusing on life drawing.

 

In 1993, Lara returned to Sydney. She and her partner Andy welcomed their first child Rosa in 1995. While raising her family, Lara continued to paint at home and exhibit. The family later moved to the Illawarra region of New South Wales, where their second child, Luca, was born in 1998.

In 2016, Lara pursued her career and undertook an Advanced Diploma in Transpersonal Art Therapy at the Sydney College of Complimentary Medicine.

 

Transpersonal Art Therapy is a holistic, person-centred approach that uses art to explore and heal the emotional, psychological, spiritual and social aspects of a person’s life.

 

Lara volunteered at Port Kembla Hospital’s Palliative Care ward, drawing alongside people through their last stages of life. She also ran art therapy circles at the Shellharbour Hospital Mental Health Care Ward, Eloura, in 2018. Both art practises use self expression for an individual’s healing.

 

In 2022, Lara became the Coordinator of Culture Bank Wollongong, a not-for-profit initiative based in Port Kembla. This is a crowd funding model that generates money to support creative projects in the Illawarra South Coast of NSW.

In early 2025, she facilitated an art therapy program with SAHSSI (Supported Accomodation & Homelessness Services Southern Illawarra) for women who had experienced domestic violence.

 

Lara continues her art practice at home and exhibits when opportunity arises.

 

She offers Transpersonal Art Therapy in both one-on-one and group settings. Please contact her by emailing hello@laraseresin.com if you would like to set up sessions. 

 

Lara lives in Port Kembla, NSW, with her husband Andrew, daughters Rosa and Luca, their dog Valentino and cat Reggie.

by Lindsay Shapero

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