Loene Furler: Artist, Musician, and Mother at the Heart of Adelaide’s Creative Pulse

Basic Information

Early Life and Education

Loene Furler, born in Melbourne in 1944, was raised to be curious and crafty. At the South Australian School of Art in Adelaide in the early 1960s, she experimented with media and developed a strong drawing and painting technique. While teaching, performing, and raising a kid, she worked across forms for decades, a tendency she inherited from her student years.

By the end of that decade she had stepped onto a film set for The Bird in 1968, a small proof that the stage and the studio would always be close companions in her life.

A Life in Art

Furler’s painting practice has a continuous bassline. Her work includes muscular drawings and mixed media paintings. She had a solo exhibition in 2002 with a book that included student-era and later works, showing an artist always pushing herself.

Furler taught painting at the University of South Australia and elsewhere in addition to her studio practice. She said instructing by day and gigging by night was a tough balance. She kept the thread despite the accumulated toll. In 2023, she supplied intimate photos of Adelaide’s music scene to the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Turn Up Your Radio program, reminding audiences that her eye has always been as keen as her ear.

Bands, Stages, and Songs

Furler performed on her own time. She founded Ruby Red and the Chevrolets with friend Sheree Goldsworthy in the early 1980s, between 30 and 36. Furler created most of the tunes while playing bass in this uncommon all-women instrumental trio. She studied bass from her then-partner, blues guitarist Phil Colson, and swiftly turned painting dynamism into rhythmic pulse.

The Silky Mitts showed her lively stage demeanor. She occasionally performed with a paper bag over her head, a funny way to avoid the male gaze that dominated music venues. Her other efforts were Subtonix or Subtonics, The Soda Jerx, and Girls at Play, a term that referenced Men at Work due to her connection with Colin Hay. She also sang backing vocals with the Mount Lofty Rangers and performed in intimate settings and the Festival Centre in Adelaide.

Her home was a rehearsal studio and family nest. Later-night sets can be solved by negotiating early babysitter availability. She stepped back after a decade of rigorous gigging owing to tiredness, not to withdraw but to recalibrate, like a musician lessens dynamics to let a melody breathe.

Family Ties

Adelaide’s creative community shaped Furler’s family. In the early 1970s, she temporarily married Vytas Serelis, a painter, musician, and photographer from the same circles. By the mid-1970s, she was with Phil Colson, known as Philby, a blues guitarist who taught her bass and shared a life full of instruments, rehearsals, and comrades.

Her daughter, Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, was born December 18, 1975. The home hummed with harmony and chord changes. Sia listened to practices and added harmonies without anyone noticing. Sia sang and Furler played bass at Club Limbo in the mid-1980s. When Sia was 10, Loene and Phil divorced in 1985–1986, leaving Furler to teach and perform as a single mother.

Time strengthened mother-daughter relationship. Furler recalls a 1990s Festival Centre Plaza concert where Sia’s vocals silenced the crowd. She later praised Sia’s 2014 ARIA awards. Furler has no other spouses, partners, children, or grandkids by public record.

Career Timeline at a Glance

Selected Bands and Roles

Recent Mentions and Ongoing Work

Furler is well-known in Adelaide’s arts scene but rarely appears in national media. She participated at the Festival Centre’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2023, sharing band images and thoughts on parenthood and music. She appeared in a 2025 cultural essay on musician mothers who carried amps while preparing lunchboxes with a mid-1980s photo of her on bass and a young Sia at the microphone.

She joined a multigenerational debate about ambition, resilience, and community on a creative women’s podcast in 2025–2026. Her personal social media accounts are unverified. Exhibitions, interviews, and community projects define her public profile, not social media.

Influence and Legacy in Adelaide’s Scene

Platinum records and major prizes do not define Furler. In Adelaide, an artist and teacher can become a musician at 30, create all-women bands, and demand set times for a child at home. She demonstrated patience, fun, courage, craft, and the understanding that art is a lengthy game and music a team sport. Many recall the music and photos. Paper bags are remembered. Most recall the energy.

FAQ

Who is Loene Furler?

Loene Furler is an Australian artist, musician, teacher, and art lecturer who has been active in Adelaide’s creative scene since the 1970s.

When and where was she born?

She was born on 23 July 1944 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

What instruments does she play?

She sings and plays bass guitar, having learned bass from her former partner Phil Colson.

What bands has she performed in?

Her bands include Ruby Red and the Chevrolets, The Silky Mitts, Subtonix or Subtonics, The Soda Jerx, and Girls at Play.

Did she teach at a university?

Yes, she lectured in art at the University of South Australia, alongside maintaining her studio practice.

Is she related to the singer Sia?

Yes, she is Sia’s mother and a major influence on Sia’s early musical development.

Was Loene Furler married?

She was briefly married to Vytas Serelis in the early 1970s and later partnered with musician Phil Colson, though they were never married.

Does she have other children or known grandchildren?

No other children are documented, and there is no public information about grandchildren.

Where does she live now?

She remains active in the Greater Adelaide Area with ongoing ties to the local arts community.

Is she on social media?

There are no verified personal accounts for her, and most recent mentions come from arts features and podcasts.