Through her close friendship with Anne Dangar, who played a critical role in the success of Albert Gleizes’ utopian art colony in rural France, Crowley maintained contact with mainstream European modernism and links to the Abstraction-Creation Group in Paris. During the 1940s and 1950s, Crowley worked with fellow-artist Ralph Balson, and together they developed their own style of geometric abstract art which reflected the spiritual dimensions of Kandinsky and Mondrian. Although undervalued in her own time, the sincerity and uncompromising quality of her work that transcends national boundaries, makes her one of the most important Australian women artists of her generation.
Ottley graduated from the University of Sydney in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts, First Class Honours, in Art History and Theory. Her post-graduate research focused on Australian modernist artist, Grace Crowley. She graduated with a Master of Philosophy, with Distinction, in Art History and Theory from the University of Sydney in 2007.