About the artist:
During my youth, I did exactly as I wanted. A tomboy, a surfer, opinionated, determined, wild and free. Life was (and still is) a fantastic adventure.
I went through school after school, until destiny unfolded and I enrolled in Rudolf Steiner education in Year 11. It was here that I met master weaver Erika Semler, who took me under her wing as an apprentice. Erika had a huge influence on me, and the love of the Arts and Crafts became the focus of my life and work.
After 3 years travelling around the world, I studied Art and Design at Shillito Design School. I continued to practice weaving with Erika, and then received an Australia Council Grant for further international studies under the guidance of artist Magdalena Abakanowicz in Poland 1980.
Still possessed with the notion of freedom, I continued to travel the world for another 5 years afterward, until I finally returned to Sydney. Here I began my life as a full-time practising artist and designer in a Redfern warehouse.
During the next 14 years I worked in Sydney, predominantly on developing my Painted Tapestries. I created paintings, then would cut them up, and weave strips into the warp of a large floor loom. I would then paint over the top layers of texture and build more form on the surface of the artwork. It was an original concept and 40 years later I continue to explore and develop these techniques.
I also designed clothes and accessories, and taught art in Aboriginal communities and correctional institutions.
With my passion for colour and love of inspiring others to break free from conventional ideas and imagery, I then continued to do studio teaching.
Sculpture is another one of my passions. Materials such as marine artefacts and various metals (especially copper) are all part of my palette. Large scale works using mixed mediums are of major interest to me.
Architecture design and building have become highly relevant in both my personal and creative life since 1991. I have had the good fortune to be designing and owner building three homes, in Queenscliff, Curl Curl and Byron Bay NSW.
To live your life as an artist is a glorious, challenging privilege and has its own life force.
I am so very grateful for all the exploration and opportunities within the arts that I’ve experienced.