Clay, with its wonderful tactile and expressive qualities, has played a central role in my sculptural practice. Expressive life sized ceramic busts were a feature of my earlier work. I then became interested in using other media as well, such as found objects from my obsessive personal collection, in mixed media assemblages. Handmade ceramic fossils, painted surfaces and small collected fragments were positioned in grids and niches.

My recent miniature ceramic busts are often placed on found object surfaces. Their psychological reality in relation to audience experience is very important.

I was born in Cessnock and spent idyllic early years at Kilaben Bay, Lake Macquarie. My childhood adventures in backyard bushland and long timeless walks through “other worldly” rainforest gullies around my current home on Stroud Hill near Dungog, have helped shape my artistic sensibilities.

My years as a school teacher in the Hunter Valley (despite its obvious demands) provided inspirational interactions with students and rewarding connections to their artistic explorations, enriching my own ability as an artist. Teaching Art History and Contemporary Art Practices has also informed my work and created opportunities for my own expression.

Since ceasing teaching 8 years ago I have been engaging in less altruistic artistic experiences, where conceiving and making art (particularly sculpture) have become very important elements of my sense of self. The miniature ceramic busts in this exhibition are not self portraits in the traditional sense, although they probably have quite a close connection to aspects of my own female identity.

During my many years of teaching Secondary Visual Arts until 2015, I have woven the thread of my own artmaking practice through various private galleries and larger institutions in the Hunter Valley.

EXHIBITIONS

1986 Gallery 62 The Junction Newcastle
1998 Maitland City Art Gallery (Brough House) Art Teachers Exhibition
2003 Butterflies Gallery Pokolbin
2004 Maitland Regional Art Gallery “Pub Culture” Exhibition
2008 Studio 48 New Lambton
2008 Catbird Gallery Dungog (solo show)
2009 Lorn Gallery Lorn

2010 Studio 48 New Lambton
2011 Lorn Gallery Lorn
2022 Back to Back Galleries at Cooks Hill in “Observed,   Collected, Constructed”
2018 –2023 Exhibiting member of Dungog by Design Artisan Collective Dungog

PERIODICALS
March 2020  Arts Zine Studio La Primitive  on Issuu