Latest work
If I am not working on a new project, I am thinking about many new project ideas. Here you can view my latest projects as they evolve or come to term...
Biodiverse
Wow, wow, wow. I am so excited to announce that I am a finalist in the Caloundra Regional Gallery, Local Contemporary Art Prize for 2024. The opening is Thursday 21 March and is on until Sunday 5 May. My piece, Biodiverse, is a culmination of my many hours spent wandering heath and wallum communities on the Sunshine Coast. Heath is primarily an open treeless habitat made up of low growing vegetation on free-draining and acidic soils. Wallum woodland typically neighbours heath and is drier, while consisting of taller plants such as the Wallum Banksia from where this habitat’s name originates. Heath and wallum have become a very special place for me as it is not only just my art muse, but helped heal me emotionally and physically. Spending time in nature should never be underestimated.
The flora, fauna and fungi within heath and wallum communities is so diverse. Often said to look like waste scrubland by developers, to look once or briefly will not uncover its myriad wonders. Hours of slow thoughtful wandering over all the seasons will start to unlock its beauty and diversity.
‘Biodiverse’ contains 91 species. This is the tip of the iceberg! Just like a beehive or food web, the health of this region is dependent on its biodiversity. Embossing and white space draws attention to the hidden or less obvious elements such as symbiotic relationships, support structures and interconnectedness in nature. To find out what each species is, have a look below. Taking around 100 hours, each species was individually hand drawn, carved and embossed or stamped using archival ink on fine art paper. As an edition of 30, if you would like to have your very own, they will go up in my store soon :)
Flying Duck Orchid Etching and Chine collé
Recently I attended a workshop with the prodigious Kim Herringe to try my hand at etching on aluminium plates. Like all printmaking it is a process driven art form. Unlike linocut, etching allowed me to create different details and a different result. However etching requires a lot more space and specialist equipment, namely an etching press, that I do not have easy access to. Overall, I am still a linocut girl, but I now have the knowledge to bring this process into a project if it will give me the results I am looking for. Hope you like the effect of my flying duck orchid, which I added some 100 year old Japanese rice paper from a manuscript to when printing, a process called Chine collé.
