In the five years since then I have exhibited regularly in
group shows at galleries including Brisbane Art
Directors and Soapbox. I have also shown
work at Frances Reilly Gallery in Eumundi
and Richard Martin Gallery in
Woollahra, Sydney.
Last year I held my first solo exhibition, The Language of
the Birds, at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery,
which consisted of forty miniature watercolours
inspired by the notion of the face as a
harbinger of secret worlds.
This theme continues in my current body of work,
Heavenly Creatures, showing at
Blacklab Gallery.
This show includes watercolours as well as oils and
relief sculptures, and many pieces incorporate
elements of collage which have become
a signature in my work.
My paintings and sculptures are influenced by a broad range
of sources from fairytales and Western religious art, to
Monty Python, puppetry and fashion.
My first trip to Europe last year and the chance to see
the work of my current heroes, Paula Rego and
Ron Mueck at the Saatchi Gallery was
particularly exciting and influential.
Having lived on the river at Hamilton and New Farm for years,
I find the water (and all the things my boyfriend Gavin
fishes out of it), another fertile source of ideas.
I grew up with both parents as psychiatric nurses and so
I am fascinated by the reality versus the historical,
cultural and literary notions of mental illness, as
manifested in such cliches as ‘the mad woman
in the attic'. She is a favourite subject of mine
and I find her peering out from many of the
works I produce, in various guises.
My paintings are largely unplanned but evolve as I work on them.
I begin by staining my paper or canvas with random pools of
colour, and then work back into the colours with linework,
glazes and collage until a figure or face begins to take
shape and suggest its own resolution.
Alongside my stylised work, I continue to paint in a conventional,
realistic manner and have completed portrait and
landscape commissions for clients in
Brisbane and Toowoomba.
I have been very fortunate in my career as an artist so far and I owe
particular thanks to those who have given me a ‘leg-up', especially
Dennis Veal, Marlyn McInnerney and Ryan Renshaw.
I grew up in Toowoomba and studied Visual Arts at the University of Southern
Queensland, where I majored in printmaking. I moved to Brisbane in 2000
and started working at Oxlades where I came into contact with
professional artists on a day to day basis for the first time...
suddenly the idea of becoming a professional
artist didn't seem so unrealistic.