2021 My life on (and off) zoom

Wow what a year it has been and for the first time I feel that I can really say that I have an arts mentoring business which lights me up from the moment I am on zoom to long after I get off the calls.

I hadn’t realised how much my art and mentoring could come together in an integrated way. The last two years have been a practice for this new emanation of self as I take such pleasure from seeing others grow in confidence and get their work out into the world to share.

This was a year of many unusual exhibition opportunities as once again galleries exhibitions were postponed. At one stage, I found myself in a warehouse exhibiting work that I had made over the past 18 months. I experimented with new styles and found myself expanding.

This is what happened….

Crossing borders

January: I started the year with forays back and forth into Queensland while facilitating school holiday workshops in the Scenic Rim. These were linked to an exhibition about Madame Weigel, a little known entrepreneur from the late 1800s who “clothed the Australian colonies”. I made screen-prints from some of her patterns which were in my grandmother’s stash of knitting patterns. I also kick started the year by a creating a series of mini -courses.

Little did I know in January how difficult it would be later to cross borders again this year…

Number of live workshops = 6

Number of mini online courses created in 2021 =3

Art with Heart

February: In 2020 I participated in an online paper-making course to learn about using kozo bark, the “rolls Royce” of paper-making fibres. February was the month I was able to finally make a number of kozo items which incorporated seaweed from the beach, one of these is now on exhibition in Taiwan. I also continued my daily artworks with making inky “mandala” inspired circles. You can see the circle theme continued on from 2020.

February was also the month of heart based art. It was no coincidence that I needed to attend a specialist appointment with a heart doctor in February! It was the month I launched my first on-line workshop for the year, Art From Your Heart, which was about connecting your intuition to your art. It was so successful that I decided to keep this facebook group open and use it to build my creative community.

Number of heart appointments = 4

Number of people in Art From Your Heart facebook group = 246

Exhibiting and Experimenting

March: Many things came together in the same time month. My postponed joint exhibition Occupy at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina, was moved forward to March. It was due to open the same day I was scheduled to return to my also postponed artist residency at BigCi in Bilpin in the Blue Mountains.

My co-exhibiter, Samantha Tannous and I met for coffee before we headed off to get ready for our exhibition opening, only to be told it was cancelled at the last minute because of an electricity outage. I then headed south to begin my artist residency. The best part of March was the freedom to experiment and create new works with paper pulp at my artist residency at BigCi in the Blue Mountains, even during a major regional flooding event.

Rescheduled art exhibitions and residencies in 2021 = 3

Postponed/cancelled art exhibitions in 2021 = 2

Becoming a speaker

April – Straight after my artist residency I headed over to Tasmania for the Origins & Destinations, 35th Jubilee exhibition of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA) in Burnie. As secretary of IAPMA, I was able to give the opening speech and talk about the importance of exhibitions such as this from an international organisation which fosters a “united nations of paper”.

Burnie has a long history of connection to papermaking and hosted the first IAPMA congress in Australia in 2009. Sadly, the Burnie City Council decided to close the Makers’ Workshop in Burnie later in the year. Paper Arts exhibitions such as Paper on Skin will now be held in Devonport, Tasmania in 2022.

Number of speaking engagements on a stage in 2021 = 2

Number of IAPMA affiliated exhibitions I participated in = 4

Liberating Myself and Paper Art

May: When I returned home after 6 weeks away, I tried recreating forest inspired art at my beachside home. Not possible! So I had to rethink my next creative project. My forest inspired fractal figures became anamorphic sea creatures at risk from a plastic tsunami of beach pollution. It was liberating to create freeform critters again.

This liberated feeling carried over into several online workshops and a 2 day masterclasses I held called Inspirations to Exhibitions. I always find that I teach what I need to learn.

Number of workshops & masterclasses run in 2021 = 5

Number of sea creatures created = 13

Fusion

June: I spent a good part of June experimenting with fusion techniques – using up scraps of handmade paper and fusing it with plastics. This was the first time I created a large scale paper pulp painting incorporating texture. The result, Turbulence was an emotional experiment with half beaten paper pulp, plastic netting and stitched collage. I was very happy with the result. This then led onto the artwork I made Swimmer which was accepted for exhibition in Shanghai International Art Biennale Feasts on Paper exhibition.

June was also the month I went on a spontaneous road trip to Gympie to visit an exhibition that my friends were exhibiting in. I also was fortunate to stay with one of the students I had mentored before she later moved house to the countryside.

Number of Road trips – 1

Number of selected exhibition applications: Accepted = 3 Rejected = 2

Surfing the quantum fields

July: Inspired by the idea of virtual travel, I created the third of my mini courses called Marvellous Maps. I had such fun creating artist books with maps and creating teaching modules all about mapping, both the inner and outer landscapes. It was a spin off of one subject that is in my Dare to Create course that I ran again in July.

It was also the month my arts business took a sharp upturn when I was introduced to the Two Minds Project coaching business based in the Gold Coast. I suddenly felt that I had found a missing piece – combining art + business + metaphysics/quantum physics. They were talking my vibrational language and I was resonating whole heartedly. I signed up for their intensive coaching program and haven’t looked back since.

Number of new programs created = 2

Number of coaching events attended = 5

Challenging myself (and others)

August: Attending numerous coaching events meant that I was able to incorporate new ideas into my arts business. This translated as a monthly challenge and guest speakers in my Art From Your Heart facebook group.

The August challenge was all about challenging yourself, and our guest speaker was Carol Robinson who had recently returned from an adventure in the Snowy Mountains where she had swum in an icy mountain river. So our challenge was to have a cold shower – this was the most controversial of all the challenges and produced some amazing art. They had set the bar, so I took a photo of me in the shower – feeling very vulnerable! It was all about how to Thrive as an Artist – which was the subject of my next Masterclass where we talked about all things Art Business. Encouraged by my new coaches, I started my first group of the Creators Circle 9 week mentoring program. A landmark event for me! 

Number of monthly challenges in 2021 = 5

Number of cold showers had = 3 (but I am swimming now nearly every day).

Visiting dragons

September:  I saw an artist call out to support the firefighters in California by creating a dragon poster. Up for this challenge I started by inviting the dragon energy into my studio. After painting a dragon with inks and watercolours, I moved on to creating one using my pulp painting methods I had been experimenting with all year, with great success. Unfortunately I lost the address to send the poster too, but I felt I contributed in some way.

September I also got a new facelift for my website with my new logo designed by Gold Coast graphic designer Rasa Bertulyte. I was so happy with this multi-coloured look as I feel it encapsulates my bright hope for the future.  I also received my first paid commission for some of my collages to be included in a forthcoming book Collage Your Life by US artist Melanie Mowinski. The book is now at the printers and is due out in 2022. I’m very excited.

Number of dragons created = 5

Number of collages accepted for publication = 2

Big blank walls

October: The way we were going about our business as artists and entrepreneurs was changing day by day as we got used to being flexible, working and exhibiting on line.

My work about freedom and democracy for the By George! exhibition hosted by the Foundation for Hellenic Studies in Adelaide was accepted for exhibition and I learnt to be adaptable to having work in new exhibition spaces.

As my joint Occupy exhibition scheduled for August in Murwillumbah had been postponed until further notice, I set about exhibiting some of the works in new online spaces, including the Ocean Shores Art expo where my paper artwork The 44 was given a Highly Commended prize.

The dragons were able to be exhibited along with all the other pulp paintings, fractal figures, sea creatures and worlds created in 2020 during lockdown. It was the first time all my artworks created in 18 months had been exhibited all together on one wall. A great photo opportunity.

Number of art prizes won in 2021 = 1

Number of major artworks sold = 3

Graduations & residencies

November: This was the month when the greatest 5 day challenge was held – the story challenge. It was humbling to see people sharing some of their stories and how they expressed these through their art.

November was also the month when it looked like Australia was finally opening up to international travel again. I applied for and secured two artist residencies in places that were connected with accelerated climate change – the Outer Hebrides and Iceland. I also booked a long awaited for trip to Greenland.

My first two groups of Creators Circle students graduated and another group started their 15 weeks of mentoring with me. I felt that I too had graduated into becoming a true arts mentor which continues to astonish me that I absolutely love doing this work. They are now going on to achieving their goals…

Number of artist residencies booked for 2022 = 2

Number of weekly mentoring calls on zoom = 46

Insights and resolutions

December: I was very proud that I had stuck to my 2021 New Years resolution of not working on Sundays. At that time coming out of 2020 I had been working 7 days a week, sometimes 16 hours a day. Totally unsustainable. So this year I stuck to my resolution and made sure my Sunday blogpost was written (sometimes late into Saturday night) but it meant that Sundays I could rest, relax and spend time with my family on the weekend.

December was also the month of present giving: Vistaprint cards, mugs and tote bags I had made during the 13 artworks in 13 days challenge in November. I also hosted 2 Christmas parties on zoom, one for the 3 groups of Creators Circle and the other for those in my Art From Your Heart group.

This year I also continued on with my daily artworks and posted consistently. This included weekly emails on a Wednesday, blogposts on a Sunday and monthly newsletters. As well as daily posts on social media. All that writing honed my writing skills so I have become quicker and more productive.

Number of weekly emails written and sent = 51 (there’s still one more week of the year to come)

Number of Sundays off = 49 (sometimes I had Saturdays off instead).

 What’s in store for 2022?

As I look forward to 2022, I have a profound sense of coming into my own as an artist and arts mentor. There will be more challenges I’m sure, as well as creative challenges in my facebook group Art From Your Heart. Travel too is challenging, especially in uncertain times. I plot my destinations, hold to my course and pray for smooth sailing, literally.

My resolution is to choose to stay happy and my key word for 2022 is adaptability. Learning to be confident in uncertainty, that’s what I will be talking about and practising in my own life.

Thank-you for reading this epic blog post and have a Happy New Year!