Year in Review 2025

This was the year I felt like I didn’t do anything much and yet when I look back on it there was a lot of travel within Australia, three artist residencies, several exhibitions I participated in as well as two artist book events, one in Manly and one in Mackay.

I aligned my work with protecting nature, returned to my first passion of photography, archived my blogposts in yearly books and realised that my seven year project of writing weekly blogposts would end with this post.

Here’s how 2025 looked…

First Journey

January : A quick trip to Sydney with my daughter and granddaughter allowed me to deliver my artist book about my knee transplant recovery journey, Post Operative to the Manly library for inclusion in the 2025 Northern Beaches Artist Book award. Of course there was a ferry ride in there and while in Sydney I got to see Julie Mehrutu’s exhibition at the MCA Museum of Contemporary Art.

Second Journey

February started with a mini artist residency at Oak Hill Gallery in Mornington, Victoria where I exhibited my cyanotype artworks and held a cyanotype workshop. This kickstarted a year of making cyanotypes which has renewed my love of taking photographs to translate into ‘blueprints’.

Oakhill Gallery, Mornington

Cyanotype workshop at Oakhill Gallery

Third Journey

March was when we spent a tense week waiting for Cyclone Alfred to hit the northern rivers. Travel plans to Canberra were put on hold as we sandbagged and battened down. It finally arrived in gusts of wind and rain leaving plenty of destruction at our local beach but thankfully none to us. Then we were free to head down to Jervis Bay for rest and recuperation. A visit to Arthur Boyd’s Bundanon homestead topped off the art inspiration list.

Fourth and Fifth Journeys

In April I headed back to Manly for the Artist Book Awards. While my Post Operative book didn’t win, it was later acquired by the State Library of NSW for their collection.  At Easter I took part in the Art for Takayna artist residency with the Bob Brown Foundation. I travelled to Tasmania and experienced the awe of camping out in ancient forests. It sparked my determination to help protect them from the logging which still continues.

At Manly in my Protest Native Forests t-shirt

Forest Guardians drawn around a tree in Takayna forest, Tasmania

Sixth Journey

In May I stayed closer to home with a trip to Brisbane and an excursion to the Toohey Forest with PAQ (Papermakers and Artists Queensland) for further inspiration from nature. I also created some scroll artist books for the PAQ exhibition On A Roll later in the year.

Seventh Journey

June saw me back in Tasmania for the Art for Takayna art exhibition in Nipaluna, Hobart. This was exactly a year after I had first heard about Takayna when I visited the art exhibition while at Oatlands in Tasmania for my artist residency. I was was one of many volunteers who helped hang the exhibition and sell artworks on opening night. Six of the seven of my artworks sold at the exhibition. I returned home to visit the anti-logging protest at Orana State Forest near Coffs Harbour. This has finally been included in the long awaited for Great Koala National Park so logging has stopped. YAY!

Art for Takayna exhibition, Tasmania

Forest Guardians at Art for Takayna.

Eighth Journey

In July I headed north to Mackay for the Libris artist book awards and ABBE artist book conference. I caught up with fellow artist book makers and took note of the speakers who urged everyone to archive and document their artworks. I displayed my artist books for the PAQ stand at BVAC artist hub in Brisbane and also camped at Boreen Point near Noosa, for the Floating Land festival.

Ninth Journey

In August I was in the PAQ exhibition On A Roll at Ipswich Community Gallery and drove up to the opening event. I was heartened to see my cyanotype banners made in Iceland Hanging by a Thread and artist book On Thin Ice exhibited alongside wonderful scrolls of handmade paper and inventive artist books.

Holding one of my artist books for the PAQ display in Brisbane

With my Hanging by a Thread cyanotypes for On a Roll exhibition, Ipswich

Tenth Journey

September was our son’s fortieth birthday celebrations in Frankston, Victoria and I added on an artist residency on the Mornington Peninsula with &ArtGallery Motel at Tootgarook while down south. It started well focusing on creating images of the endangered Moonah Trees but ended with me getting sick with the flu. I enjoyed making a new style of artworks combining ink drawing and cyanotypes and now have an image bank of new inspirations.

Eleventh Journey

In October I created artworks for the annual Gift Wrapped exhibition at Beaudesert, QLD and drove up there to deliver them. It’s always a pleasure taking part in exhibitions at The Centre gallery with Scenic Rim Council. This is the second time I have taken part in this group exhibition and the sixth time I have exhibited with them. I also received my first 2024 book in the post for my Year of Sundays archive project.

Projecting Moonah trees onto paper to draw at my Tootgarook artist residency.

Double page spread showing March from my Year of Sundays 2024 blogpost book

Twelfth Journey

November was busy with a trip to the former goldmining town of Hill End where I took part in the Fugitive photography exhibition and participated in a Lumen workshop with artist Judith Nangala Crispin. Then back home, I went to three exhibition openings I had works in, the first at Beaudesert then to Alstonville for the Plateau Art Prize and to Byron Bay for the Gallery 3 20 x 20cm exhibition.  

The Last Journey

December arrived with a suite of my archived books in the post from Blurb. I took advantage of all the end of year sales and got discounts on my Blurb Year of Sundays books. It seems a fitting end to my writing, documenting and archiving project that has been in so many ways a journey of artistic reflection and discovery.

At Hill End Analogue Photography festival with my works in the Fugitive exhibition

Two more of my Year of Sundays blogpost books arrived in the mail

On the horizon…

Already I’m filling my calendar with journeys to Sydney to run an artist book workshop with the Northern Beaches Council library in Manly and to Melbourne in May to take part in the Pieces of Paper exhibition at Burrinja Cultural Centre in Upwey. I’ll continue to send monthly newsletters out to my mailing list and have started a monthly collage art sale via my Instagram account @collagesquares. I’m also looking forward to exploring more alternative photographic processes and perhaps more Australia art based forays.

My biggest challenge is always to find peace and calm within the turbulence of life. I remain ever an optimist.

Thanks for being with me on my journey and reading my last epic blogpost.