There have been scary moments in my life when I came close to catastrophe. Like when we were travelling in our horse and wagon and disaster nearly struck. That was when I learned a very hard won truth. I had to surrender and hand over the reins.
Failing on purpose
Rebellious daughters. We did everything we could to avoid the “domestic arts” and all they represented. Transforming a legacy of domestic skills into unapologetic art.
Occupy ~ bearing witness to history
Occupy is a powerful word. Ten years ago it was a rallying call for people in over 900 cities worldwide to protest against wealth inequality. Occupy is also the title of my forthcoming joint art exhibition and art workshops in Murwillumbah in August. Both are narratives of human habitation and occupation.
True North
Finding your true north could be as simple as tearing up the maps that define borders and map our connections to each other instead.
Pretty or Pretty Confronting?
What is the purpose of art? Is is it to be pretty or to challenge our notions of who we are at the deepest level? Today is the start of NAIDOC week and we are called to have a “deep challenging national story” around how our Indigenous art and artists can lead the way we see ourselves as Australians.
Connecting through Stories
Stories connect us on a heart to heart level. I look back on my time as a young journalist in a rural town and realise how lucky I was to be able to peek into the intimate lives of the women who lived in the district, empowering them to share their stories.
Saying YES to chance
Spontaneous adventuring can feel a bit daring and dangerous. Saying yes to chance gave me the opportunity to “get over myself” on an unplanned midweek road trip north.
Awe and Wonder
In turbulent times, there is an urgent need for art to pay attention to the ordinary wonders in the world.. To give them form, to really notice and document life’s everyday beauty. To communicate the awe and wonder of being alive.
What if?
When you’re feeling dissatisfied with the unresolved pieces lying around, look at the work with new eyes. ‘What if’ is always a good place to start as it gets the creative juices flowing.
Gambling on Yourself
The only way to grow is to expand your thinking. I’ve invested in myself many times over even when I didn’t have the money upfront. It has always paid off although I couldn’t see the outcome at the start. Gamble on your creativity - for hard work and investing in yourself pay off.
No Regrets
What will you leave behind as your legacy? Think of all of that you have already achieved, rather than what you haven’t. Your creative self expression is your legacy. Be proud to share it with the world, no comparisons, no regrets.
Flying fish and fractals
Looking for inspiration? You have everything already inside of you. This is what I remembered when I went on a research trip down the rabbit holes of the internet. What I was really looking for was in my own imagination, a journey back to myself.
Be the Light
I love lighthouses.These powerful beams of light are a metaphor for connection, across the seas and lands. Having an online business is a bit like that. Shining a light from an online platform to inspire others.
Ordering Chaos
When you’re feeling unhinged and not quite in touch with your inner self, look around for the tools you have to hand to put some structure back into your life. This helps turn experience into beauty, transforming the chaos into poetic metre, a daily ode to life told line by line, word by word, image by image.
Messages and Portents
A message arrived this week in the form of a non human messenger. It was a message about growth and transformation, the shedding of old ways of doing things. An indication that life was changing and I was changing with it.
Lessons from a Residency
Artists residencies can propel you forward in your art practice. This month I finished my fourth artist residency in four years and reflect on the top #10 lessons I’ve learned from all four.
Breakthrough to Success
It takes a community of like minded, inclusive thinking creatives to nourish an artist’s talent and confidence so they can breakthrough to success. An artist residency gives you the time, space and support to enable those breakthroughs.
Abstracted
What happens when you make a quantum leap? Your artwork conceptually ‘jumps’ and you move into a whole new method of creating. Making these leaps means you draw deep from the hidden parts of your imagination which are waiting to be released.
Pulp, water, mud
Lots of experimenting in the rain and mud with paper in this first week of my artist residency at BigCi in Bilpin. Pouring paper pulp and getting ideas together in readiness for our public Open Day on Sunday 4th April where I will be demonstrating my pulp pouring techniques.
Occupying Space
To occupy is to name, make claim, live in and inhabit a space, temporarily or permanently. This is a tale of two artist residencies two years apart. One I am in now at Bilpin, NSW and one I was at in Central Australia in 2019 and the artworks I created there are now on exhibition at Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina.