The focus of my art practice has developed into a dialogue between the human and the non-human world.
My career in art commenced with multiple community projects in 2003, I consolidated my practice by attending RMIT university, to complete a Bachelor of Arts -Fine Arts with distinction in 2011 and continued by attaining first class honours in 2012. I completed my Masters of Art in Public Space also at RMIT in 2015 and I am looking into commencing my doctorate in the next year..
My work is intuitive by nature and utilizes combination of hand-built sculptures and media to realise my vision. Most often I work with ceramics, as it is a tactile and responsive medium. The clay pieces are a combination of hand built sculptures and wheel thrown forms. My hand-built structures initially explore the relationship between humans and dogs while the wheel thrown works became more abstract. These abstracted forms address issues around the scientific and natural world.
This abstraction led me to focus on my study of Radiolaria organisms. They were initially studied and catalogued by the naturalist Ernst Haeckel in the early 1800’s using the first microscopes. These beautiful and intricate single-celled organisms have survived deep time unchanged. I am interested in investigating how my work with these creatures and others can engage people in the public realm. My focus for this work is the exploration of the disconnect that has developed between humans and our environment.
My more recent work follows on by addressing human disconnect with their own refuse and the effect of this on landscapes. The work Conduit, located at CERES for the Harvest festival was made of recycled rubbish items including pipes, a metal brazier, and orange sarlon netting all nestled in the dam on the property. My mapping project for Market2Square transformed discarded objects into paper replicas. These were numbered and mapped according to the location they were found.
I exhibited in a public sculpture event in Nocturnal in Dandenong in 2014. This work revealed my process of examining the natural world in a created office space located in a darkened car park. This work’s dual purpose reveals hidden spaces as well as allowing the public to see the process of observation, drawing and realising work. This exploration of space and process is a fresh and exciting new direction for my work, further allowing me to draw the public into my realm.
My works have been in the last two M~M Extreme Arts Walk events by the City of Greater Geelong in 2014 and 2016, where I have also worked on the projects as an area coordinator. I also created work for the 2015 Geelong After Dark festival. I created a three metre diameter 3-dimensional glowing pearl called Soft Oyster. I then organised for this work to be displayed and incorporated into a piece by indigenous dance group The Deadly Dancers that was choreographed by international dancer and choreographer, Jacob Boehme.
At a recent invitational show at Deakin University, On Water, a number of my works were exhibited including sketches, ink drawings and sculptures. These works were part of my investigation into the microscopic world of radiolarian. Currently I am working as a community arts teacher and am developing programs and events that will bring art and creativity into the suburbs of Geelong and to people that wouldn't ordinarily encounter them.