My mum was a part of the Aquarius festival and that is where she met my Dad. I was born in Victoria and left to come back up here with my mum and my brother when I was 18 so I’ve lived here for a long time. I met my partner and we have two sons. We live in the hills north of Nimbin. I’ve always lived in the bush and have always needed more trees than people around me. I still love getting amongst it with people but I like to pull away and do my own thing which serves me well with my work. I spend a lot of time by myself.
The mediums I work with are ink drawings, acrylic painting, hand embroidery and I also screen print T-shirts and tote bags. I have an Etsy store where I stock T-shirts from organic cotton, sweatshop free, manufactured using renewable energy sources, wind and solar power. I hand screen print with Eco friendly inks and hand set them with an iron. I wanted a product as ethical and Eco friendly as possible.
I was working in early childhood as a Pre School teacher but at the same time I was teaching kids Flamenco classes, volunteering at my sons school and all these other things. It was to the point my art and my music were being pushed to the back all the time. I had some serious health issues and I got to the point where I had to say.. This is who I am and this is what I want to do. I took the leap and started my art pretty much full time.
I’ve never studied art. I think it’s fantastic if you want to learn different mediums but I grew up totally surrounded by artists.
I grew up with well known Australian artists. We lived on a property where there were three artists dwellings. We would have visitors from all over the world constantly coming. There was always music. Many nights were spent sleeping outside by the fire. My childhood was wild. It’s not till you become a mum yourself and you think back. I’m so grateful for it because art and music has been a way of life for me.
I never claimed the title of artist for a long time. My dad is a full time artist in the Blue Mountains. I had to work through a lot of stuff to embrace that title and feel like it wasn’t so audacious. I’m not technique driven. I can really admire realism and all sorts of amazing work in others but I want it just to be flowing out of me. It’s that authenticity and your voice and I think it’s something so magical when you can express your unique voice. It’s often whimsical, playful and there’s a lot of deeper darker stuff in my work as well.
I’m also a knife throwing Flamenco dancer (laughs). I used to be really good at throwing knives when I was a kid and I love knives. Like most things I don’t have time for that. I did Flamenco and was teaching for a while. I play the drums. My partner and I made music. We called ourselves The Pants but we haven’t had much time for that either. I definitely want to get back into writing more music. Playing drums is so good for me, it’s challenging and it’s a good release. It also charges me up. Music and art go so hand in hand. They are the things that make me feel so alive and connected. When I draw and paint I listen to music but when I’m embroidering I often listen to a podcast or watch something. Needlework was also a gathering of traditionally womens work. They would get together and tell stories. I find it the best time to hear stories.
Two years ago I had a hysterectomy. As women we often expect to put up with a certain amount of pain. I had a large fibroid and an embolisation. They bodged that up badly and I was bleeding heavily and in a lot of pain. I hear lots of stories of women with Endometriosis getting turned away or thinking it’s normal. I already had my kids so I didn’t really need my uterus so it was ok to let it go. I had to process a lot even though I knew I didn’t want more children it’s a major part of you being taken out. I remember someone commenting about my creativity and my womb going. I was like, for starters I don’t draw with my uterus.
I felt like that took me on a path of healing and accepting my body. I have stretch marks from having kids, scars from surgery which is all a part of my story. I really encourage people if they are experiencing debilitating pain, trust your instincts. I felt really liberated having it done because it meant..I’m not in pain, no heavy bleeding anymore. It ruled my life as I had to plan everything around it. I value my health and my body so much more for it.
My experience as a woman is a strong theme in my work too and how different that is to everyone else. That’s why I love what you do. I absolutely love peoples stories. It’s beautiful and I love that our experiences are all so very different.
I have a show coming up at Muse Gallery on the 25th May which will have a collection of my hand stitched embroidery. It’s called Threads. A lot of my work including this upcoming exhibition is on what it means to be at home in your body but also that wild woman archetype thats really driving me at the moment. Being in touch with that wild woman within all of us. Hearing those real life stories is so liberating and knowing that we all struggle, we all have pain and we all have insecurities.
I feel very lucky because I’ve had really strong women in my life. My mum is the strongest woman I know. My grandmother was incredible, powerful. She was a single mum working in the 60’s hanging out with Gough Whitlam. She was so politically active and there is hysterical stories about her. My great grandmother was an opera singing tea leaf reading, palm reading with purple dyed hair who ran a blues cafe.”
The mediums I work with are ink drawings, acrylic painting, hand embroidery and I also screen print T-shirts and tote bags. I have an Etsy store where I stock T-shirts from organic cotton, sweatshop free, manufactured using renewable energy sources, wind and solar power. I hand screen print with Eco friendly inks and hand set them with an iron. I wanted a product as ethical and Eco friendly as possible.
I was working in early childhood as a Pre School teacher but at the same time I was teaching kids Flamenco classes, volunteering at my sons school and all these other things. It was to the point my art and my music were being pushed to the back all the time. I had some serious health issues and I got to the point where I had to say.. This is who I am and this is what I want to do. I took the leap and started my art pretty much full time.
I’ve never studied art. I think it’s fantastic if you want to learn different mediums but I grew up totally surrounded by artists.
I grew up with well known Australian artists. We lived on a property where there were three artists dwellings. We would have visitors from all over the world constantly coming. There was always music. Many nights were spent sleeping outside by the fire. My childhood was wild. It’s not till you become a mum yourself and you think back. I’m so grateful for it because art and music has been a way of life for me.
I never claimed the title of artist for a long time. My dad is a full time artist in the Blue Mountains. I had to work through a lot of stuff to embrace that title and feel like it wasn’t so audacious. I’m not technique driven. I can really admire realism and all sorts of amazing work in others but I want it just to be flowing out of me. It’s that authenticity and your voice and I think it’s something so magical when you can express your unique voice. It’s often whimsical, playful and there’s a lot of deeper darker stuff in my work as well.
I’m also a knife throwing Flamenco dancer (laughs). I used to be really good at throwing knives when I was a kid and I love knives. Like most things I don’t have time for that. I did Flamenco and was teaching for a while. I play the drums. My partner and I made music. We called ourselves The Pants but we haven’t had much time for that either. I definitely want to get back into writing more music. Playing drums is so good for me, it’s challenging and it’s a good release. It also charges me up. Music and art go so hand in hand. They are the things that make me feel so alive and connected. When I draw and paint I listen to music but when I’m embroidering I often listen to a podcast or watch something. Needlework was also a gathering of traditionally womens work. They would get together and tell stories. I find it the best time to hear stories.
Two years ago I had a hysterectomy. As women we often expect to put up with a certain amount of pain. I had a large fibroid and an embolisation. They bodged that up badly and I was bleeding heavily and in a lot of pain. I hear lots of stories of women with Endometriosis getting turned away or thinking it’s normal. I already had my kids so I didn’t really need my uterus so it was ok to let it go. I had to process a lot even though I knew I didn’t want more children it’s a major part of you being taken out. I remember someone commenting about my creativity and my womb going. I was like, for starters I don’t draw with my uterus.
I felt like that took me on a path of healing and accepting my body. I have stretch marks from having kids, scars from surgery which is all a part of my story. I really encourage people if they are experiencing debilitating pain, trust your instincts. I felt really liberated having it done because it meant..I’m not in pain, no heavy bleeding anymore. It ruled my life as I had to plan everything around it. I value my health and my body so much more for it.
My experience as a woman is a strong theme in my work too and how different that is to everyone else. That’s why I love what you do. I absolutely love peoples stories. It’s beautiful and I love that our experiences are all so very different.
I have a show coming up at Muse Gallery on the 25th May which will have a collection of my hand stitched embroidery. It’s called Threads. A lot of my work including this upcoming exhibition is on what it means to be at home in your body but also that wild woman archetype thats really driving me at the moment. Being in touch with that wild woman within all of us. Hearing those real life stories is so liberating and knowing that we all struggle, we all have pain and we all have insecurities.
I feel very lucky because I’ve had really strong women in my life. My mum is the strongest woman I know. My grandmother was incredible, powerful. She was a single mum working in the 60’s hanging out with Gough Whitlam. She was so politically active and there is hysterical stories about her. My great grandmother was an opera singing tea leaf reading, palm reading with purple dyed hair who ran a blues cafe.”