About me
In 2007 I completed a Master of Fine Arts qualification by research through distance education from Monash University. This culminated in an exhibition at Switchback Gallery, Monash University in April 2007 and also included substantial written documentation. My studies were completed over a four-year period whilst working in the Exhibitions Branch of the National Library of Australia.
I graduated from Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hon) in Fine Art in 1997. Since 1985 I have exhibited in various group exhibitions both in Australia and overseas and have had various solo exhibitions. Photography plays an important role in my work – both as a means of informing my art practice as a painter and as an artwork in its own right.
I have found that, through travel and associations with very different landscapes – the built environment of Canberra and surrounding countryside, the formal gardens of Italy, ancient archaeological sites of Sardinia, the desert country of the Northern Territory and USA and more recently, outback Australia, I have an ability to engage with the land by turns as a resident, visitor and privileged interpreter to develop a relationship with it.
My recent focus into the depiction of the unique nature of outback Australia began with time spent working in Tennant Creek in the NT where I managed an Aboriginal Art Centre and a shop in the main street. The job involved a lot of travel from Borroloola in the Gulf country to Epenarra, south of Tennant Creek. I used this opportunity to study Aboriginal culture and their complex relationship with the land. During that time I painted a series of camp dogs which highlighted their character and idiosyncrasies. (see Dogs)
My latest work focuses on outback Australia – in particular in the Mildura area and Lake Mungo National Park. These works were continued during a residency at The Art Vault, Mildura in January 2010. (see Outback Australia).
My exhibition Displacement which was at the ANCA gallery, Canberra in 2008, focused on life in the sea. I did a series of Fish Portraits, sponges and shells. (See the Marine page).
I am also interested in Still Life painting. I have recently completed a series of works on cactus and succulent flowers. (See Still Life)