About

 

Statement

Central to my practice, and in common with the canon of Australian artmaking, is the telling of a narrative and a journey of self-discovery.

Generally speaking, my narratives are literary and anchored by my long-held belief in a human, collective consciousness. These narratives like everyone else’s life-story, can develop significantly over time, or over the course of consecutive exhibitions. The capacity for my art to continue developing a story seems real to me and allows the work to remain current.

My studio practice involves having a number of simultaneous projects on the go. In the studio, I like the way ideas move by osmosis between different artworks on the go.  In the bigger picture, I believe an Artist’s creative output can be traced right back to the first works they ever made. Each newly completed work points to what came before and what will come next.

As a sculptor I love to both build and carve. Currently in Sculpture it is carving marble. In the Print studio it is Letterpress. Carving marble is all about the careful removal of material. With letterpress it is all about the careful collation of letters. Now that’s  a duality of practice!

Exhibiting is of great importance although as I become older I am more involved with the exhibiting and curating of other Artist’s work, particularly since 2018 and the founding of BIG Sculpture in St Kilda.

Ultimately for me, making and/or presenting Art is my sincere attempt to find out more about myself and my place in the world. The best Art I make is that which tells me something I did not know beforehand. Goethe said “To get value from the world, one has to give the world value”, meaning that in all things there needs to be an exchange. Making Art, presenting Art or helping others to create Art is my part of that bargain.

 

Education

MA Printmaking, (Cork St Prize) Brighton Polytechnic, UK.
BA (hons) Sculpture, GLOSCAT, UK.
BA English Literature, Sydney University.
PGCE English and Librarianship, Sydney teachers College.

Exhibitions

1994 Islington International Art Fair. London, UK.
1994 Linocuts, Jane England Gallery, London, UK.
1995 Islington International Art fair, London, UK.
1998 KISS. Screen Prints, Fitzroy Gallery, Melbourne.
2001 Recent Drawings, Chisolm TAFE, Melbourne.
2001 Prints and small Sculptures, Spitalfields Gallery, London, UK.
2007 Broken Hill Outback Art Prize exhibition. Broken Hill Art Gallery
2008 Being There, Photographs. Horsham Art Gallery
2009 Drawings and Sculpture. Caravan Art Space Richmond
2010 Guest Artist. Prints, Drawings and Sculpture. Warracknabeal Y fest.
2010 Toorak Village Sculpture exhibition. Melbourne.
2010 Brunswick Street Gallery Works on Paper. Highly commended.
2010 St.Michael’s Archangel Prize. Melbourne, Winner, people’s choice.
2011 Dialogue Exhibition. Gasworks, Melbourne.
2011 Group Show. Argyle Artist run space. Port Melbourne.
2012 Toorak Village Sculpture exhibition. Winner non-acquisitive $10K prize.
2012 Melbourne Sculpture Prize.
2012 John Fries Memorial Prize. Sydney.
2012-13 Brave New World Sculpture. Toyota Community Spirit Gallery. Melbourne.
2013 Backyard Archaeology, Sculpture & prints. Brighton Arts & Cultural Centre
2013 All Creatures Great and Small, Toyota Corporate Headquarters, Melbourne
2014 Toorak Village Sculpture Exhibition, Melbourne.
2014 Artist’s for the Tarkine, Brightspace St.Kilda, Melbourne.
2014 The Great Mandala. Victorian Sculptors at Toyota Corporate Headquarters, Melbourne
2015 Sagra Gallery Opening Show, Sagra Gallery, Malvern, Melbourne.
2015 Sagra Gallery Group Show, Sagra Gallery, Malvern, Melbourne.
2017 St. Kilda Art Crawl, 33 Fitzroy St, Melbourne.
2017 Me Human. The Gallery, St. Kilda Town Hall, Melbourne
2018 Four recent sculptures, The Alex Theatre, The George, St.Kilda.
2018 Shakespeare Grove Artists Group, Carlisle Artspace, St Kilda.
2018 St. Kilda Art Crawl, GAS pop up, Fitzroy St, St. Kilda.
2018 Print as Process, Incinerator Art Gallery, Moonee Ponds.
2018 Art in the vines, Sculpture. Hanging Rock Winery, Hanging Rock, Vic.
2019 Toorak Village Sculpture Prize, Melbourne.
2019 Selected Works. Shakespeare Grove Artists Group, Carlisle Artspace, St Kilda.
2019 Australian Anubis, four bronze sculptures, Bayside Gallery, Brighton, Victoria.
2019 Sculpture in Motion. Hanging Rock Winery, Hanging Rock, Vic
2020 City of Port Phillip Acquisition.
2020 AKC collection, St. Kilda.
2020 Renaissance. Hanging Rock Winery, Hanging Rock, Vic
2021 Gippsland Sculpture Exhibition, Vic.
2021 BIG Sculpture presents SMALL works, One Star Lounge and Gallery.
2021 Hanging Rock Winery Annual Sculpture Exhibition.                                                                                                                                                            2022 Group Autumn show, Gallery Elysium, Hawthorn.                                                                                                                                                                2022 BIG Sculpture at South Melbourne Market.                                                                                                                                                                                    2022 Relics, solo exhibition, Billilla Mansion, Brighton, Bayside.                                                                                                                                                  2022 10 St.Kilda Artists, Drawings, Space to Be.                                                                                                                                                                                      2022 BIG Sculpture, Small Works, One Star Lounge and Gallery.                                                                                                                                                        2023 East Gippsland Sculpture Exhibition and Competition 2023 Bayley Arts                                                                                                                              2024 Toorak Village Sculpture Prize, previous winner guest invitation.                                                                                                                                          2025 BIG Sculpture St Kilda Trail 2024/25                                                                                                                                                                                                2026 Hanging Rock Winery

Art Industry

2026 Mentor Creative Australia Major Grant Disability sector

December 2024-March 2025 Curator 3rd BIG Sculpture St Kilda Trail2024/25

2024 Mentor Creative Victoria Major Grant Disability sector

2023 Tutor to staff, Bayley Arts, Cheltenham

2023 Establish and advise Print Studio, Bayley Arts, Cheltenham

2023 Artist Member to Bayside Arts Advisory Committee to Mayor 5 yr tenure

2022 Curatorial BIG Sculpture, Small Works, One Star Lounge and Gallery.

2022 Curatorial 2nd BIG Sculpture at South Melbourne Market.

July 2021 Plan, Deliver and Exhibit, Upstanders Project “StandUp” City of Bayside.

July 2021 Judge. 2021 Young People of Bayside Art Exhibition

April 2021 Judge. Toorak Sculpture Prize

July 2020-2021 Lenton Parr Sculpture residency, Billilla Mansion, City of Bayside

2017-2020 SGAS Sculptor in residence and artist rep to City of Port Phillip. 2019 Curatorial, 1st BIG Sculpture Biennale, St. Kilda.

2019 Founder, BIG Sculpture Biennale, St. Kilda.

2020/21 Recipient CoPP grant, BIG Sculpture Windows. St.Kilda.

2016- present. Co-Founder Sunshine Print Artspace,

2018 Curator St Kilda Art Crawl,

2018 Art Competition Judge, City of Kingston.

2018 Tutor, Intergenerational Poetry and Print, City of Kingston

2017-2020 Committee Member St Kilda Arts Community.

2017 Selection Panel Bayside Arts.

2002-2018 Art Teacher and HOD Arts and Technology (12 yrs).

Current VIT Victorian Institute of Teachers registered.

Teaching / Mentoring

I have taught at every level of Education, from Primary through to Tertiary level. For many years I taught Art at a Government Secondary School in Melbourne and for eight of those years was the Head of Dept (Art, Media and Technology) with a staff of twenty and a combined annual budget in excess of $100K. I have taught in major cities in Europe and Australia as well as rural and remote localities. I no longer teach in an institutional capacity but am self employed as a Mentor. My mentoring roles have been funded for the past four years by major grants from the City of Melbourne, Creative Victoria and in 2026 by a major $50K grant from Creative Australia. I continue to run workshops for diverse groups at Sunshine Print Artspace and also work with and advise professional Artists at Boldface Fine Art Print.