:: Biography :: | Featured Works

I completed my first watercolour painting at the age of 10. It was when the wetland scape was finished I proudly announced that I was to be an artist. I have never looked back. It was that moment in which I was truly lost and consumed by the creation in front of me, that I knew I had found my passion.
most profound moments in my life was when I read a simple yet powerful sentence by the Dali Lama that in summary said, “Even the tiniest insect has a desire for happiness and is trying to overcome suffering” (The Dalai Lama’s book of love and compassion, pg 10-11, 2001).

My role as an artist in today’s world is to convey and communicate issues relevant to the present social condition. For me, environmental issues and the displacement of the worlds many fauna species should be at the forefront of political and social debates; for without either of these we simply cannot survive. The only way is to have a harmonious existence between the ‘human’ and ‘natural’, because even at the most basic level we are inevitably connected.

The aim of my work, whatever genre it may take, is to alert, capture, empower and remind the viewer of our relationship with the environment and natural world. All of my pieces exist for a reason, they are not just pretty pictures, all have a purpose for existing and a story. Many of my 2D works juxtapose abstract and realist representations within the composition. The abstraction is often used to refer to the ‘human world’ in which we live; and sometimes irrational and unexplainable thought processes behind it. I also use abstract as a tool to entice the viewer to look further into the work, to discover his or her own meanings. I often balance the abstract components with a realistic depiction of a fauna or flora species. This is because to me they represent a silent power, beauty and indescribable wisdom.

It disgusts me the way we take many creatures for granted; and often they are treated with appalling disrespect. My sculptural and installation work is often based on repetition and featuring the rawness of a material; however a lot of the time the same conceptual meanings apply as above. Often the concentration on the rawness is used as a metaphor for the human need to revisit the ‘basic’ and the ‘real’. The almost cliché term of ‘getting back to nature’ could be used here.

In conclusion, it is the precious, the beauty, the strength, the dramatic and often powerful aspects of our lives and surroundings that captivate and inspire me the most. Through depiction and creation, I hope my work will empower people to see the wonder in those things that are often overlooked and taken for granted.

Exhibitions/Awards/Features

2007: Featured in Fusions International Newsletter
Artwork used in Craft Art International No.69

2006: Chosen to exhibit in ‘Forefront’ as part of Verge: Brisbane’s International Ceramics Conference
Exhibited at Brilliant Facets jewellery exhibition as part of Verge.
Noosa Regional Gallery Society Art Awards
Art y Facts exhibition Noosa Regional Art Gallery
Appointed exhibition co-ordinator for SPLASH festival

2005: Fusions Ceramic Award for emerging artists
Exhibited in ‘The Floating Land’ as part of the Noosa Long Weekend
C.S.I.T. Graduating Exhibition
Featured in November issue of ‘The Journal of Australian Ceramic

2003: Queensland College of Art Graduation Exhibition

2000: Queensland College of Art 1st Year Exhibition

1999: Hinterland Young Artists Competition – Encouragement Award
Minister’s Award for excellence in Art – Certificate of Recognition
Woodford Summer art Exhibition – 2nd Prize in Mixed Media