"Rudderless"

More images of "Rudderless". See other entry.

"My Scuffs"

Life size ceramic replicas of my slippers!

"Walk A Day in My Shoes"

Ceramic Shoes

These are the clogs I created in clay telling the story of my maternal grandmother who I have never met. She died when my mother was only 14, having immigrated to Australia two years earlier.
A few years ago my mother published a book telling the story of her immigration to Australia and childhood in Holland, ("From Tulips to Gumtrees"). One of the stories inj the book I'd not heard before, and it touched me as a mother.
During WW2 when the Dutch were literally starving due to the occupation of Holland, my 'Oma' loaded up the twins' pram (my mother's younger siblings) with all the precious things from her 'Glory Box' (now there's a term you don't hear much anymore!) and walked from the Hague to the North of Holland, where some food was still available from farmers there. She bartered her good linen and sundries for food for her children, then walked all the way back, no mean feat in war time.
This woman, my unknown Oma, who had only existed previously for me as a 'character' in my mother's childhood stories (which we heard all through our childhood!), became a person with whom I could identify with and admire.
I created these shoes to commemorate her and hand wrote this story (in underglaze) around the clogs.

If the Shoe Fits...Buy One in Every Colour

These shoes began as an exercise in a Drawing class whilst studying for my Diploma of Visual Art. We'd looked at text in art and had to incorporate text or image into a created container. I created a pair of shoes (they are a container of sorts!) and had a stamp that said "If the shoe fits, buy one in every colour" I stitched the stamped verse into the first pair of shoes...And so began a whole collection!!

If the Shoe Fits...

Brooms Head, Mixed Media

Brooms Head Rockpool, Mixed Media.
Inspired by a recent holiday. As I looked into rockpools with my kids I couldn't help but think they were like miniature aerial lanscapes. The kelp in the Brooms Head basket was collected also from this location.

Silverton 2. Basket.

Silverton 2 Basket. Queen Palm infloresence, Found materials, cotton thread.

Brooms Head Basket

Brooms Head Basket, $60.
Kelp, Alexander Palm Infloresence, Dyed Fabric, Found shells.

"Reception of the Land"

"Reception of the Land" Mixed Media and Basket. The concept for this series of work came from a strong connection I feel for the land . Each mixed media piece in the exhibition was an aerial landscape of a different aspect of place. I then created a basket which was a sculpturall connection to this place. Some baskets even had incorporated materials from the location painted. This Mixed Media piece and basket explored people's interaction with the Australian landscape. Although it is often a destructive interaction, the land just keeps receiving and accomodating people's structures and creations.
The Basket contains plant fibres and materials collected from builder's skips in a new subdivision near my home. ( Basket For sale: $80)

'Beyond..." Exhibition

Some images from "Beyond.." the Southbank Instiute of Technology Graduation exhibition, June 2010.

"Rudderless"-Sculpture

Rudderless was created remembering a time in my life when that was how I felt! I remember doing the sketches for it and showing my husband. He said 'You don't lie down in a boat'! Well that was the whole point of the work! When you feel rudderless it can be positive or negative depending on your point of view!
This work was createcd entirely out of plant fibres. The boat is a couple of metres long and the figure is made of grass with impressive sea-sponge bosoms! (She could have had from A-Cup to G-Cup!) It sold recently in the Beyond... Exhibition. I'm now considering creating my whole family out of grass and sea-weed!!

Outback-Mixed Media

Created after a flight to Broken Hill last year. Inspired by the incredible lines, colours and patterns of the land from the air.

Siverton- 2 Baskets.

Stitched Xannthorea leaves onto a pit-fired clay base with found rusted metal stitched onto the rim. (The metal was collected on site at Silverton ,NSW.)

Our Beautiful Creations

May 2010

A beautiful Queensland Autumn day at Lost World, via Beaudesert where I was teaching a 'Fibre Art' Master Class.

Using plant fibres and recycled materials we created Sculptural Insect Forms by the creek. Participants of all ages created the most wonderful. imaginative creatures.
We shared a lovely day being playful with the materials I'd brought along resulting in Sculptural forms which were placed around the Olive Grove and creek in readiness for the Arts Festival the next day.