Journeys with Ceramics

Bio

I was born in Sydney in 1968 to very adventurous parents who soon ventured North in an old Morris Butter Van and eventually ended up in Darwin. From Darwin we left Australia for Indonesia where I spoke my first words in Indonesian. We then travelled on through Southeast Asia until we reached Laos where we lived until I was 5 years old. Southeast Asia still feels like a second home and I'm sure is influential in my ceramic works.

As an adult I have also moved a lot living in Sydney, Canberra, Darwin, Bellingen and 6 months as a student exchange in Valencia, Spain. The opportunity to study ceramic sculpture with Enrique Mestre in Valencia, Spain in 1993 provided the basis for my forms and engobe surface.

While studying at ANU, Institute of the Arts, Hiroe Swen was an important teacher and mentor in my ceramic development. The dry engobe surface became a means to depict the Australian landscape which I discovered on road trips in different parts of Australia. I have also travelled to Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Italy, England, Wales and Spain and still wish to see more of the world when my children are older.

My husband Paul and I and our 2 children (Ella, 7 and Juno, 5) moved to Bellingen in October 2003 and bought a 1 bedroom house which we later extended by building a three bedroom house and studio set beside the original.