On a wider scope over 40 years my art intertwines with environmental activism. Those who know me know this.
I began painting Nature a long time ago, living in Mallacoota, a tiny town in Croajingolong National Park, Victoria. My work evolved as stories about wild birds, native orchids, nests, banksias, shells and eucalypt trees . The complexity, the beauty and the abstract ideas that Nature presented with the changing seasons, settled on me in layers.
I realized though, that Nature is defenceless against the tide of development and progress. Sometimes I'd like to go to a parallel universe where our remarkable Nature is revered, where Nature is a saint, and treated as such.
It became my promise to speak out for Nature. I edit newsletters, write letters and submissions. I plant back the natural botanicals and I've created several
forest canopies. I engage audiences with Nature.
I study wild orchids. I survey birds and flora. I teach about our trees that belong here. I talk about why such things are crucial in the environment. Countless times I've taken people on bird walks. I show people a bird they've never seen before. I love to ignite people's sense of wonder.
My exhibitions are programmed with talks and presentations about Nature by experts and scientists that I meet through my work, bringing an experience to viewers as well as newcomers into the gallery space.
I've discovered along the way I can be an artist, an anarchist and an activist with a woman's perspective, and now that of an older woman. It is holistic, it's been my life's path. My endeavour.
