Threads of Belonging Residency at Woodleigh School

This month I had the opportunity to spend ten days as Artist in Residence at Woodleigh School, Mornington Peninsula on Boon Wurrung/Bunurong Country, Victoria. It was an extraordinary insight into an inspiring learning environment, thanks particularly to Emma Cleine and Sophie Perez whose vision and energy brought the Threads of Belonging initiative to life.

photo by Woodleigh School

During my time at Woodleigh, the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Gallery transformed into a printmaking studio and I made progress on my own watercolour monotypes, finding marks and colours to convey my recent experiences and memories of an especially powerful, vulnerable and ever-changing environment, the Antarctic Peninsula.

photo by Woodleigh School

photo by Woodleigh School

Student groups from both the junior and senior campuses visited the studio to chat about my work. I enjoyed joining the senior Visual Arts students for a day trip to Melbourne, and being able to introduce them to Flinders Lane Gallery, where work made during the residency will be exhibited later in the year. I spent time with Visual Art students, as well as Outdoor Education and Environment Studies students, talking about the importance of place in my work. Students were then invited to reflect on a place that was important to them through a watercolour monotype printmaking workshop and I appreciated their willingness to dive in and embrace the possibilities of a new medium. It was wonderful to have some of the students’ prints on display during my public artist talk as we celebrated the final evening of the residency with the community.

photo by Woodleigh School

photo by Woodleigh School

WAMA Art Prize

I’m thrilled to be selected as a finalist in the 2025 WAMA Art Prize, Australia’s leading award for environmental art.

This year’s exhibition brings together 54 artists working on and with paper in WAMA’s brand new National Centre for Environmental Art in Budja Budja/Halls Gap, Gariwerd/Grampians.

You can see my work ‘Tangle (Wana Karnu)’ on display from 6 Dec 2025 to 9 Mar 2026 — and cast your vote in the People’s Choice Award while you’re there!

‘Tangle (Wana Karnu)’, 2025, rust and acrylic ink on paper, 240cm x 360cm

Wana Karnu is both a place name and a geological group. ‘Tangle (Wana Karnu)’ suggests layers of time, through the gravelly deposits of an ancient river bed and the gradual intertwining of Mulga limbs and branches in Mutawintji National Park on Pantjikali, Wanyuparlku, Wilyakali and Malyangapa Country, NSW. Suspended in memory, complex networks of twigs signify growth and decay, while prompting consideration of human entanglements and interconnection with ecologies.

I love that WAMA is dedicated to providing opportunities to engage with nature and environmental art, showcasing and reflecting on artistic narratives concerning the natural world and our place within it.

Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Collection

I’m thrilled to share that my work ‘Old Mutawintji Gorge 2’ was recently acquired by Wagga Wagga Art Gallery for inclusion in their Margaret Carnegie Print Collection where it will be cared for in great company.

Founded in 1980 through a generous donation by local patron Margaret Carnegie, the collection now comprises over 1,400 original prints by leading Australian artists including Bea Maddock, Fred Williams, Noel Counihan, Arthur Boyd, Fiona Hall, Judy Watson and Kathleen Petyarre. Selections are regularly exhibited in the Margaret Carnegie Gallery at the entrance to Wagga Wagga Art Gallery.

This 168cm x 228cm multi-panel watercolour monotype work from 2023 was made in response to my experiences as a visitor in Mutawintji National Park, on Pantjikali, Wanyuparku, Wilyakali, and Malyangapa Country as part of the Broken Hill City Art Gallery Open Cut Commission.

Photos by Dean Butters.

'Material Nature' at The Drill Hall Gallery

I’m thrilled to have three works included the beautiful exhibition Material Nature, on display at The Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, until 10 August, 2025.

Tangle (Wana Karnu) 2025, rust and acrylic ink on paper, 360 x 240cm & Endurance 14 2025, watercolour monotype on paper with watercolour additions, 228 x 168cm installed in Material Nature at The Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra

Curated by Dr Anne-Marie Jean, Material Nature looks to the power of materials to engage our multi-sensory experience of the natural world. With a focus on embodied awareness, the conventional idiom of landscape painting is collapsed, the viewer no longer positioned outside nature, but within. Works by artists Ros Auld, Manini Gumana, Jahnne Pasco-White, John Peart, Ana Pollak, Annika Romeyn, Savanhdary Vongpoothorn and Garawan Wanambi invite contemplation of our inter-relations with ecologies.

Australian Women Artists podcast

It was a pleasure to have a studio visit from Australian Women Artists podcaster Richard Graham recently. We chatted about the ideas, experiences and processes that have come to underpin my practice. Richard also asked me to reflect on an Australian woman artist who has influenced or inspired me. Our conversation is episode 9 in a new series that I’ve enjoyed listening to.

photo by Sammy Hawker