My solo exhibition at the Walkway Gallery is a culmination of three years work. In 2019 I was fortunate to secure a $10,000 Step Up grant from the Australian Regional Arts fund via Country Arts South Australia for my project “Hungry Like A Wolf”. This good fortune coincided with a life changing event, my husband Mick and I became permanent kinship guardians to our three grandchildren then aged 5, 3 and 18 months old. Our world was tipped upside down and I thought my art practice had finished before it had event started. Thanks to the fabulous staff at Country Arts SA I was able to find a way to undertake my project fully within my new framework. In August 2019 I worked with mentors Jimmy Dodd and Heath Franco during a ten day residency at ACE Open, Adelaide. This was a fabulous opportunity that deepened my resolve to continue creating and stretching myself.
In January 2020 our little family moved to Tasmania for a financial opportunity to help us support our growing family. Like many plans this was stymied by COVID, which meant we had to return home to Mount Gambier in November the same year. Despite these obstacles and the challenges of raising three children now aged 9,7 and 5 with the support of Mick and the art community I have been able to complete my Step Up grant and produce a body of work that reflects the journey of the past few years.
Thank you to Naomi Fallon, Director of the Walkway Gallery whose unwavering belief and support has helped me bring this body of work together. I hope this exhibition moves you, puzzles you and creates conversation today and into the future.