I was born in Orange, N.S.W., in Wiradjuri country, and grew up on the Hawkesbury River, Kuringgai country, an hour north of Sydney. I began travelling at a young age, first to England at 18 and then up and down the east coast of Australia. By the age of 21 I had ended up in the United States. After going back and forth between the US and Mexico a few times I finally settled in Arizona. Once there, I set up my own tattoo studio, Clan Tatu, which I operated for 8 years. In 2005, after 12 years in Arizona, I sold my house and my studio and moved back to Australia, settling in Adelaide; the home place of the Kaurna people. I continued to tattoo part-time for a few years, eventually cutting back to only one day a week in 2011 to start studying full-time. A year later, after 20+ years of tattooing, I officially retired as a tattooist to focus on my studies and my new career as a visual artist. In November of 2013 I completed my Bachelor of Visual Arts degree, majoring in sculpture, at the Adelaide College of the Arts and was awarded the TAFE SA Higher Education Principal Officer’s Letter of Commendation and an Academic Record notation for my academic achievments.

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My art practice strongly reflects my view of the world; I see art like I see life: it is interconnected; everything is related, everything has an energy. It’s how the artist molds the energy that turns the bronze or the piece of wood into an artwork that you can feel, one that has movement, one that has life.

 

I use sustainable materials as much as possible, often working with re-claimed wood, discarded steel and re-claimed bronze. Using sustainable and re-claimed materials helps reduce the impact on the environment and supports my personal ethic of reflecting the interconnectedness of all things.

 

I am currently a member of the National Association of Visual Artists, (NAVA), Guildhouse and recently retired as the artist coordinator for the Heysen Sculpture Biennial.