Artist StatementIn Jamberoo, where I live, late summer and early autumn is when we have our most violent storms. I stand in my studio and watch the wind gather the clouds. It’s so easy to understand why certain cultures give so much power to the wind. The swirling violent air is ‘laden with memories, swollen with forebodings’My work responds to the deep connection human beings have with nature; a connection often lost in memory, often existing only in fragments. As cities dominate the landscape, our connection to the natural world diminishes, yet the natural elements are still held deep within our psyche. (In ancient myths we are the land, the earth, the sea, the sky.)I do drawings and paintings out in the field, and then spend time in the studio, working with those field drawings and memories to create larger works. I do meditative calligraphy work, scribbles and doodles. Eventually, through experiment and failure, through small successes and stumbles, these initial explorations of ideas develop into the sculptural objects and paintings that make up an exhibition.Commissions/Prizes 2017 Janet ShirleyWalker, Enviroment Award Bermagui Sculpture 2016 Winner of the Hillview Biennial Sculpture Prize 2014 “Gibber Plains” Coughlin Residence, S.A. 2012 “Figures in the landscape” for Royal Botanical Gardens Mount Annan NSW 2011 33 Bligh St Sydney, building facade sculpture in collaboration with Fitzpatrick+Partners, Architects Commissioned by Investa 2011 Corrimal Cokeworks Centenary Sculpture, Corrimal, NSW Commissioned by The Illawarra Coke Company 2009 won Santos Sculpture Award, Roma, Queensland 2008 Wall sculpture, King Street Wharf, Sydney, commissioned by Multiplex 2004 Sculpture Commission, Wong House, Sydney, commissioned by Fitzpatrick+Partners 1999 Lobby Sculpture, 320 Adelaide Street, Brisbane, commissioned by Remco Pty Ltd 1998 Lobby Sculpture, NRMA House, 388 George Street, Sydney commissioned by AMP