This Rollershutter Art piece has been created as part of the Mparntwe Street Art Festival 2024 in conjunction with Red Hot Arts and proudly sponsored by Activate Alice.
The setting sun across the Ranges. The triptych depicts an area in the West Mac Donnell Ranges, the other two panels are of places in the East.
About the Artist
Painting has become something of a habit after spending more time walking in our spectacular scenery. I like to paint places that are a bit different, small snapshots or parts of places bathed in special light and colour. Some of these places I have visited, others are of places seen by my partner after his bush trips. I prefer to work from photographs. In 2015 I entered my first landscape painting in the Advocate Art Award which was chosen for the Leaping Lizards Gallery Prize. So I had to produce works for a small exhibition. The paintings were well received, and I continue to display works at Leaping Lizards Gallery and Yubu Napa Gallery from time to time. Many of my paintings are reproduced on greeting cards and available from several outlets in town. I have always loved multi-coloured patterns and have a background in graphic design, screen-printing, textile and fibre arts. My screen-printed fabric has adorned bodies, beds, tables, walls and kitchens across Australia. To create and produce is second nature, provides much satisfaction and contentment and balances time spent sitting at the computer. I am attracted to intricacy in all types of work, be it knitting patterns, fabric, sewing, patchwork, or design, which may explain the complexity in my paintings.
Past. My first trip to Mparntwe / Alice Springs was in 1975 on the Old Ghan, following family who had moved here from Ballarat. From 1976 to 1979 I lived in Adelaide and returned in 1980 after having completed a Graphic Design course. My mother had taught me to sew at a young age which proved useful when I chose to be self-employed.
Combining my design background with my sewing skills I began making clothes and experimenting with screen-printing. In 1982 I partnered with Alison Baker to establish ‘Upstage’, shop 9 in the Fan Arcade, where we had fun designing and making original fashion. I closed the shop in 1987. My textile designs evolved from exposure to our rich Central Australian environment and were printed onto fabric, t shirts, clothing and tea towels, which I mostly sold at the markets. Since giving up full time screen printing, I have digitised my hand drawn original designs from the 1980’s and ‘90s, some of which were reproduced on canvas and greeting cards.
Current. My work designing interpretive signage for the NT Parks and Wildlife Commission complements my appreciation for this place, and gives me the opportunity to get out amongst it. These signs are installed across many NT Parks of Central Australia. I have participated in a couple of design projects which have received Interpretation Australia Awards, most recently for the interpretive signage for the Yeperenye Trail, a walking and cycling trail between Emily and Jessie Gaps. The project was developed by Traditional Owners and artists and completed in partnership with NT Parks & Wildlife.
My connection to Mparntwe is expressed in my paintings – the ancient land, the colour, the contrasts of severity and softness, strength and fragility that are experienced here. My connection also links to this block of shops in which my work, in its various forms, has inhabited over time, and which now travels full circle in finding a home on the exterior of the Capricornia Centre.