I have a new respect for landscape photographers who travel far and wide, early and late to find landscapes untouched by human activity. I’m playing with grainy b&w film photos turning a perfectly ordinary roads into mood and mystery.

Made a mistake winding on the film of my 40 year old Pentax K1000. However…I’m kinda liking this 20 times over layered exposure. So now I’m playing around with that idea even though I don’t really know what I’m doing!

what is art lab

I am pleased to have been invited to facilitate an Art Lab session at Pine Rivers Art Gallery as part of a series of workshops offered by the Gallery for the duration of the Moreton Bay Art Prize.

Art Lab is a kind of model for peer support which brings together like minded artists to talk about all things art and art making. Since 2023 a group of local artists have been meeting at my place for these discussions and as into we’re well into our third year I have a heaps of resources that I have collected.

I have made an infographic and I am still working out what might be the best way to document the prompts, discussion topics and exercises.

download infographic

why art prizes?

I recently read an artist's newsletter about their shock at being rejected from an art competition and how they processed the disappointment.

Art prizes and people’s reactions to them seem to be a topic of discussion that never gets old. Why do artists enter competitions? Why do we feel so intensely when the work is either rejected or accepted? Read more…

In an exhibition catalogue I picked up recently, Elizabeth Newman: Is that a 'No', she is quoted as saying "I never try to consciously make work about anything. I am not the active agent in the art making..." And yet, her work is so strong conceptually. Or at least that is what I am reading and seeing. I want to understand the nuance between the birth of an idea and realising the idea. I should probably accept this is an ongoing quest...

Writing is very personal. I’m able to have conversations with myself in a way that I rarely would talk with other people. As read and work things out it helps me understand what I’m reading, thinking and doing. On the other hand, there is a curious vulnerability about making this personal thing public, even as it sinks under the vast ocean of ideas, information, thoughts and feelings that is the internet.

Have been reading Social Media Escape Club for some time now. The newsletter by Seth Werkheiser covers all sorts of ways to navigate social media. Given I am so sporadic on instagram and it takes me forever to create a post I thought I would try out Seth’s suggestion and put a social feed on my website. Just for those bits’n’pieces that happen every now and again. Let’s see how it goes…

This year I’m celebrating 2025 World Collage Day with two small offerings—each one an invitation into the reflective, connective space that collage opens up for me. Both are shaped around the idea that looking and making can be quiet acts of reflection, and that these kinds of acts can connect us—with ourselves, each other, and the artwork we encounter. Read more…

Working in a sketchbook has always been a challenge. I have tried over and over again—a sporadic and wistful journey of trying. Sketchbooks seem to be my permanent reminder of failure. At least loose sheets of paper can be tossed away. A sketchbook though, has a binding and if you tear out a page the absence is marked. If only I could play in a sketchbook the same way I do in my writing journal maybe I could crack the code. Read more…

At the end of 2024 I applied for the Path Primer with Dr. Kellie O’Dempsey hosted by the Redcliffe Art Gallery. My application was successful and I’ve just completed five intensive days in the program—what a ride! Read more…

At the moment I am reading lots of essays via Substack. Always of interest are the letters showcased in Shaun Usher’s newsletter, Letters of Note. Read More…

For most of this year I have been making collages centred on the representation of women in media. 

Read more…

In July of this year I participated in a self funded online collage residency offered by the Kolaj Institute in New Orleans.

The residency focussed on the intersection between photography and collage and as I had already started working with photographic images it was a perfect fit for me.

At the end of the residency we were invited to submit work that might be exhibited at the Kolaj Institute Gallery during Photonola 2025 and I was pleased that four of my collages were accepted into the exhibition.

Click on the links for more info:

Camera & Collage | Kolaj Magazine

World Collage Day is an annual, international celebration of collage on the second Saturday of May initiated by the founder of Kolaj Magazine. Aartists and venues around the world hold collage events to bring together people and community in a spirit of cooperation, support and creativity. 

In collaboration with The Churn Room in 2024, I hosted a series of collage activities.

John Massy opened with a lively talk about the work in his exhibition, after which Guthrie and I facilitated a two hour collage making session and we finished the day with a life model collage session.

Here are some links with more info:

World Collage Day | Recollect exhibition by John Massy  |  Guthrie on instagram

When I moved to Dayboro I quickly realised I was not going to be able to travel to Brisbane or even across town at night, along dark country roads, to go to life drawing classes.

So I decided to organise life drawing myself. We started off in my shed studio until we moved to The Churn Room in 2023 and 2024. I am grateful to Bronwyn Hawkins, the Director of The Churn Room, who generously provides support with promotions and photography services and exhibition space for the showcase.

For more information about The Churn Room visit the website at www.thechurnroom.com.au

Art Lab - Like many of us, during covid I developed strong connections with my online community and as we eased out of isolation it seemed to me there may be a need for artists to gather in person to engage in critical conversations in which we get to talk about art and art making with like minded creatives.  

Keeping my eye open for interesting bits of information, using writing exercises and artist led discussion to interrogate various topics, since 2023 the group has met monthly for supportive and engaging talk fests.

We’re now in our second year and Art Lab is going strong, and looking forward to sharing with our wider community.

Not long ago I was asked to do a collage workshop by our local council for a group of educators.

The prep resulted in another day playing with infographics. They are such a good tool for succinctly imparting information!

This infographic is just a snippet of what I have come to understand about design and composition. It is a dip of the toe into the subject, even so, I do hope this is a handy reference to print out for the notice board!

Click here for the pdf