Before I became an artist, I was a pharmacist. I grew up in Sydney where I trained initially, and worked in product development for 3M Laboratories. In the late 1970s I travelled extensively, settling in Wales and the United Kingdom, and worked in community pharmacy.
Further study took me in the direction of education for practising pharmacists, and when I moved to New Zealand in 2001, I eventually lived in Wellington and worked as the programme manager in the New Zealand College of Pharmacists.
What has your fine arts degree meant for you?
I had always wondered what art school could do for me - could I be an artist?
After years of putting my heart and soul into study and practice I now have the confidence to put my work out there. I don't expect to please everyone, as tastes differ so much, but some people like what I feel moved to create, and this provides me with a sense of validity and satisfaction. It enriches my life and inspires me to keep going, trying to work out what to do next.
What sort of art do you most admire, and why?
I like art that displays a sensitivity in its lines - usually detailed - quirkiness and depth - contrasts that surprise - and balance in the structure and composition. It could be from any era in art history from Rembrandt to Paul Klee to John Wolseley to contemporary New Zealand printmakers who are still "emerging".
How do you spend your time here now?
My days are now filled mostly with art making in some form or other. I am active with the Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand, started 20 years ago by Marty Vreede in Whanganui and now a national organisation with over 200 members. We are developing a coffee table book of 20 years of our history with work from most of the members included.
Fibre Art is also a large part of my day, with a myriad of projects taking my interest - from weaving to embroidery to lace-making. Most of my work ends up in hand-made artist books, which are my unifying discipline. I often teach book binding in an informal way, with all manner of book structures being explored.
What is the best thing you have done or made?
I find this quite difficult to answer because of the variety of things I create. Perhaps the book of drawings undertaken during our walk across Spain for 50 days; or the book of drawings I created as a "motor home diary" took me two and a half years and 27,000 kilometres of adventuring to compile, and was also a very satisfying project that was on display in the Sarjeant during the arts review. The series of three embroidery books in this year's review also pleased me. It was an experiential exercise in learning stitches from all around the world, and the fun I had researching it filled months of my time.
On the other hand a Venetian blind book that I made quite quickly using some screenprints of trees in Gordon Park and various other prints has been picked out of the things on my website and showcased on an international blog called Books on Books by Robert Bolick.
What's your version of a perfect day?
Given our present situation with Covid - I think it is going to be spent safe at home and stress-free. My new husband Royce and I are gradually renovating the house I bought just before we met. He might be painting or building new garden beds for me to fill with interesting flowers. I might be printing or stitching something.
We exercise while walking around Bastia Hill and marvel at the two mountains as the sunlight changes through the day, especially as we have a glass of wine on the deck before preparing dinner together, and then watch a movie.
What's your favourite thing to cook for a special meal?
It's hard to choose between fish and chicken, and then there's a juicy steak - but it all needs lots of veges. Unfortunately I don't have an intact sense of smell so there are many flavours I can't discern. That's just one of my short straws in this later stage of life.
Where do you most want to travel in the world, and why?
We were supposed to be going to the Galapagos before Covid hit us all. I have already travelled to 65 different countries, so have already seen rather a lot.
What we did instead, during lockdown in March this year, was to visit the Chatham islands. It had always been on my bucket list, but suddenly it was up near the top. Royce and I went on our own and booked nine nights including three on Pitt Island. We flew out of Wellington, just as Auckland went into another lockdown and there were few other tourists there. We saw virtually all of the sites of interest, including the Chatham petrel chicks in their nest boxes. Brilliant trip.
What can you tell us about yourself that will surprise us?
Maybe that during my travels I have enjoyed flying private aircraft, sub aqua diving in numerous tropical seas, sailing across the Atlantic on a 55 foot yacht with 10 others, visiting Afghanistan while the huge Buddha statues were still intact, walking the Inca Trail in Peru, walking the Camino de Santiago right across Spain (1000km); but maybe it will be owning a wildlife park in Cardigan, Wales, where David Bellamy came to visit us for the day.
