I completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at Sydney’ National Art School in 2016.
I’ve been sculpting in various mediums for as long as I can remember. My first memory was using plaster and clay at school. I went on to educate myself with marble carving and bronze casting, mainly because I was mystified by how it was done. I would run off to Italy to carve statuario marble from the quarries of Michelangelo, engaging in workshops whenever possible in the Tuscan hills of Cararra.
Closer to home, however, The National Art School also runs a lot of excellent studio based short courses, so I thought I’d try bronze casting with renowned bronze sculptor Clara Hali. I had a very intense career in Advertising and for me it was a respite to throw myself into the process of casting bronze. It is not for everyone. One needs fortitude, patience and a great deal of dedication.
I dabbled in this prior to my degree for a good twelve years on and off, and then finally committed to the 3-year full time Bachelor of Fine Art at NAS majoring in Sculpture. This enabled me to expand my art practice and consolidate my skills to develop a solid body of work. The National Art School is the only studio based art school in Sydney that offered me skillsets to fully develop my bronze practice. And complementing the practical aspect, the wonderful Art History department enabled in depth exploration of art history’s rich field of ideas and practices, which is important for consideration and development of one’s own art and its place in relation to various historical trajectories.
Making sculptures allows for a visual engagement that is constantly changing, which is not possible with two-dimensional art forms, such as painting. With sculpture, one can move around a work in space, and perspectives are in constant flux according to one’s own position. The process itself is an engagement of continual observation and creation, making something out of nothing. I am very tactile and I’ve always enjoyed making things with my hands. I am the daughter of an engineer; we were always making and fixing things as I grew up. It is also a complex, difficult and highly involved process and I enjoy a challenge.
I feel tremendously honored to be the winner of this award. All the entrants are wonderfully talented, so I had no expectation of a win at all. I am very excited for the opportunities this will afford me, and I am delighted to know that Clyde and Co and all the other people who were part of the judging process responded so well to my sculpture.
I believe a solid arts education is essential for any aspiring artist. It is wonderful to have a company like Clyde & Co really get behind emerging artists from the universities world- wide and I would encourage other corporations/businesses to back the arts in this manner. The work is fresh and captivating and an inspiration to be around.
The Award Clyde & Co have created for the emerging art world should be applauded. It is progressive in thinking, culturally inspiring and more in line with Europe and America in its engagement with the arts. I would encourage other firms in Australia to look to the emerging art world to furnish their buildings and home environments with fresh art from the emerging art scene.
I believe the world is a better place where art and commerce coexist; this can and should be symbiotic rather than mutually exclusive. On a human level, art can provide a respite from the rigours of the world of commerce, and the commercial world can support the arts to flourish.