BACKGROUND
My childhood was one of wanderings, open spaces, and a great love for animals. I was a quiet, imaginative child who loved art, stories, and daydreaming.
After finishing school, I trained as a nurse in Brisbane and eventually went on to work in allied health. Life became a little crazy with work, marriage, mortgage, and children and it was many years before I could indulge my creativity. I started out mucking around with painting and mixed media collage. Then, one day, almost out of nowhere, poetry showed up and refused to leave.
I am completely self-taught although I have been blessed with brilliant mentors in both art and poetry. What has followed has been an amazing, convoluted, at times perplexing, often confusing, wonderful but incredibly wild ride of fun, learning, discovery, experimentation, and evolution. I hope it never ends.
THE PATH TO WHERE I AM
After beginning to make art again in 2010 I added poetry in 2011. In 2012 I began work on a collaborative project with my artist sister combining art and poetry. The exhibition was called A SENSE OF WONDER. I joined the North Pine Bush Poets in 2013 and, for a time, concentrated my efforts on writing. Being a storyteller at heart, I was immediately drawn to ballads and narratives. I worked hard to understand the many nuances associated with the mechanics of rhyme, pattern and metre. In 2014 A SENSE OF WONDER debuted and was an immediate success. In 2015 I won my first written poetry competition. From 2015 through to 2017 A SENSE OF WONDER toured parts of Queensland under our Five Towns, Five Regions project.
Since that time I have gained placings in many competitions. Most have been for poetry but I have achieved some in art as well. I have given readings of my poetry at exhibition openings, commemorative events, special functions, and poetry club meetings. I have held poetry and art talks and held small workshops. I’ve had my work published in magazines, made and sold books, been commissioned to write evaluations and special-purpose poetry, and sold a lot of paper collage art pieces. My focus at present lies in ways of combining poetry and art and I am happily spending my days in my tiny studio working towards that end.
PUBLICATIONS
- 2022 BEYOND LAWSON – a collection of contemporary poems inspired by the works of Henry Lawson
- 2021 BRONZE SWAGMAN Book of verse
- SPUR – the official magazine of the Australian Light Horse Association – December 2019 54rd Edition
- 2019 BRONZE SWAGMAN Book of Verse
- MS LIFE magazine
- THE AUSTRALIA TIMES magazine
- E-muse magazine
SELF PUBLICATIONS
- 2024 – WILDBIRD – small made-at-home Chapbook collection of short-verse poems
- 2022 STORYTELLER – a book of 48 narrative poems, many of which are prize-winners. Handmade with an original collage artwork cover – available in six colourways
- 2022 Paper Pieces – a collection of 45 short-form verses. Handmade with an original collage artwork cover
- ‘Remembrance’ – a small made-at-home War-themed poetry chapbook
- 2014 ‘A Sense of Wonder’ extended poem (Story in rhyme)
- ‘One Journey’- A reflection of Breast Cancer expressed in poetry (out of print)
- ‘Bittersweet’- A collection of poetry (out of print)
ART
- 2024 June – August – exhibits in 55 MILLION YEARS AGO Art Gallery
- 2024 May – June – Exhibition “…either…or…”
- 2023 October – Annual South Burnett Art Competition in the Australian Poetry Theme section
- 2022 – 2023 December to January – Inspired exhibition – -collaboration with Robyn Dower
- 2019 October 4th – Annual South Burnett Art Competition in the Australian Poetry Theme section
- 2019 Silent Conversations -Stagedoor Gallery Redcliffe with MBAC
- 2014 ‘A Sense of Wonder’ – Wondai Regional Art Gallery (A collaboration with artist Robyn Dower)
- 2012 ‘Bittersweet’- Wondai Regional Art Gallery (A combination of art and poetry)
GROUPS
- Member of North Pine Poets Group
- Member of ABPA (Australian Bush Poets Association)
- Member of the MBAC (Moreton Bay Arts Council)
COMPETITIONS
Art Competition
- 2023 October – Annual South Burnett Art Competition in the Australian Poetry Theme section – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2019 Australian Poetry Theme section of the Annual South Burnett Art Competition – HIGHLY COMMENDED
Poetry Competition
- 2022 – Silver Quill Bush Poetry competition – humorous section – SECOND PLACE
- 2022 Blackened Billy Bush Poetry Competition – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2021 Sutherland Shire Literary Competition – SECOND PLACE
- 2020 Ipswich Poetry Feast Competition – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2020 Sutherland Shire Literary Competition – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2019 Bronze Swagman – Winner of the Tim Borthwick Memorial prize
- 2019 Blackened Billy Verse competition – Tamworth – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2018 Silver Quill Poetry Competition –
Tooday , WA – Serious – HIGHLY COMMENDED - 2018 Silver Quill Poetry Competition –
Tooday , WA – Humorous – HIGHLY COMMENDED - 2018 Bette Olle Poetry Award – Kyabram – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2018 Bronze Spur Award – Winton – SECOND PLACE
- 2017 Blackened Billy Verse competition – Tamworth – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2016 Ipswich Poetry Feast – International Writing Competition – Open age – Bush Poetry – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2016 Bundaberg Bush Lantern Written competition – HIGHLY COMMENDED
- 2015 Ipswich Poetry Feast – International Writing Competition – OVERALL WINNER – Open Age
- 2015 Ipswich Poetry Feast – International Writing Competition – Open Age – Bush Poetry – FIRST PLACE
- 2015 Camp Oven Festival – FIRST Intermediate Original Male/Female (Performance)
- 2015 Bundy Bush Poetry Muster Queensland championships – Bundaberg Bush Poets – SECOND (Intermediate) for performance poetry.
- 2014 Camp Oven Festival –THIRD (Intermediate) for performance poetry
- 2013 Camp Oven Festival –FIRST (Novice) for performance poetry
PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
- August 2020 – Reading of original poems with North Pine Bush Poets at the Caboolture Regional Art Gallery
- August 2020 – commissioned by Caboolture Regional Art Gallery to write an original short poem inspired by the Robert McPherson exhibition – Boss Drovers
- August 24th 2019 Ballina cenotaph – reading of THE PACT and reading of THE STOCKMAN’S CHOICE at the Australian Bravery Association dinner.
- June 7th, 2019 – Poetry reading of THE PACT at Wondai Art Gallery exhibition opening of WAR AT SEA
- April 25th, 2019 – Poetry reading of THE STOCKMAN’S CHOICE at the Sandgate Anzac service
- August 2015 – unveiling ceremony of Anzac Memorial at Deception Bay
- June and July 2015 – St Martins Nursing Home, Taigum
- April 2015 –‘Letters from the Front’ performance with ‘Versatility’ at Sandgate under the auspices of the Sandgate RSL sub-branch
- April 2015 – the
100-year commemoration of Anzac at Sandgate with ‘Versatility’ under the auspices of Sandgate RSL sub-branch
