Having graduated from the SA School of Art and Western Teachers College in 1968, I developed a particular interest in Printmaking. Appointed to Eyre High School, Whyalla, in 1969 as an art teacher, I started to specialize in teaching in the discipline of Printmaking including etching, relief and screen printing. Though lacking time to make my own work, I continued to prepare and teach my students. I often made demonstration prints for the classes, some of which I have retained.
By 1974 I was a Senior Art Teacher at Stuart High School, Whyalla. The Education Department offered me a scholarship to further my studies for a year, so in 1975 I returned to Adelaide to complete an Advanced Dip Art at the SA School of Art in Printmaking. I was lucky at the time to have Barbara Hanrahan, Geoff Wilson, Geoff Brown and Franz Kempf as lecturers. It was a wonderful year of experimentation and learning.
During this period I also found time to complete my Unrestricted Pilots License at the Royal Aero Club and learnt to fly aerobatics in a Pitts Special. That experience led to some interesting prints based on aerial landscapes, airfields, hangers and flying paraphernalia. So, the early prints depicted the general activities and subjects of that period in my life. I was trying to find my own artistic language, but I did respond to the graphic mediums of etching.
The following year, 1976, I was again teaching art at Underdale High School and supervising art teacher training through Torrens CAE at the Underdale Campus. But after the first term I made a life changing decision to try to become a full-time artist and Printmaker and resigned my job. The first thing was to travel to the UK and Europe to see some of the original art I have come to know and admire. Travelling alone as a young woman, I found the experience daunting, exhilarating and challenging. After several months of daily excitement overseas, I returned to my home in Adelaide with a determined resolve to become an artist and to support myself with my work.
Upon my return, I was invited to have a solo exhibition of etchings at Adelaide Fine Art and Graphics in Melbourne Street, North Adelaide in 1977. I continued with the etchings, setting up a small studio in a room of the house, purchased a small etching press and made a new body of prints for exhibition. ‘Pelican’, along with another etching, ‘Oysters’ were acquired by the The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) in 1977 from a solo exhibition at Adelaide Fine Art and Graphics.
In 2019 The AGSA acquired two more etchings for their collection, Mop (1977) and Feathers (1977).
