Tell us about your creative process, what drives your practice?

My work focusses on anxiety, I examine the wounding of repetitive attacks but more importantly that moment where you find yourself on the edge of losing control. I like investigating that in-between space, when you can feel the build -up of tension but might be able to pull back using breathing or changing the environment. I find walking the Sydney coastline, using rocky outcrops, edges, perspectives, gaps and voids, observing small plants clinging to life, thickets and entangled spaces as rich metaphors from where I can draw my inspiration. I take photos back to the studio and sketch or collage ideas before starting on my multi-panel lithographs. I have to grid the drawing/photo up so I can work out how many panels I will need. Each panel is then drawn as a separate image. I mainly work from 3 large stones, so it is a slow and a labour -intensive process but the physicality of it absorbs me. I am often told that it looks as if I am stroking my stones.

Lithography is the process of chemically manipulating grease on the surface of limestone to produce a matrix for printing. What is the significance of lithography in your exploration of the void, and illustration of Australian terrain?

I love lithography, the stones provide a beautiful surface to draw or paint directly onto. I like the way you never know exactly what a wash will look like until you roll it up with ink. Each stone seems to have its own personality. The slow processing time means it slows me down and I find the drawing and the printing quite meditative. I love the velvety nature of the black inks and the delicacy of the washes, it has become a seductive process for me and the physicality of graining, moving the stones and printing make me feel as if I have worked hard to produce my images. I get so absorbed into the studio, its really helped me cope with my anxiety. It seems fitting to use rocks to draw rocks and the colours of limestone are reflected back at me from my walks within the country.

Lithography is a very traditional form of printmaking, which can at times be limiting. What inspired you to push the scale of the medium and expand into installation?

I first started making multi panel lithographs as an undergraduate student. I wanted to match the scale of my drawings and paintings, I kept it up for a few years but travelling overseas and having children cramped my image sizes for a while. Now I have the time and the space, so I returned to the large format about 5 years ago. The landscapes wouldn’t be as powerful as smaller format images. I felt the need to limit my pallet and go large with the largeness of the theme. When I was thinking about anxiety, I realised it was never a linear experience, always multi layered and filled with obstacles. This drew me to creating lithographic works for the floor or sink holes with double layers or whirlpools to draw you in. The threading of beads expanded from this, I wanted to create obstacles to see around or through, so I tangled up the gallery with a huge chain of beads for Woman on the Edge, 2019. These same beads have been re-configured to form Perturbed in my latest exhibition, Luminality, 2021. Here they represent a panic attack, a stream of beads like a waterfall from the rafters, descend to the ground and fray and spill out across the gallery floor.

The lithographs subsumed into 15 metres of silk, has been a very experimental work, it has given me the opportunity to nail, stretch, twist, fold and drape the piece. I can see my latest paper lithograph Intangible 2021, as becoming my next silk drape. The concept of a huge thicket which I could entangle around a gallery to become something for my audience to navigate around is very appealing. Ultimately, I find installation satisfying in the way it surrounds your audience with your work, allowing sound and light and a multidiscipline approach to wrap around their senses.

Are there any female printmakers | artists that influence you?

Yes, initially I loved Käthe Kollwitz for her social realist lithographs and Georgia O’Keefe for her seductive landscape and flower paintings. I  also like the installation printmakers such as Kiki Smith, Cecilia Mandrile and Nicola Lopez. Plus I love the experimental printmakers like Tobaimo who prints on both sides of her paper and often folds or tears it so you can see the other side. There are many Australian artists too Jan Hogan for her wonderful installation of woodblock prints including the wood as part of her coastal investigations, G. W. Bott for her sensitive landscape glyphs, created from steel, glass and lino prints, Janet Laurence for her tree draped silks, layering subsumed images and video projections, Heather Burness for her sensitive etchings of light and tides, the list goes on…

Finally, what exciting projects are you working on at the moment?

I am currently experimenting with weaving my lithographs to form vessels or sculptural forms. I have printed on both sides of the paper and am having fun creating new forms from them. I want to start making my next silken drape soon too. Plus I have another idea for starting a new multi-panel lithograph. I am aiming on having an exhibition next year and am still awaiting news if any of my current proposals have been successful.