Tell us about your creative process. What drives your practice?

My creative practice is varied, dabbling in multiple disciplines but always being drawn back to my printing roots. My work reflects my interest in architectural and city space, through the lens of permanency and perspective and the reoccurring themes of paper and folding. People always ask my why architecture? Why paper? Why folding? I think architecture, because my mother is an interior designer, so I have a natural awareness of the way space is structured, and that has translated further into the way we move around the city and city spaces. I first fell in love with print when I saw my first Japanese woodblock print, I’ve always known I wouldn’t have the patience or precision to pull of woodblocks like the Japanese so my attention became drawn to another Japanese art form, paper folding. While at uni I was introduced to Michel de Certeau and his theories around the resistant re-writing of the city. The fold for me, since then became a process based response and experimentation with de Certeau’s processes of resistance, as well as an exploration of the limits that regulate our urban spaces and provoke alternate strategies for addressing the way city spaces are constructed, regulated and negotiated.

Your work plays with paper both as a material and a concept, looking a lot at the idea of ‘the fold’ as an act of resistance. How have these ideas translated to a printmaking practice, given corresponding concepts of pressure?

Absolutely! I am so fascinated about the possibilities of playing with paper within the printmaking process and I feel I’m only just touching the surface of what can be done. I look at the subtlety of pressure and consider the play of paper’s two- dimensional surface in the series Emboss (Paper on Paper). The series endeavours to trace the sculptural drawings of folded paper which, when run through the press manifest a tension between two and three dimensions. The simple impression alludes to the different states of being and stimulates the sensory exploration of architectural and lineal form. The shadow gap created by the folded edges creates a surface depth which transforms the paper into a memory bank of impressions and traces. Emboss (Paper on Paper) is an examination of the concept explored and described in relation to artist Simon Schubert, “despite subjective perspectives, own mental images, internal ideas and historical factuality the viewer a part of the seen remains enigmatic”.

Your professional practice lies primarily in Technician and Arts Facilitator roles. How have you found the constant transition to the role of artist, particularly in the COVID-19 era?

My technician role has ceased completely since COVID-19 closed the Studios, and I am in the process of bringing both my teaching and Arts Facilitation roles online. Feels like a daunting process now, but with time and practice I will be appreciative for the new skill set and having the opportunity to work in these difficult times! As awful as this situation is, one plus has been the chance to dedicate far more time to my art practice. I no longer have the social occasions distracting me, so I am doing my best to solely dedicate my weekends to making and experimenting. I have picked up a paint brush for the first time in years and trying to get a handle on abstract painting and going back to simpler, at-home print making processes like linocut to re-explore the skills that I was first introduced to in High School. I am excited for the works that come out of this period in our lives, not only within my own practice but more importantly from the practices of my influencers and peers.

Are there any female printmakers | artists that influence you?

There are so many female artists out there who inspire and influence me! I’ll always have a soft spot for Margaret Preston and Cressida Campbell, I could never pass up a classic Australian landscape or botanical! I find inspiration in the mark making of Emma McNally and drew huge theoretical and process-based inspiration from Mimi Tong, an amazing Sydney based artist who I was lucky enough to recently work with on her group exhibition Daughters of Dragons.

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

New projects which are being birthed from the extra time I have at the moment include a series of abstract paintings inspired by the city and the textures within it, a series of linocuts- I’m thinking I might attempt a Preston inspired Australian native! And hopefully more projects I don’t anticipate doing, artworks that come out of the successes and failures I have along the way.