Perfectly Imperfect

My background is as a journalist. I started naively at The Examiner in Launceston with little life experience and it really was a baptism of fire. With uncles successfully working in the media business I felt the pressure to remain in mainstream media, but it wasn't long before I escaped. Initially I was devastated as I thought my lifelong dream was over and that I had failed. 

With time I realised my passion for capturing people's stories hadn't waned. I also realised that writers write; irrelevant of the place or platform and that just as there are many types of writers there are just as many types of readers. Which means that there is a place for us all. And finally I realised that I didn't have to be perfect. Everybody needs an editor and that the idea of immediate perfection by one individual is a nonsense.

This passion has led me to writing a number of publications and articles over the last 20 years.  Particularly gratifying is when I can combine my love of the arts and people, with my passion for story telling.

Last year I was invited to write an article for IMPRINT about Paper Garments for the Grave, an amazing collection of work by mostly Tasmanian artists. It's one in a series of art stories that I have captured with hopefully many more to come.

Choosing an Art Life

Art is life, life is art...a quote used over and over again. But how true it is, particularly with some. Rather than art sittting as an accessory to my life, like many, I find it weaving between everything in my life. The choices of clothes and jewellery, where I place a beautiful ceramic sculpture, what I hang on my wall, what I read and even what I choose to eat. There is a bubbling passion for all that keeps it all alive.
I have been frustrated of late that due to personal upheavals I have not been able to attend the many shows, exhibitions and events that are either sent via Facebook, emails or I spot in the newspaper. I feel very apologetic almost to the point of sending a note to the artists, performers or organisers explaining my non attendance. I stop myself of course, knowing that I may appear a little disturbed by doing so and console myself with the thought that this is not permanent. I will see shows again, I will experience amazing art again, I will get back out to MONA and enjoy another festival.