My Solo Exhibition ‘Forest Management’ was initially shown at Latrobe Regional Gallery Morwell. It was a great thrill for me. I was fortunate to be asked to have another solo exhibition at Abi Edwards Gallery at Jinks Creek Tonimbuk, which is a very charming place.
This series has many special memories and some of them sad, because many of the works from ‘Forest Management’ were destroyed in my studio and workshop during one of the fires up in Callignee on Black Saturday. Naturally, most of our past work and all the art materials were all lost. I was fortunate that some of my paintings had sold prior to the fire and a few others were actually held still at Jinks Creek. This was quite odd really because Abi Edwards Gallery at Jinks Creek was surrounded by the Bunyip fires for weeks, and yet they were spared and Callignee and surrounding areas were not!
Fate is amazing! Werner and I still feel incredibly fortunate because our lives were spared several times during that night, and through the incredible kindness of many people have managed to rebuild and move on. My ‘Fire Series’ followed with my art assisting me work through the grieving process and deal with the aftermath.