the short version of a long story

My love affair with all this art can be traced back to my childhood collection of Fairy books by Shirley Barber. After dabbling in illustration and textile design I started my career as art educator – my fairy kid books were always close by.

On my first day in the classroom I was given a drill, a chisel and introduced to a group of Year 9 boys to teach woodwork. It was awesome, we made flat pack stools. I continue to teach and mentor big kids through their VCE studies then skip over to the tiny kid classroom to read about Sunflowers and create some fancy finger painting, I love both.

I realised quickly that the kids who thrived in my  classroom, dabbling in abit of creative art making were also having great success in their other subjects. The skills we covered were transferable from art to english, from art to maths and from art to science. I also noticed a encroaching famonmian of “I’m not good at art” or “I can’t draw” creeping into the classroom preventing kids from making a mark on the page. The fear of mistakes was real.

What if I could create a space where there were no risks? No grade assessment. No rush before the bell rings, no . Something better. A space to draw, paint and create for pure enjoyment.  Don’t be fooled. Art making is a big deal. It calls on the top three skills of the twentieth century: complex problem solving, critical thinking creativity.

I’m here to help your child have fun making beautiful art, guide them to learn new skills, encourage them to make their own creative decisions and grow into independent, confident little artists.