My earliest interest in making art was in the darkroom; I worked with a twin lens reflex and a few homemade pin hole cameras. Many years after my dreams of being a photojournalist faded, I took pottery classes at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. I loved throwing on the wheel, and working with glazes and Raku, but the process from start to finish required a lot of patience! Lacking that, I discovered that White Line Prints could fit into my schedule, not that of the clay and kiln. It was refreshing to need only a block of wood, a knife, paper, watercolor—I love the spontaneity! From woodblocks I have delved into other print processes when the chance arises.
As an art collector, my tastes are pretty eclectic. I’m drawn to lots of color, land and seascapes, and abstract art; but I am also taken with German Expressionist drawings and the pathos felt in the figurative prints and sculptures by Kathe Kollwitz.
I was pleased to make a plate for the THS auction themed Looking Back/ Thinking Ahead: Truro 2020. My plate is of The Three Sisters and celebrates the people who (naively) welcomed us to this land. The ecosystem they create by intertwining the Three Sisters sustained them and, in turn, the settlers. Looking forward, what we can learn from the past will help us work the land in more sustainable ways.
