I was born in 1962 in Noordwolde, a small village in Friesland, the Netherlands and grew up with a passion for riding horses. Whilst my mother was a full time working mum with 5 children, she did find time to teach me to knit when I was 4, and to crochet and sew on the sewing machine a year later. Embroidery was taught both at school and at home. My brothers on the other hand like to build model planes and cars. We had an enormous electrical train board and created entire towns from lego, sticks, sand or cardboard, depending on what was at hand. We always tried to push the boundaries and this has never stopped. I moved to Australia when I was 18 and studied environmental design and fine art in Hobart and Architecture in Launceston during the eighties before commencing a career in town planning. During the 90’s I designed and build my house and studio near Richmond (Tasmania) where I started a new career making felt and running felt making workshops. Since then I have expanded my arts practice using different materials and processes. Starting with a concept based on something I have seen or experienced, I apply a see/saw process of asking ‘what’, ‘what if’, ‘how’ and ‘what is it about’. To me the journey of the often introspective process is more important than the end product, though finishing a project can be important to provide mental and physical space to start on the next one!
