This post is for my mum who is away at the moment giving lectures in Santa Fe at a textiles conference. Mum loves the colour red and so here are some red things for her.
My mum, Sue Walker, was one of the founders of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop where she was the director for many years. I grew up with the Workshop and spent many hours there as a girl, surrounded by colour, wool & the world of tapestry weaving. Art and craft were a big part of our lives as children, my Dad is also a painter & printmaker. I am a very visual person and I'm sure this has comes from a lifetime of being surrounded by paintings, tapestries, colour and creativity. I hope I can bring this to my children's lives as well because to me it is as natural as breathing.
There was a time when I felt frustrated, and sometimes still do, that I couldn't paint or create the images in my head in a way that felt relevant. I felt inferior and annoyed at myself for not being able to translate the images in my mind to canvas or to a loom. Although I did art at school and was always drawing and making things I never took it to the next level or was confident in my abilities.
My dad once said to me, "but you live creatively" and in a way that was a turning point for me. It's not necessarily what you create but how you live that matters.
These days I find great pleasure in the toys I make, in crochet, in card making, taking photo's, in blogging, making things with the kids, dreaming. But also, everyday, I find a release in the world around me. I love to see the shapes in shadows, in the clouds, in the trees. I look for colour in the landscape, in my children, in the things I collect along the way. So for me, I suppose, art is everywhere, art is life.
Anyway, enough rambling! I really wanted to thank my mum for giving me such a rich and loving childhood and for always encouraging me in the things I've done in my life so far. Oh, and for the gift of the love of colour!
ps. My dad, Murray Walker has curated a fantastic exhibition that is on at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery at the moment. If you get a chance pop in and have a look at Reclaiming .
