Hello! We’ve made it though the back end of ’25 and into a new year, with global shenanigans barrelling on (oohhh, barrelling, like oil?) at a pace that 2020 and our then content-starved senses couldn’t have ever fathomed. For those regular onlookers, you’ll note that usually I’ll post a Solsticefest greeting in time for the big celebrations, which I missed this recent last season, owing to the house/studio move and open studio and associated post-match recuperation and ice-bath(s). In lieu of that, I wish you and yours peace and some form of benevolent omniscient presence/presents in 2026.
I am still moving through recovery and logging of the ’25 year – I am coincidentally writing a grant acquittal – and in doing so am examining parts of the warp and weft of the year. A lot went down, y’all.
For me, the longest thread was weekly site meetings at the then-being-built house/studio, and the work associated with those – designing, sourcing materials, equipment and installers, worrying about timelines and the quality of outcomes. It’s been strange to encounter the first few Tuesdays without those site meetings. I was still feeling like I was on the precipice of one last night!
On the flip side, it’s been a supreme luxury to holiday at home the last couple of weeks. A luxury deepened when the blinds in our bedroom were installed on Christmas Eve, an unexpected miracle (apologies to those who feel such magic might be considered wasted on my sleep patterns…) that made my Christmas. Yes, me and Bruce went full Oprah on our presents to one another this year: “You get a house, and you get a house!” so functioning blinds really were the icing!
And while my last days of 2025 resonated with relief and exhaustion, I am obliged to recall (see that acquittal note above) that moving house and studio was so very far from all I achieved in 2025. There was a LOT of travel. It began in Feb when I was east-side for a Sydney gallery-crawl weekender, chased by an almost 3-week European jaunt for openings, talks and to see what’s up. We took in Zurich, Munich, Swansea, Birmingham and London in March, followed by a short Melbourne – Rye stay for an exhibition opening in June. Then the long-planned (and recently acquitted) South Korean adventure for the Cheongju Biennale, and a second longer Sydney trip for Craft Week and associated events. Suffice to say, it all feels on the whirlwind side of gainfully occupied.
Looking back, it’s amazing that anything else got done! I did remount my solo show Banner and Badge at Rockingham Arts Centre in May with thanks to curator team Jude van der Merwe and Claire Stroud, and in the stude I did some fun experiments with rust and tea / wine tannins to make ink. I made a bunch of new works including the rings and prints that debuted at Alta Forma for the aforementioned Melbourne show, and 5 crowns for the ADC MAKE Award – which is now on at the Jam Factory in Adelaide (these crowns have friends – hopefully debuting this year) alongside the works were made and appeared immediately in shows like BK’s Remade/Reloved and for Curtin’s 30×30 Fundraiser.
In other studio haps, for the EU trip I put together a show-in-a-box (from my Marfa, TX series) that got some play in Birmingham when I spoke at the School of Jewellery for Bridie Lander. And more recently, I was shortlisted in another public art bid just before Christmas. All I can say is that I spent the last part of the year focused on my perennial favourite, stainless steel, and working in AutoCad.
Scattered in were plotting and making one or two private commissions, plus remakeries and making days, both in the wild and not. In the community jewellery skills were shared with Curtin Heritage, Shine, and with paying attendees at Rockingham and Midland Junction Art Centres’. Thanks to other travelling exhibits and enthusiasm at MJAC there will be more classes upcoming, look to late Q1:2026 for those.
And why download all of this to you now? Well, I’ve missed being here and chatting; the last year or so the blog has felt more transactional than playful. That’s not how I like to write, or to feel, about these missives. I’m starting a new year with a new leaf, and checking in with the backlog as a way of balancing the scales so as to move into ’26 feeling realigned. I’m ready (and will hopefully have time) for a little more story to slide between the didactics and promo. Because, you know, I love to spin a yarn, in all aspects of my work.
That thing Socrates mentioned about the unexamined life, yeah? After 16 years, I guess this is the place where that *might* be happening.