MEET THE ARTIST

I made my first jewellery in  high school, I was very lucky in that we had fabulous art teachers who allowed us to explore many mediums, there was not an official jewellery class but we were able to follow our interests.  I went on to start a BA in Visual Art at Melbourne University.  I completed two years but decided I did not want to be a teacher so I moved to Queensland where I was mentored by Raina Ham.  Raina helped me get myself set up with tools etc and for a while I had a market stall and got involved with a community art group in Maleny to showcase and sell our work.  I found it very hard to make a living and so for many years I made jewellery on the side whilst working as a cook, gardener, house cleaner and later on in health food shops and ironically as a teacher.  It wasn’t until my first trip to Yowah to set opal, in 2008, that I became a full time silver and goldsmith. 

I moved to Bellingen in 2010, after Black Saturday I could no longer live in bushfire country and I had always dreamed of living in a warm place.  I stayed three years then I moved to White Cliffs in 2013.  I lived and worked in a dugout underground and created a range of jewellery featuring opal, antique pottery and glass from the wonderfully inspiring palette of White cliffs.
In 2020 I bought an acre in Eulo where I now live and work, custom designing one of a kind pieces of jewellery for clients. I have a showroom in Eulo for my ready made pieces which is open daily by appointment from April to October.

My primary obsession as a goldsmith is with opal.  I first discovered Queensland boulder opal on a trip around Australia with my daughter in a Kombi.  Whilst free camping on the Paroo at Eulo I met Garry Berghopher at the Eulo stores and he put me to work setting some of his opal.  My life has never been the same!  Prior to this I used to do a lot of beading, I had my own 8 week beading course I taught at Community centres and Tafes around Melbourne.  Once I discovered opal I stopped beading and concentrated on setting all those amazing works of art from under the ground. Each winter for five years after that first trip I satisfied my itchy feet by going to the opal fields in Yowah, Koroit and White Cliffs to set opal for the tourists, miners, locals - anyone and everyone!
In 2013 I moved into a former mine "Dugout" in White Cliffs where I lived and worked for 7 years. I then spent 2 years in Eulo, between my two favourite opal fields, Yowah and Koroit.
I currently live and work in my studio home on Tamborine Mountain where I specialise in custom designing unique settings for opals posted to me, as well as wholesale setting for several other retailers.
If you are interested in learning how to set opal I have created an online course , the link for which you will find on my links page in the main menu.