My field and research work for my BA (Hons) (Sydney Uni) thesis in Social Anthropology was on “Urbanism & the Search for Community – People & Plans”, focusing on the effects of poverty, class, status and power. My early work experience was as a fieldworker, then trainer in the provision of community services, particularly the welfare area of family casework and child abuse.
Working with disadvantaged children and families in Sydney’s Western suburbs led me to seek to improve the functioning and amenity of built environments and public spaces for people. I completed a Masters of Town & Country Planning (M.T.C.P. University of Sydney), while engaged in planning and policy work in the area of Family Support Services at national and state policy level.
The lack of corporate and strategic planning and ineffective distribution of limited resources to the ground level which I continually observed at the policy level of government, shifted my focus to management training and organisation development in the public sector. I then lectured for five years at the Australian Institute of Management NSW in the areas of management training and executive skills development.
As Federal Head of Training & Development (TV & Corporate) in the ABC, I co-designed and implemented the Performance Planning & Review System for the Senior Executive Service. I then worked as an independent management consultant in the private and public sector, specialising in strategic business planning and performance management, with a focus on improving teams and work environments by making them “healthier“, more positive, effective, highly productive and rewarding for both managers and individuals in the organisation.
As a Chapter co-ordinator and an International Board member of the World Business Academy – a global network to explore the ethics, issues and examples of new paradigm business - I organised workshops on Organisational Form and Function, looking at the architecture, processes and systems of organisations from the practical perspective of different disciplines.
Expressing my ideas through sculpture and the visual arts is another way to develop, explore and share key organisational principles of wholeness, unity, harmony, and ‘the implicate order’ of quantum physicist David Bohm, and the integration of reality and nature in actual and material form.
I still enjoy one-to-one and team coaching for high performance, stress reduction, personal growth and well-being.
I have always been fascinated by the range and variation in expressions of culture and social behaviour within the oneness of humanity, and the role that art and symbols play in creating a sense of meaning, place, inspiration, well being and belonging.
Sculpture in private and public spaces epitomises this potential for me, and I have always appreciated and longed to create meaningful works that speak to people at a deeper level.
I try to observe and describe the fundamental shapes, sacred geometry, poetic patterns and essential elements of nature and humanity and then translate them through natural materials like stone, metal, glass and bronze into distilled thoughts, captured moments and tactile abstract sculpture to share with others in the environment.
Just as sculptures enhance the outdoor environment, so too custom designed stone garden settings and reflection and memorial plaques, benches and birdbaths can add to a sense of meaning and place.
Photography, music and food contribute to artful living inside drawing on on botanical themes, sacred geometry and patterns in nature.