Acrylic on linen, 151x152cm

Through her precise dot work Margaret depicts the story of the bush potato vine, Anatye. Growing after the rains, the women go out to collect the bush potato using crowbars to dig up the ground. Once collected they are cooked in the hot coals of the fire. They are an important source of bush food for the Anmatyerre people.

Oil on wood, 35x200cm

Both the South Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia have a range of colonial paintings and paraphernalia of colonial fish catches. They have a freshness of enthusiasm which communicates poignantly across hundreds of years, from Sidney Nolan's paintings on board featuring birds levitating above the Australian landscape to my own version of an elderly and elongated freshwater eel, an animal I find fascinating.

Oil on canvas, 103x87cm

The orchid suggests opulence, beauty and seduction. It seems delicate yet in the right conditions is extremely tough. I have tried to make a tough painting about a beautiful and delicate subject.

Acrylic on canvas, 90x130cm

My artwork is about creating a connection with the essence of the natural world:

The seen and the unseen.

The primitive and the modern, revealing memories and stories in time.

Summer's beginnings; Winter's end.

A vision of the wide open sky unfolding in a symphony.

The forces of nature gather as the four winds collide.

Paper, card and vellum, 105x155cm

By combining art and science I want to encourage people to explore the fascinating world of beetles.

Using traditional entomological specimen displays as a starting point I have enlarged the scale of the beetles to highlight their beauty, complex structures, silhouettes and magnificent colours that often go unnoticed.

Relief print, 172x60cm

The image The Exquisite Corpse of Seaweed Man continues my fascination with the strange and mysterious aspects of the natural world. I have utilised my collection of seaweeds from the Tamar River in Tasmania and a Surrealist approach to juxtaposing images.

Inkjet print, etching, 170x100cm

'Each one of us is as old as the entire biological kingdom, and our bloodstreams are tributaries of the great sea of its total memory', The Drowned World, J.G. Ballard.

This piece is an apocalyptic relic, a result of the merging of ecologies from above and beneath the ocean.

Textiles and recycled chair, 100x90x100cm

We are all connected to every living being on the earth, whether they sport tentacles, fur, bark or cilia. Here, underwater tentacle-forms creep over a chair into our domestic, disenfranchised interior worlds in order to colonise our collective consciousness.

Glass, 44x60x60cm

This work is intended to convey my sense of wonder regarding the diversity of bird forms, particularly the peculiar and dangerous nature of beaks. I make the beakless head first, and it looks like an unknown anomaly, a mutant amphibian or mountain range, totally transformed by the addition of the beak.

Torn and curled paper, 39x39x39cm

Just as complex organic structures are formed from basic molecular units, Whorl''s organic form emerges from repeating, geometric paper shapes, perhaps Pythagorean evidence for the underlying mathematical structure of nature and the cosmos?

Blown glass, wheel cut, 14x14x12cm

Microcosm 1 utilises the distortive and reflective qualities of thick blown glass to encapsulate a pattern of microscopic symmetry on an internal floating bubble. This piece represents an investigation into the ability for the material object to elicit the same feeling of wonder that is experienced when looking through a microscope lens.

18ct yellow gold and copper, 10x60cm

I endeavour to capture the alluring poetic and aesthetic characteristics of the Correa. Celebrating the natural wonder of the Correa, this work consists of hundreds of small, dense and upright elliptical leaves that display subtle movement when worn, but are fixed in gold and copper, preserving both form and expression.

Collagraph, chine collé, 54x70cm

Dead Albatross was inspired by media reports detailing the ongoing problem of pollution in our oceans and its effect on bird and marine life. This artwork (number five from an irregular edition of six) portrays an albatross whose death was caused by ingesting plastic in polluted waters.

Oil, 183x91cm

Take a closer look at the leaves of the Dwarf Blue Mallee, they are in fact blue in places as the scrubby foliage writhes and twists in haphazard elegance. This remarkable little Eucalypt is the result of millennia of evolution beyond comprehension, a masterpiece of adapted life. Enjoy!

Dr Wendy Wickes Memoriam Prize Winner

Recycled plastics and metal, 190x95x95cm

Our oceans are struggling to deal with the waste from our modern societies. So much so that sea turtles mistake floating plastic bags as a favourite food source, jellyfish. The consequences once ingested are dire. This work draws attention to this tragedy.

Acrylic, 150x50cm

Stillness holds the moment,

Yet morning things begin to stir.

Sleep to waking, sunrise stretches,

Straining beams pick out and straighten.

Brilliant sun with feathered edges shortens shadows.

Seeping warmth surrounds and softens,

River mist still sleepy, drifting,

Myriads of midges shifting —

All this, yet day is only fledgling.

Pigments on canvas, 163x69cm

Broken Dream demonstrates discoveries concerning materials and image generation made during my PhD research in the painting workshop at the Australian National University. My work is driven by my identification with animals and natural processes. The work consists of earth, plant and animal derived materials I have collected from nature.

Acrylic, 60x60cm

The piece represents the artist's ideas surrounding different points of view and that there is beauty in what 'lies beneath', in things we don't normally see. Inspiration for this piece came from a close up investigation of the underside of a starfish.

Acrylic and ink on board, 90x90cm

Flight is an observation of the remarkable design intricacies of nature.

The work depicts the tendons, muscles, aerodynamic feathers and precise movements, each interlocking, perfectly constructed, natural element which enables flight.

I have endeavoured to single out the beauty of but a few single moments and movements to celebrate this extraordinary natural design.

Highly Commended

Oil on linen, 125x175cm

So how do you see yourself?

How can you find the essential state of existence?

Who is the keeper of your history?

Where do you seek this knowledge?

How do you justify the answers when the truth can never be known?

Acrylic on canvas, 110x100cm

Fire Inside is the portrait of a temperamental bull which I befriended whilst an artist in residence with Bundanon Trust in 2012. Inspired by Hemmingway's novel, Fiesta, I have engaged with the colourful and ferocious language used to describe the spectacle and power struggle of the bull fight.

Oil on canvas, 105x105cm

A tribute to the fertility of the ocean, this painting encapsulates the bounty of fish that are delivered to Australian fish markets every day. In Chinese culture, fish are regarded as a symbol of abundance and revitalisation — I hope these principles continue to apply to our own marine life.

Highly Commended

Oil on canvas, 100x145cm

Temporal and spiritual

Interwoven realities,

The interior world of 'still life'...

The exterior world of Tasmanian bush roads,

Through intimate study of a Bennett Wallaby, lovely in death...

The vast subject of the human condition is discovered and exposed.

This burdened, bound creation will share the promised liberty...

Salutem Veniet.

Oil on canvas, 125x96cm

Within the circular hole, gastropods cling tightly to the coastal rock. The hollow space and their hardened shells combine provide a favourable haven from life's extremes.

Human beings also act in this way, with our dependency on the earth which is, for the greater part, of our protective haven.

Acrylic on canvas, 186x170cm

Painting 99 is the result of a road trip Jones took to Fowler's Gap with 12 other artists in 2011. Known for its dry and barren landscape, Fowler's Gap had recently seen drought-breaking rains. As a result many creek beds held precious water bringing life to the desert.

Highly Commended

Acrylic on linen, 134x181cm

Anwekety, the bush plum, is a Dreaming story given to Gladdy by her grandmother. A type of bush tucker with large leaves and small round edible berries, Anwekety grows abundantly in Ahalpere country and is a major food source for Anmatyerre people. Viewed from above, the changing seasonal colours of the Anwekety dominate the flora on the ground in Ahalpere country.

Oil on Belgian linen, 92x92cm

These pigeons visit the studio everyday to be hand-fed. It's a ritual. One flew into the window while I worked. There was no memorial, no tribute or burial. Considering my own reaction to this loss, I contemplated the concept of grief within the natural world.

Acrylics, 100x100cm

For me, painting the outback is the next best thing to being there.

Oil on board, 90x90cm

Husk from a Red Cabbage Palm, Livistona maiae, Palm Valley, Northern Territory.

Red dirt, red rocks,

Sticky flies, stinking hot!

Textual layers,

Visual feast.

Reflective, primeval, eternal,

Reptilian inhabitants,

Nature at its harshest

Nature's fabric at its most splendid!

Palm Valley,

An oasis in the Red Centre!

Scratchboard, 61x46cm

This portrait of Malai Tong, an Asian elephant, strives to portray her beauty, strength and grace — yet disguises the trauma and disfigurement inflicted upon her from having stepped upon a landmine. Scratchboard serves as a wonderful medium to draw attention to the intricate texture of her surprisingly hairy skin.

Oil on canvas, 92x61cm

Inspired by the words of German mystic, Miester Eckhart (c.1260 — c.1327)

'when I was the stream,

when I was the forest,

when I was every hoof, foot,

fin and wing,

when I was the sky itself,

no one ever asked me did I have a purpose...'

Acrylic paper and canvas, 95x125cm

In Paddies and Myrtle I have endeavoured to share the experience of being in this beautiful forest; the immense myrtle, the glowing light and the joy of the paddymelons in their environment.

Oil on canvas, 102x82cm

Gladioli (last days) relates to the tradition of still life painting dealing with the transitory nature of life. My intention is to bring solace through the beauty of the painting. In formal terms, the cropped nature of the image enables me to emphasise the abstract relationships within the picture plane, setting up a dynamic within the painting by way of the stems of the flowers.

Highly Commended

Oil on linen, 153x122cm

Since 1996 the Tasmanian Devil, Sarcophilus harrisii, has been suffering the effects of Devil facial tumour disease. The tumours form around the face and mouth, causing the Devil to starve. This painting depicts a Devil in the later stages of the disease. Mouth agape and with weeping wound; eyes wide with terror. Originally I had intended to paint the body and legs, but upon reaching this stage in the painting, I could see that more paint would only detract from the image. At the time of painting the Devil, I had just had a potential skin cancer removed from my own face, and I think this added to the sense of anxiety in the finished work. In my case the removed tissue was benign.

Oil on canvas, 120x140cm

From the devastating event of a controlled burn raging out of control came a naked and emptied landscape. What was now the bare bones of the vegetation offered a new way of seeing the space between and around the trees; a vision to a new beauty, thought provoking stillness and quiet.

Highly Commended

Acrylic on linen, 106x168cm

The Nature of Things* is a landscape that shows variety in a balanced world; I am suggesting that we can live and die in harmony with nature. I try to infuse the qualities of nature into my paintings through texture, line and colour.

*Lucretius

Watercolour and acrylic, 58x75cm

Found washed up on Carrickalinga beach, this Seaball (Egagropili) is a mass of little sticks about the size of a football. Two tiny well worn shells are attached like marshmallows on a stick. Its journey and what might be trapped in it is a mystery.

Linocut, 90x112cm

Executed as a monochrome, the study captures the movement of blue soldier crabs as they travel en masse in formation, foraging for food at low tide at Silver Leaves, Phillip Island, Victoria. As we are accountable and responsible for our environment it is our duty to join forces and protect the lesser creatures.

Etching, 85x32cm

In my life I carry the words of Judith Wright's poem The Black Cockatoos, 'Each kind of weather or light has its own creatures.' I have drawn small coastal plants on the cockies' wings as memories of this weather, light and place. The little chine colle paintings show the oystercatchers, ducks and swans, theirs an ongoing presence.

Vinylcut print, 16x21cm

I have recently enjoyed experimenting with bookmaking techniques and exploring new ways of presenting my prints. I wanted the audience to experience the feeling of walking up my favourite bush track in Canberra and the joy of noticing unexpected and hidden natural elements on the way to the summit.

Watercolour, 78x66cm

Heritiera littoralis is one of the series of mangroves that I've been working on over the past 2½ years in Far North Queensland. An interesting feature is its buoyant seedpod that floats with its keel upward, acting as a 'sail' to assist water dispersal.

Watercolour on cast paper, 131x80cm

the gentle sea washes

a faraway shore

salt foam laced

balmy waves softly stroking

sand thick and creamy

cumulative memory of a million lives

the secret heart laps

rare beginnings await the moon

journeys charted

in the soul of each farer

reef oysters open to drink in the tide

Cut paper accordion book, 14x100cm

In the late 1700s Mary Delany executed 985 botanically correct, breathtaking paper cut flowers, found in the British Museum and known as the Flora Delanica. As a tribute I have used her flowers in the silhouette style of her time and created an accordion book. Closed, the piece is unknown; much like Mary's work. Open, the individual flowers reveal a complex and delicate arrangement casting a fluid and changing shadow reflecting Mary's oeuvre and nodding to the tradition of Botanical work.

Ink and rain on paper, 121x126cm

I made these drawings with ink and rain, from which emerges intricate marks and patterns created by the rain as it falls on the ink. These works are a poetic evocation of the complexity of rain patterns and the multiple factors and interactions which influence rainfall.

Synthetic polymer paint on paper, 85x110cm

Green Plumage is an attempt at creating a visual poem or musical composition. Poetry, and music, in a spontaneous overflow of emotion achieve images through words and sound: so too can painting. We study nature to allow us entry into the spiritual realm.

Hand-coloured etching (edition of 10), 76x56cm

The Mackerel, Perch and Scorpionfish are three fish found in and around Sydney Harbour. I enjoy exploring the exquisite harmony that can exist between science and art and referencing a past age of human history where this unity blossomed through a passion to experience and need to understand the natural world. This etching is a limited edition of 10 hand coloured prints.

Pyrography and embossing, 60x90cm

The iconic Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo of southwest Western Australia is listed as vulnerable. Finding nest hollows is hampered by native and exotic species and the impact of fire. Last summer many prescribed burns escaped, burning tens of thousands of hectares of forest and destroying wildlife and their habitats.

Watercolour, 75x56cm

Zea Mays: life giver, sustains life, whatever the interpretation of the name of this humble yet revered plant, it has continued to sustain over the centuries and is now at the centre of the biofuel debate. "Nature continues to a maize".

Highly Commended

Printed feathers on paper, 32x24cm

As Artist in Residence at the British Museum I have been researching and drawing feather-work from Oceania.

Over the past years I have drawn and painted feathers and birds, and explored how they have been used to enhance and decorate humans. I am also aware of the plight and precarious status of many species, which I wanted to represent in the delicacy of the image on the feather.

Monoprint mixed media, 65x55cm

'At the still point of the turning world...' is a point where I imagine all things exist. These words, borrowed from T.S. Eliot, confirm for me that there is a point where existence begins and ends. My 'Still Point' is a nature mostly unseen and often unappreciated.

Highly Commended

Pyrography and pigments, 103x124cm

A trip to the Flinders Ranges gave me visions of an emu stepping from a hole in an ancient seabed. The emu's shadow became an open-cut mine — minerals and fossil fuels that took hundreds of millions of years to form, extracted in an instant. The emu has been gutted — it looks good on the surface but how long can it last?

Highly Commended

Silver emulsion, 135x94cm

My work is inspired by a fascination with biological forms, both living and extinct. I seek to express a sense of awe with how matter responds to the challenges of environments through the vastness of deep time. The need to survive gives birth to astonishing structures of strength, elegance and vulnerability.

Pencil on paper and overlay, 64x87cm

Well-recognised for its ornamental delicacy, the Paper Nautilus 'shell' has a more mysterious life history. The female octopus, Argonauta nodosa, secretes this egg-case then partially retreats inside while brooding. Discarded in the open ocean, the 'shell' sometimes survives the long journey to shore during rough weather, becoming a beachcomber's treasure.

Mixed, hand cut papers, 78x173cm

Based on numerous site visits, Moss' art explores the ecology of Australian landscapes and our connected relationship to them. Life on the edge — High tide features species found in Moreton Bay island environments, while questioning our ability to live in balance with its natural heritage values.

Highly Commended

Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper, 60x45cm

Port Jackson Shark egg - 'Birth of my private nightmare'.

Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality as people who don't have nightmares don't have dreams. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

Pencil on Arches watercolour paper, pins and stamps, 35x150cm

Mr Darwin's Specimen Journal follows Charles Darwin's journey of observational recording to the edges of new lands and ideas. Darwin's journal entries, together with detailed specimen recording of plants, animals and geology, all provide clues to a giant worldwide puzzle that Darwin pieced together for his revolutionary theories.

Ink and wash on handmade paper, 120x150cm

The juxtaposition of the ancient gums and the young saplings became my inspiration for this painting.

The natural elements of the scene spoke to me of the continuation of life, epitomised by the ancients and their survival over many seasons, combined with the glory of all the new growth.

Hydrangea petals, gouache, glassine paper, nylon thread, aluminium gilt, drafting film and paper, 120x120cm

The idea of chaotic pattern came to me from seeing a photo of swirling nocturnal insects. The image captured a millisecond in time; a flurry of activity and multitude of direction. The sense of infinite possibility seemed a wonderful analogy for the many possible paths of life's journey.

Highly Commended

Watercolour and pencil, 65x52cm

As a botanical painter, I have always been attracted to the strong shapes of vegetables and their foliage. I love the gnarled celeriac, the smokey garlic, the humble potato and the intense colour of the artichoke. As an enthusiastic cook, I often eat what I paint — a true veggiefest!

Paper carving, 200 sheets Envirocare paper, 88x64cm

Hand-carved from a tablet of paper, Rural Backyard depicts a collection of small birds found in the artist's rural garden just outside of Melbourne. Contrary to traditional natural history documentation this framed exhibit is bleached of colour and reveals only the contoured impressions (their absence) as a guide to define the specimens.

Kylie Stillman is represented by Utopia Art Sydney.

Highly Commended

Hand painted tissue, river water and organic stains, 70x43cm

This work sites the river as a container of experiences, these having been accumulated, carried along or discarded. It is a wounded river, evoking disquiet. It was inspired by hand edited vellum charts of paddle-steamer captains. These highly coveted logs, detailing the passage of the river, became fragile, animated, palimpsests.

Soft ground etching, watercolour, pencil, ink, found paper: Sunday School Register (1895), passenger gate pass (1958), old postcard and atlas page, found objects: leaf, feather and seeds, 62x82cm

What forgotten objects, salvaged on impulse, suffused with silence, redolent with memory and meaning, travel across time and place to speak of our common humanity and the temporary gift of ordinary things?

Bulbs, paper and glass beads, 40x29x10cm

Dietes grandiflora, commonly known as Poor Man's Iris are prolific in my garden. The casings of these delicate bulbs characterise the fragile yet hidden beauty of form in nature. They represent the vulnerability of plants in an ever-changing environment and highlight the need to preserve and nurture all 'nature's lace'.

Transparent resin, 39x12x15cm

The Emperor Penguin is the tallest penguin, standing three times the height of this sculpture. It is also the toughest, being the only penguin to breed in the harsh Antarctic winter. The bird is sculpted in translucent resin, symbolising the beautiful blue ice of its severe environment.

Kiln-formed glass, 31x38x1cm

During a residency at Grindell's Hut, Gammon Ranges last year I came across many pockets of these bright and happy little flowers. I hope I have been able to capture their sunny disposition in these layers of glass.

Salt (baked in domestic oven), steel and aluminium foil, 10x125x60cm

If what you see is not what you think you see, what does that imply? Salt's alchemical and ephemeral properties suggest the dichotomy of life's forces; transformation, desecration, purification and healing.

In my work salt is likened to the preservation of memory. The fused layers in the core samples suggest what is initally hidden.

Southern Ice porcelain, 9x25x17cm

My inspiration for the visual part comes from underwater life where unique formations are caused by living organisms and deterioration. My concept explores the relationship between time and nature. Each dot represents a second of my life. Each piece is an interpretation and a combination of visual inspiration and concept.

Altered book and plinth, paper, glass and wood, 29x26x19cm

In this centenary year of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's mortal journey to the South Pole we are reminded of man's brave, if often futile, attempts to conquer the natural realm. It is within this apparent opposition of man and the wild that we see the emergence of natural history itself.

Highly Commended

Kiln formed glass, 14x92x5cm

Within the moment of dawn there is a significant opportunity to stand, quietly and in waiting, for the freshness of an approaching new. This work celebrates the perpetuity of that moment; one of passing and renewal.

Ceramic, 51x45x45cm

The coastal fringe where I live hosts the unique Pandanus palm. Exposed to the elements, phallic aerial roots help it cling to rock faces. The trunks, with spiralling patterns, are evocative of life lines and of life journeys, with knobbly bits like scars or moments, as points of reference along the way.

Wax, found objects and metal, 54x49x14cm

Nature is a recurring theme in my work. I have a particular fascination with the sea urchin, a harbinger of ecological change, whose fragile beauty is largely overlooked. The imprints of urchin specimens and fragments buried in wax come to life when lit from behind, the ambiguous forms taking on an aura of preciousness.

Embroidered lace, 25x18x18cm

It is extraordinarily rare for anything as soft and delicate as a 540-million-year-old sea-frond to have its impression preserved, never mind discovered! I had the notion of an apparently fragile, transparent lacy vessel to express my wonder of these lovely forms, as they cast elusive evocative shadows about their sieve-like base.

Hot sculpted glass, 20x15x15cm

Throughout history we have collected and preserved items of interest so that we can learn and develop from them. The vessel is a visual signifier of the containment of knowledge displayed within our museums.

Highly Commended

Wax, felt and paper, 25x50x50cm

White Parazoa is a series of small sculptures initially inspired by the Victorian era. The geometric forms reference the designs of neck ruffles and lace of the period, whilst also referencing the appearance of cabinets of curios and the rise in scientific discoveries in the 17th-19th centuries. The work also draws upon the ideas in the illustrations of biologist Ernst Haeckel in Art Forms in Nature focusing on sea creatures and the array of symmetrical and geometrical patterns found in living organisms.

Highly Commended

Hot blown glass, 34x77x34cm

This work pays tribute to the world's oldest living traditions of weaving and living sustainably with nature.

Inspired by the interplay of form, light and weave of traditional Aboriginal eel traps, it is blown from glass canes made with opaques overlaid with translucents to emulate the colours in dried bulrushes.

Highly Commended

Beeswax, furs and fibreglass, 80x160x100cm

A body and a shelter; existing on the threshold between a place to hide and a place to fear, where death and decay can proliferate life and protection.

Metals and plastics, 10x10x4cm

These works were inspired by the tussocks, grasses and rushes endemic to the south-eastern region of Melbourne, as well as by Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf's work with grasses in gardens. Waste/remnant plastics from the stationery industry have been recontextualised to create objects of beauty, vitality and life.

Southern Ice porcelain, 9x20x22cm

By researching the natural world and observing subtle differences, one can appreciate the beauty of its infinite variations. My work is a collection of observations from the natural world explored through the medium of ceramics. I am looking for ways in which ceramics can bring drawn images to life.

Ceramic, 12x100x20cm

This work is a metaphor for the idea that the fortune of humans is inextricably connected to the health and well-being of other animal species. The bleaching and death of corals that can arise from even a one degree rise in sea temperature might be taken as a warning to humanity.

Glass, freshwater pearls, emu egg and steel rivets, 16x90x90cm

Obscured by shadows and sand in the depths, the most intelligent invertebrate emerges at night to hunt. This work captures the essence and aesthetics of the octopus; renowned for releasing a cloud of black ink upon attack and the ability to lose an arm and re-grow it. Also its amazing camouflaging techniques which match skin cells to the immediate surroundings.

Ceramic, 100x80x6cm

Australian Eucalypt forests provide the inspiration for Leaf Cabinet. From a distance these forests may appear monochromatic, but when looking closer, they are delicately coloured and finely detailed. The tiny ceramic cylinders have been fired with copper and wood shavings to achieve soft, smoky colours. They allude to a fire-affected landscape, both persistent and fragile.

Titanium, 35x18x4cm

Through exploration of fragile natural forms, I ustilise titanium's inherent strength to create intricate elements with subtle curves, layers of etching and colour; mimicking that which might be found scattered on a forest floor.

Within this neckpiece I combine and repeat delicate dragonfly wings which form a serpent, scale-like structure.

Wire and barbed wire, 80x80x80cm

There is the chance of finding another world in the overlooked. Somewhere between life and death, I see beauty in the things nature discards. With the passing of time, these objects continue to disintegrate and the possibility of change continues. Part observation, part invention, it is a dance between the real and imagined.

3D polylactide print, 9x12x10cm

The sea butterfly (Pteropod), a vital link in the marine food web, is an icon of environmental fragility. The formation of its delicate shell is being affected by the rising acidity of our oceans due to the absorption of increasing levels of carbon dioxide, which is threatening its very existence.

Highly Commended

Banksia ornata and copper, 50x40x10cm

In loving memory of our Banksia which died from Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback, an introduced water mould. The mould threatens the biodiversity of Kangaroo Island by destroying habitats essential for the survival of our precious wildlife. Our natural heritage is a treasure and needs protection.

Ngarrindjeri weaving rushes (Cyperus sp.), 35x34x15cm

I describe myself as a Ngarrindjeri Cultural Weaver. My work represents who I am, my culture, traditions and beliefs and where I come from. The basket I made is a food gathering basket, and my weaving pieces always strengthen and sustain my traditional weaving practice. My thoughts go back to my old people, especially when I make my baskets and mats, of how they made their survival items.

Highly Commended

Recycled corrugated iron, 2x64x35cm

Wing explores the impact of urban development on the relationship between the man-made and natural world. As houses topple at the hands of developers and blocks of apartments replace them, gone too are the green spaces which provided sanctuary for the birds. Constructed out of discarded roofing iron, the feather becomes a metaphor for this displacement and loss.

Hollow wooden form, Jarrah, 80x120x60cm

This large hollow seed form suggests a new beginning, while its structure embodies the inherent struggle of transformation during processes of growth. Utilising the flexible quality of wood, individual pieces are bent and woven together, each playing their role in creating a complex yet simple object.

Ceramic, 21x35x22cm

Native operculum is inspired by the operculum of the red flowering eucalyptus (Macrocarpa, common name mottlecah). Ceramics and the operculum share several similarities and sensibilities; when the operculum falls from the bloom they are initially supple but over time become seasoned, creating a subtle changeable surface.

Arts SA funded project.

Fine silver, enamel paint, 9x10x20cm

Precious is an interpretation of gradual natural deterioration, with each object at different stages in the process, yet still retaining the suggestion of the original form. Silver, a precious material in itself, has physical properties enabling the portrayal of the inherent fragility of deteriorating organic matter.

Hot sculpted glass, 16x84x60cm

The complex cycles and patterns of nature when looked at closely, reveal a depth and semblance through all life. The scales of a fish are reminiscent of distant hills. The shapes of rivers are similar to the veins in a leaf. The patterns in nature interweave, connecting all life.

Hand blown glass, sandblasted, screen printed and engraved, 42x21cm

It is a rare sight to see a Glossy Black-Cockatoo on Kangaroo Island; these endangered birds are found in coastal woodlands where old trees with hollows provide homes. The clearing of the land removes these homes and divides the bush land. From hollow to hollow, one tree to the next, these beautiful birds fly, leaving just a trace of the cracked casuarina seeds behind.

Black ink, 17x29cm

Sharks and rays are important for sustaining healthy marine environments. Alarmingly many have experienced severe population declines due to fishing. My drawing explores the threatened yet unique diversity of sharks and rays. I advocate for conservation of sharks and rays, and the minimisation of our impact on the marine environment.

Pen and ink on scratchboard, 62x26cm

Inspired by the Nurus atlas beetle, this work is the result of an exploration of the vulnerable existence of some insects, a group of living creatures that are often overlooked when considering endangered and extinct animals.

Graphite and colour pencil, 63x82cm

This is a homage to the insects. It is about noticing those that exist below our level of consciousness; or else are merely perceived as pests, irritations. These were the bodies of insects I found around my home. Even in death their beauty and delicacy lingers.

Porcelain, 14x35x29cm

washed up and beached on sandy shores

scattered debris on a forest floor

through twisted roots and iced crevasse

under rocks and hidden cracks

tiny structures eroded in time

textured patterns of grand design

Blown and carved glass, 18x22cm

Through the fragile and decomposing plant life in my surroundings, I am exploring my connection to the garden which I grew up in and have watched deteriorate over the years.

Blown, cold worked glass, 21x30x30cm

Looking to my immediate surroundings for insight, Surge 2.1 draws inspiration from the movement and flow of water. Within the turbulent current of a river, rocks interrupt its course, creating beautiful and chaotic disturbances in the flow.