Artist as Collector

I have been picking up things that caught my eye and putting them in my pocket since I was a child. My focus now is on a diversity of natural elements I find outdoors and an expanding seed saving collection. What appear to be the most simple of elements can be amazingly intricate when viewed in detail. I love the patterns, textures, structures and forms, the sheer diversity and adaptability of nature to environmental surrounds. Each piece has a story too, the place where it was found or the people who have given them to me. I have without intention enlisted the help of others to collect findings for me. My husband brings in snake skins he comes across when mowing and informs me of large fungi sprouts in the neighbourhood; friends have passed on insect cocoons and I was once offered a dunnit skull from west Quilpie. In a way I feel my art practice is doing its job, if people are encouraged to look more closely at the world around them, the web of life we are all part of.