About the Artist

Hi, my name is Iona and I'm from a small town in Victoria surrounded by wildlife and wildflowers. I currently live in Ringwood and there aren't as many flowers. Today I saw a lorikeet (native parrot) being attacked by two ravens on the side of the road and I didn't stop and help it because of survival of the fittest or whatever. I thought about that a lot today.

I am a registered science teacher and teach general science years 7-10 and VCE Biology, as well as some cool electives such as Indigenous studies and Biotechnology. I am scientific and efficient in most of my day to day thinking at work. I am currently working part time and am interested in expanding my knowledge in coding and teaching design subjects. I am just starting to get involved in STEAM club at my school and love working with enthusiastic students.

I have always mixed science into my art, and when I was at school I used art to dissect mermaids to investigate what their anatomy would be like, hypothetically. At Uni studying science, I turned my dissection drawings into watercolour paintings (I actually lost marks for this though, as the demonstrator was not impressed). While studying science, and then education, I slowly stopped making art, until 2014 when I bought a giant bell tent and started making ceramics in it. I had quit working as a research assistant after losing my dad and started an entry level job in fast food to pay the bills. Art was my escape, and I was freezing cold in that tent with my hands in cold, wet clay, but that was where my artists' journey began. I realised that I needed to make art to be myself.

Since then, I became a teacher, and worked full time for three years throughout the pandemic. I quit that mid-year last year and left my school in the lurch. I uprooted my life, and was unemployed for 6 months, working casually as a relief teacher when it was available, and making art 60+ hours a week to sell it at markets.  Although I was making money off my art, it was still not enough to pay for Hamish's expensive lifestyle, so I returned to teaching part-time. Hamish is my doggo.

This shop, my art, and everything you see here is from that part of me that craves creative release. I hope you find inspiration from my art, and perhaps adopt something to be yours forever. Everything is handmade and one of a kind. Nothing is perfect and nothing turns out like I expect it to. 

Thank you for reading this far, and for your support. It freaks me out sharing my art, as they are like individual horcruxes of my soul. It makes me feel like people have magnifying glasses and are dissecting me when I have all my pieces laid out on the market stall for them to look over.

Happy shopping 🐸 Love, Iona