ABSTRACT
I first trained as a fashion designer but found this type of work empty and superficial, so I decided to study teaching. In the 1970s, conventional approaches to pedagogy were being challenged and alternative schools with alternative teaching practices were opening in Melbourne. I joined a community-education focused program in 1979 which, after an exciting year of radical teaching practice, ultimately influenced my decision, not to teach in a school. Instead I became a youth worker in a very challenging community. It was in this environment that I realised that creative expression provided a respite both for me and for the young people I was working with. I discovered that there was nothing more extraordinary than stumbling on an idea that felt new, and it was even better if you thought of it yourself.
