Rebel Hearts - Exhibiting After 25 Years…

What does it mean to have a rebel heart?

For me - the rebellion is actually following my heart’s calling… even if it is some 25 years since I turned deaf ears on it.

The first week of December ‘23, I came across a call out for ‘emerging artists’ to submit to be a part of an upcoming exhibition under the theme, ‘Rebel Hearts’ - ‘a powerful narrative that celebrates female embodiment as the ultimate act of courage and defiance against a world that underestimates a woman’s power’.

When I threw my hat into the ring to participate in this exhibition, I couldn’t yet see the perfect divine guidance… how the theme coalesced so clearly with my life in that moment.

You see, when I saw the call out in a Facebook group, it was only a couple weeks after I’d told my wine business partner that my heart was calling me to focus on my painting, rather than continue forward with a pivot we were considering in our start up.

After I’d disappointed my business partner, I had bitten the bullet and taken some of my paintings off to be professionally photographed - the prints having arrived back to me the very day that I saw that Facebook post (and to be uploaded here for purchase before March!)

I DM’d one of the curators and sent along a photograph of my test prints spread across my kitchen counter, then nervously waited to hear if I was the type of emerging artist that they were looking for.

I was told I was.

But even knowing this was an opportunity for me - I was hesitant.

My doubting mind enquired… ‘Am I really good enough to put my art work in a gallery?’

The only time I’d ever exhibited was at the end of my senior year of college (university) where I had to be part of the ‘senior show exhibit’ at my college.

When I graduated, I turned my back on my art - choosing to ignore my heart’s callings and head into ‘the business world’.

. . . .

Just a few weeks later, as ‘23 turned into ‘24 - my heart was both shattered and expanded in the same moment, on a cold January day, as I observed drawings from my youth.

I felt an enormous flood of grief (which I talk all about here)

It was at that moment that I realised, I had to exhibit. I had to put myself out there and see. I knew what my heart was calling me to do - and I decided it was finally time to embrace it.

I think one of the most powerful aspects to being a woman is the ability quickly access & communicate our emotions. I also believe there is tremendous power in being vulnerable.

So I’m leaning in to that … sharing my story… in hopes that it might inspire others to step bravely forwards with courage and faith. I am writing a blog for each of the 11 pieces I created for this exhibit - so watch this space!

I realise now how divinely perfect it is that the first show I’ve been in for some 25 years, is themed - ‘Rebel Heart's’.

These new oil works represent this significant directional life shift where I am finally tuning powerfully into my heart. I’m stripping away the layers of expectation and societal beliefs I have embodied from my youngest of years.

These works embody the flood of emotions that have erupted from me since January. First fuelled by the heartbreaking realisation that I had turned my back on what I love. I moved through anger (at myself), grief & despair for my young self, confusion and self-doubt about the decisions I was making to vulnerably share my story after so long.

My beautiful husband Steve supported me as I want through all of these emotions. He supported me as I missed out on the house of my dreams (one with an artists studio where I could see my life heading). He recognised where my heart was and suggested we invest in renovating our home to create a proper artists studio for me to work from. With (& my dear friends Angellina & Lisa’s support), I moved towards hope and excitement, to gratitude and joy at having the courage to whole-heartedly embrace this path and screaming ‘hell yes’ to this next life chapter.

That’s what having a rebel heart is for me - having the courage to whole-heartedly embrace your unique path.

I hope you enjoy my works. They’ll be available for live viewing (and purchase) at my upcoming group exhibition - Ladies in Red: Rebel Hearts.

Exhibition opens February 28th and runs through March 10
Address: 157 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North
Grand Opening: 6-8pm March 1st

Please join me and some of the other artists on opening night!

A further thanks:
And I wish to thank and express gratitude to my coach and friend, Lisa Britcliffe, for her encouragement to get my art out there and for her suggestions around how to really embody my emotions as part of this process for this particular exhibition. To my grandmother Winnie Boylston, who gifted both my mother and I with some of her creativity and was also an inspirational force behind my decision to move out of my head into my heart, and to my mother, Marianne Lassiter, who held onto all of my artwork. It was the process of looking at my old drawings from back in university that fully broke my heart opened and really led me to where this exhibition has allowed me to express myself.

And most of all I have to thank my husband, Steve Grace, who has been unwaveringly supportive of me in all of my endeavours, in all of the direction and meandering steps I’ve taken - not just to get to this point but also to back me in getting back into my art. He has been more than I could imagine in regards to how supportive another person can be of someone. He has believed in me when I haven’t believed in myself. His forethought and graciousness to build a space for me to paint from at our holiday home has been the backbone for me having a place to dive into this work. Most of the time I feel like he gives more than he gets, but I hope that I can find the right words and the right ways to show him how very much he means to me and how much his support means to me; it has truly allowed me to move more fully into the person that I want to be and the artist I want to become.