Bronwyn Clare Smith Born Katanning 1965 Living in Margaret River since the end of 2024, I have engaged with some amazing creative people working in a variety of media. I have always enjoyed creating, with art and craft being a wonderful counterpoint to my work as an education assistant. Indeed, these are immensely transferable skills and I’m often able to bring my creative skills into the classroom environment.
The Naturaliste – Leeuwin area is fertile country for the creative arts. So many local people are involved in some form of artistic endeavour that it’s natural to be inspired by the experience. And being surrounded by the raw beauty of forest and coast, inspiration is always there.
For my artworks, I actively search for used and discarded items. Old rope, pallet wood, newspaper, cloth and feedbags are all rich sources of materials to fashion into something useful and beautiful. With so much wastage in society and the bad habits of using things once, my ecological inclination guides me to find a new purpose for these items.
This has led to creating a range of sculptures for both inside the home, in the garden and for outdoor undercover areas. For inside the home, I have created a range of papier maché stylised swan sculptures and for the garden I have crafted cats, dogs and birds which will happily sit on the lawn or amongst the vegetables.
Another range I enjoy making is carry bags from discarded feed bags. Not only is the material far too durable to only be used once, the images are striking and fun. These carry bags are big enough for a large shop or to take a heap of stuff to the beach. While the sewing machine is out, I often use offcuts of materials and tea towels to produce dresses which are comfortable and fun to wear.
I look forward to meeting and greeting old and new faces at MRROS 2026.