It fills me with joy waking everyday knowing that it will always be the case, that the child that I lost and the four I have as being the most blessed of people I will ever have an enduring and loving relatedness with.

The symbolic entrance to business establishments in the Margaret River region of Western Australia is often open for ripe parody.

These works are derivative of a trip that I made out to Meekatharra as part of a mining | drilling | rigging gig. Using the drill core sample I combined this with shellac and gold leaf to create works which are emblematic of the experience of being out there on Country, where the landscape is peppered with abandoned mining leases like cancer drilling holes in a body.

My solo exhibition in 2003 at Gomboc Gallery brought to a close an epic journey in love, loss, and grief with the passing of my late Father-in-Law, David Gregson, and the divorce from his eldest Daughter, Dimity Gregson.

In 2003 I submitted a proposal to the McClelland Survey and Award along with collaborative Artist, Robert Muir who I was working with at the time with audiophonic and plundophonic works, installation and other arts related projects in the community.

Deep in the Glenn Valley was once a thriving winery and fruit farm. Through the years the toll of lack of water and hard country took the family business to ruin.

Across the wheatbelt of West Australia lies strewn through countless fields, along creek lines, paddocks, rocky outcrops and bushland literally millions of tonnes of discarded steel from farming practices.

Building upon the concepts explored during Creative Doctoral programme that I’d engaged with the year prior, I approached the Goldfields Arts Centre in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia regarding a possible venue to further the dimensions of the Project 44 concept.

The joys of teaching, bringing knowledge into young minds and thwarting neuroplasticity from years of solvent abuse, malnourishment and neglect.

The privileged rich have often been forged through the heartache belly of fire and poverty, and none more so than the convicts that landed on these shore onwards 223 years ago.

The vagaries of the Australian male, complete with homophobia, sexism, racism, and crude vernaculars come under scrutiny in this creative interrogation as one part of my Honours presentation at the School of Art, Curtin University, in 2002. This creative work as an installation informed the application for a Creative Doctorate commenced in 2003.

No matter where you locate differing vernacular adaptations of the 44 gallon drum, many utilitarian and representational uses correlate this universal container with the personal concept of gender and political dimensions of ‘vessel’ as theme.

In 2001, the Town of Vincent, Western Australia commissioned three prominent Western Australian artists, Alexander Hayes, Graham Hay and Petter Zappa to work with young, upcoming artists in the design of a skateable sculpture, a seat, and a drinking water fountain for installation in a park adjacent to the inner city Headquarters (HQ) YouthFacility, Leederville, Western Australia.

After a year of sporadic employment, I relented and went out on a 120 hole drilling rig mission deep into the backcountry of Meekatharra in Western Australia, drilling for vanadium.

This excerpt needs to be built out as does the post content.

On the cusp of the supposed Y2K bug in 2000 I created this vinyl acetate etching, subject matter depicting the gardens of 24 Brook Road Darlington, Western Australia.

A short experimental film clip featuring actress Katrina Dunn; spoken word poetry by Richard Chamberlain; audio plunderphonics by artists Rob Muir and Doikno Pasilan; camera, videography, and editing by Andrew Barnett, made in the year 2000 as part of the 'Body (Of) Works 1' series. This work was shown in the completion of the Major Studio 392 unit 'The Negotiated Proposal' at the Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, Western Australia.