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Sue deGennaro writes . . .
Drawing as a child filled in all the spaces left behind by having no TV. My older sister would draw cartoon characters and I would colour them in, then we would walk the neighbourhood selling them for 10 cents each. We had generous neighbours…
In year 12 I was part of the state exhibition of Matriculation Art. Part of my success was due to the fact that art class ended up being the only class I never wagged.
I was often left with the key to lock up after lunchtime. I don't know how much I actually did; it was more the smells, the long benches and the wobbly stools.
But as advised by the school I didn't go on to Art School straight away. Instead I started an arts degree in psychology and failed twice… I swapped to film studies, made a super 8 film and watched hours and hours of films.
I finished uni and spent two years in Kiribati teaching English and Art. I drew every single day, and on my return to Adelaide I enrolled in the North Adelaide School of Art. My majors were drawing, conceptual art and welding.
But I dropped out of Art School and moved to Sydney to become a contemporary dancer (yes, I can hear you sigh…) as it turned out I was terrible at remembering any more than three steps at a time. At the same time I started trapeze classes. And for the next 10 years I trained as an aerialist/performance artist. I worked on a collection of solo and collaborative shows at The Performance Space, as well as busking on the streets of Sydney, some times in as little as a bathing suit, cap, flippers and a wading pool. My career ventured to the circus world dabbling in Circus Oz, Circus Monoxide and an all-girl flying trapeze troupe, Redirected Baggage. Exciting, hey?!
But I met a boy in the circus and we ran away from the circus together. When my aerial career came to an end I found my fingers searching for a pencil again. As I was drawing my days away and two weeks after my first daughter was born I did a five-week illustrating course.
I then received a mentorship from the ASA and I am now drawing and painting, cutting and pasting like a crazy woman. Each book I start is a new creative challenge and each morning I step into my studio of two long benches and a wobbly stool I smile to myself, just one of the little knowing kind of smiles.
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