Contemporary jewellery was the qualification. Behind that lie years of fervent interest in art old and new, and the intensifying desire to make sculpture. Memorable moments in my life include beholding Anselm Kiefer's painting "Twilight of the West" at the National Gallery of Australia in 2004. Subsequently I realised what a grand collection of his work is held at my local state gallery.

Every regional gallery I visit in this country has something unexpected and provocative to experience. Another of my idols in art is Andy Goldsworthy. His stone cairn in Adelaide Botanical Gardens is one of the few of his works it is possible to see in situ, since most of them are ephemeral and captured for the long term only in his photographs.