Artist Bio: Dellene Strong |
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My earliest memory of wanting to be an artist was as a little girl of about 7 years old. A teacher showed the class how to make a house look three dimensional. I was in awe of how drawing on flat paper can be transformed into something that jumps off the page. So the journey began with pencil n hand most of my school life. On leaving school I became a teacher in public schools for over 25 years. The last two decades of teaching I focussed on opening the eyes, minds and hearts of children, showing them that creativity is within all of us. "There are no mistakes in art" was my mantra. I wrote and illustrated a series of books as teacher's resources for art published by Macmillan. The first set of three books won Australian teachers reference of the year in 2005. The set to follow won the same award two years later in 2007. I wrote two more sets of books and covered art and how it ties into all key learning areas. This led to conducting art classes in Alstonville, New South wales. I started small with children. This soon expanded to encompass people of all ages. I spent six years teaching art classes. I never tire of witnessing in my students the same wonder I had as a child. I feel privileged to have touched the lives of so many in showing them the wonders of art. In 2015 a diagnosos of cancer caused me to close my business. This proved to be a blessing. During the following years of recovery I was able to concentrate on painting as a sort of therapy and my artwork blossomed. For the first time ever I have had time to exhibit my artwork in a few art shows and I have won an award on each occasion to date. |