Bron Ives

Born 1959, Whadjuk Nyoongar country, Perth, Western Australia.

After many years as an overseas aid worker, I returned to Australia wanting to create, and be part of a community doing something about the problems we face. I dived into the world of printmaking and am still under its spell.

I’m currently drawing and painting on metal plates, etching and then printing thin layers of colour, one on top of the other. The delicacy, marks and surprise that unfold are addictive. Protecting wildlife and habitat is at the heart of my work.

My new series, Painkalac Creek, explores some of the animals whose lives interweave with the creek and its fringes. Sourced high in the Otway Ranges, the creek meanders through forest, a dam and farmland before emptying into a floodplain of native grassland, grazing pasture and lagoons, coming to rest between the towns of Aireys Inlet and Fairhaven. I want this precious habitat and its native plants and animals to be here in the year 2030 – and beyond.