Colleen Lavender

IMAGES AND WORDS BY CARIN GARLAND Artist

Colleen Lavender welcomes me onto her property with a friendly wave. I have no idea what to expect from this woman who with smudges of grease from welding across her nose, looks more mechanic than someone with a Fine Arts Bachelor degree. With a mop of lavender hair and matching work shirt, I am quick to like her with her no bars held, no frills, calling a ‘spade a spade' approach to life.

As we enter her 'she shed' her passion for metal, plasma cutting and creativity is immediately apparent.

Colleen’s eyes flash with a mixture of warmth and excitement, her face animated as she touches the current sculpture she’s working on for an upcoming exhibition. She treats the exquisite piece with the same love and respect she would bestow upon a family member as she shares pieces of her childhood and incredible life to date. One coloured with a hearty combination of hardship and adventure.

Born in the Pilbara, growing up in the Kimberley, the raw beauty and the opportunity to adventure in her surrounds found her spending much of her time around Lake Argyle, swimming in the Ord River and participating in endurance programs on El Questro Station, all of which helped form the basis of the woman standing before me.

Thankfully, both of her parents were artistic, and creativity was something encouraged rather than tamed, and at 13 Colleen’s Mother enrolled her in a jewellery course. It was then she suspects, that her love for working with metal began.

During our conversation, this artist with endless amounts of energy, has moved from her plasma cutter to a metal drum and our chat finds an intermission as I stop the clicking of my camera and talking as I watch mesmerised as sparks dance around the workshop, metal melts away and the flowing mane of a horse starts to come to life. We laugh as she notes some women request jewellery for Christmas, Colleen a plasma cutter from husband Justin.

Post studying horsemanship, Colleen and her children swapped life in Biddaddaba for the Northern Territory and she commenced work for Norforce where Colleen found herself training the Army mounts, ran horsemanship clinics and was a gun machine hand for a local mattress factory. I know. Not your average woman.

It was in the Northern Territory where Colleen met Justin and together, they continued in the same fashion Colleen always has, seldom doing anything in halves and never shying away from a challenge. They managed Hayes Creek Inn, a self-powered Pub and Caravan Park.

When Darwin would suffer through a power outage, tradies would drive over an hour to their inn knowing Justin and Colleen would have power and the ability to provide a well-earned cold beer.

It was a period that was a lot of hard work with no time for art and after three years, with a little one (Lilly) and another on the way (Aiden), they relocated back to Queensland, horses in tow.

The Queenslander they had moved into was beautiful and character filled but was also showing her age. The coldest Winter in 100 years was unforgiving and the many cracks of their home haemorrhaged any stored heat, and to that end pregnant Colleen attempted her first fire pit with a grinder to help warm them up. As it turns out, it wasn’t her greatest success but refusing defeat, she went looking for a means to cut steel and it was then that the request for a plasma cutter was made. That was four years ago and she has been cutting ever since.

After 35 years of being heavily involved with all things equestrian; polocrosse, campdrafting and dressage to name a few disciplines, it is her love of horses that keeps her inspired and growing as a person and artist.

For Colleen they are her forever muse and making lifesize sculptures, for years to come is what she aspires to. Creating wild and dynamic creatures, a reflection in my opinion, of the incredible artist herself.

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