I am an artist and multidisciplinary maker from Northern N.S.W Australia.
My work is characterised by an enduring interest in the mapping of place, the fugitive nature of memory and the documentation of my emotional and historical connection to land. My work favours intuitive mark-making, abstraction and the automatism of line. Largely self-taught, my work is an intensely personal, cathartic process in which visual elements are simultaneously lost and found through the physicality of scratching, sanding, puncturing, concealing and disclosing. Heavily concerned with process, these works ultimately produce a palimpsest, a recording of time. My current practice includes mixed media works on paper and timber, drawing, painting, mark making, printmaking and the crafting of artist tools. As a maker, I am also able to interpret elements of my arts practice into utilitarian objects that transform the everyday, objects such as textiles and letterpress paper-goods.
Jo holds a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art History) from The University of Melbourne and was awarded the Dean’s Honours List for Academic Achievement. While at The University of Melbourne she studied Post-Modernism in New York as part of a class unit exchange hosted by Columbia University. She also holds a Graduate Diploma of Education (Visual Arts) from Southern Cross University and undertook studies in Printmaking during this time. She has taught visual arts in secondary schools and has hosted numerous workshops in printmaking, letterpress and bookmaking.
As the co-founder of Olive & The Volcano Letterpress (2011-2017), she secured a number of national and international stockists, distribution throughout Asia and worked with a diverse clientele to provide custom letterpress projects.
Her work has been seen in Uppercase Magazine, InsideOut, Peppermint Magazine, Home Beautiful, Fashion Journal and Dolly Magazine. She has participated in national design events such as Finders Keepers and The Big Design Market and was awarded the inaugural Australian Etsy Design Award for Art & Illustration. Her studio has been featured on the Etsy Blog in the "Inspiring Workshops" series of interviews and she was invited to participated in the Etsy & West Elm Pop-Up in Bondi Sydney curated by West Elm USA.
In 2018 Jo co-founded a new letterpress studio Olive Letterpress with her husband Andy Olive.