Creative curiosity
Story: April Spadina. Photo: Cody Fox
When Dona Norwood’s dog discovered a perfectly shed python skin unfurled in her wisteria vine, she believed it was a gift from nature, a rare treasure that having gone unnoticed would have decayed over time and returned to the environment. Dona painstakingly preserved the skin as a large wall mount, capturing its jewel-like scales and the incredible patterns resembling hieroglyphics, as Dona says “a natural photocopy” of the perfect markings.
As her interest grew, so did her collection of skins which lead to many of her pieces of snake art; the fragile skins delicately preserved and incorporated in her paintings. One such painting captures the view across the sandbars of Urangan with K’gari in the distance, skins weaving across the canvas like the trails of water and sand left behind at low tide.
Urangan is the place she now calls home, moving to the Fraser Coast four years ago after searching for a welcoming and kind community she could share her life with. Immersing herself in the arts community and the visual beauty of the region, Dona is inspired to paint in her studio faces and places in rich colours squeezed from crumpled oil tubes. Diverse in many art practices, her passion for knowledge and love of artistic expression is immeasurable and reflected in a range of style, application and subject matter.
Dona’s curiosity and spirited nature sparks interesting moments in her life... She worked creating marine canvas and upholstery – perhaps an unconscious calling of canvas and textiles – before sailing to Australia from the United States on a yacht. A crazy thought to some, but to Dona it was an opportunity that peaked her inquisitive mind. Dona believes the “snake skin chose her, she didn’t choose it” and it is this attitude to embrace life and the opportunities given that shines in Dona’s character and the art she creates.
This story appears in the November 2024 edition of Fraser Coast Scene, our monthly guide to What's On across our Cultural Services venues.
The creation of this story and photography was funded by Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF). RADF is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Fraser Coast Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
