Kay Rawlinson

Kay Rawlinson has contributed a multitude of goods for sale by CIKA as part of our fundraising effort.

Kay Rawlinson was born in 1946 into an artistic family, most members of are ‘into’ various Arts and Crafts.  Kay always loved art but never had time for formal training. In 1979 Kay was struck down with debilitating spinal damage with a growth found on her spine. What followed included many operations together with long hospital visits and being bed-ridden at home; not a pleasant time.  It was fifteen years later, in 1994, that Kay was offered a radical new pain treatment that finally enabled her to have some quality time without continuous debilitating pain.  Since then, she has been able to expand her knowledge of a wide range of arts and crafts. Entirely self-taught, she was working in watercolour, silk, acrylic, 3D and fabric painting, as well as the crafts of knitting, sewing, quilting, beading and fused glass jewellery making, the latter being produced in a kiln placed in her microwave oven; a fascinating challenge.

Kay has also made several trips to Thailand where she helps local batik artists to make their products more saleable to today’s tourists, as well as supplying the paint and other items that they have requested to get their work out in the public eye.  Kay regarded it as a real honour to be able to get them established and is particularly delighted that they are now all doing remarkably well on their own.

A lot of Kay’s pieces are donated to charities for fundraising.  She is thrilled to be able to support their causes.  She is also often asked to give talks and demonstrations of her work to a variety of community groups, with particular interest being shown in the beautiful silk scarves and fused glasswork that she produces.  Kay finds it both humbling and exciting to know that her works can be found dotted around the globe.  Locally, Kay has exhibited many pieces in shows all over Melbourne.  Seeing her artwork being sold at the Camberwell Art Show a few years ago was a great feeling for Kay.

Anyone is interested in seeing her work at first hand or arranging for her to make a presentation is most welcome to visit her studio-home in Rosebud.  All that is required is a quick phone call to ensure that she is at home first.  Her contact details are:
telephone: 03 59886700
e-mail: robk@aapt.net.au