JEANETTE JAMES: My name
is Jeanette James.
I live in Tasmania, Palawa
woman, and my practice
is traditional shell stringing.
And along with that I do a range
of contemporary work as well.

QUESTION: WHAT HAS BEEN A TURNING POINT IN YOUR CAREER?

The turning point was, it
was always nice to get
accolades and exhibitions
and win small awards, etc.
But the turning point was when my
first exhibition with my mother,
so we had a joint
exhibition together.
That was in Hobart in Bett Gallery,
and that was in the early 2000s.
So it was quite a big event,
and particularly for us,
and it was just such a thrill
to show our work for the first
time to a bigger audience.

QUESTION: WHEN DID YOU FIRST THINK OF YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST?

Well, about 10 years ago,
I started to accept the word artist,
it was up until then
I considered it was something
that I've always done and done
with my mother in particular.
And it was just us carrying
on our tradition of shell
neckless stringing.
So I struggled with
being called an artist,
because I didn't consider that
I had anything spectacular.

QUESTION: HOW DO PEOPLE FEEL WHEN THEY SEE YOUR WORK?

I thought people are
really quite blown away
and particularly with
the story and the how they're made
and the process and I think just how
time consuming each piece is
and how long it takes to collect
the shells, and that nothing
is it all has to be
collected by myself.
And then you get the chance
to talk about your history
and Tasmania's history,
and people are really interested
and really, I guess
impressed, people
just don't have a concept that you,
that we had until I tell them
that I actually go into
the water to collect the shells.
They I have to process
them, takes many months.
And no they don't come
ready made with holes,
I have to do that.
And you know it all
just doesn't happen,
there is a lot of work
happens in the background,
a lot of travel, and a lot of
time, a lot of commitment.
So they get pretty
impressed with it.

QUESTION: HOW DO YOU SURVIVE AS AN ARTIST?

Over the years, I worked full time
for 30 years.
So all my holidays
and weekends were taken up with my
show work in collecting etc.
So when I retired four years ago,
I made sure I retired debt free.
So that has paved the way for
me to actually now enjoy
my work and in any
recompense I get any sales,
it doesn't give
me a big income,
but it's nice to have
an income that you could enjoy.

QUESTION: WHAT ARE YOU HOPEFUL FOR?

Well I'm hopeful that arts
across the board will continue
and brighten and people
will continue to make
the astounding work and in
all art forms and continue
to exhibit and have
the opportunity because it's just
so astounding what I've seen
and how people's minds think.
I think it's just so wonderful.
And I just hope that arts funding
increases for everybody.