the artist behind ggv.
Raised a country girl from northeast NSW, I would get the bus from Gurley to school. Arts, crafts, colouring and drawing have always been my main creative hobbies. mum always said I never drew stick figures, they were always more lifelike with full arms and legs.
I differed a year to live in the UK and began my studies at the Queensland University of Technology majoring in Interactive and Visual Design. I worked part-time in a boarding school, interned 3 days a week and coached netball on the weekends. In my final year of UniI applied to study abroad at the State University of Oswego in upstate New York.
After graduation, I decided I would move to New York City. for 5 years I lived there and worked a highly creative job at a luxury design company in the garment district. i find that it has been need to tell stories of the experiences i’ve had and the people i’ve been fortunate to meet that drives a majority of my creative projects.
the making of ggv
In 2016 I applied to study abroad at the State University of Oswego in upstate New York. Before that, I had been drawing black and white mandala girls and making bold fridge earrings just for fun. At the time the large bold earring thing was really picking up and it wasn’t long until people were asking me to make earrings for them and so began made by ggv.
In the 6 months I had my little store set up (marketing via the same Instagram) I made about enough to pay for my flight to New York.
not just one craft
I ended up sticking with the name “made by ggv” because I knew that I would never stick to just one type of art form. starting with earrings and black and white felt tip sketches turned into embroidery, collage, watercolour, and digital illustration which is generally my most practiced art style.
More recently I have been inspired to make wearable art, nothing crazy but good quality caps and tote bags with my designs on them. Not only to sell and have customers wear them proudly but to create art that reflects our small towns in a positive and colourful way.
