ClassNotes Profiles
Yvonne Sorensen
An old cliché states that “Life Begins at 40!” In my forties, I experienced a lifetime of “beginnings” in just one decade (the 80s) when our ‘Nuclear Family’ (husband Brian and two daughters) became owner-operators of a General Store in the Benedictine Monastery town of New Norcia, W.A. But that is another story!
By late 1989, our daughters had finished their tertiary education and had relocated to Sydney. All alone in W.A. (except for friends) we decided to sell the General Store and move on to Darwin with the aim of finishing a round Australia working trip begun years ago in Brisbane (in 1968) We stayed with my Darwin-based brother and his family, while looking for jobs and somewhere to live.
In January 1990, while cleaning up after my 50th Birthday Bash, I decided to do something about my lifelong passion for Art which had been kept on hold while the children were growing up. “It’s now or never!” I thought, so promptly applied for a place as a mature-age student in a Fine Arts degree course at N.T.U. My credentials to gain acceptance, I naively believed, would be an Art Folio plus good exam results from a half completed four year TAFE course, and lots of starry-eyed enthusiasm. The whole world smiled in those days and I was accepted, to the astonishment of spouse and daughters, and great concern of my then old-fashioned brother. “A lot of wives around here get itchy feet when they go off to Uni!” he declared.
Thus, my intellectual life began at 50! What an experience! I met so many fine people and made lifelong friends. Despite my brother’s dire predictions, I graduated in 1994, with my ever-supportive family intact. They were all so proud of me. I was proud of my achievements too, as it wasn’t all plain sailing – I had a full time job during the last six months of the course. After the Arts degree, I studied for a Grad.Dip. Ed.(Adult Vocational) while jointly running a family business enterprise at Kakadu National Park. I graduated in 1996, and got a job at the School of Fine Arts as a Materials Demonstrator. I attribute my successes in these areas to the unconditional support of family and friends, and Lecturers and Tutors of the then N.T.U. School of Fine Arts and the Education Faculty.
Since leaving the Northern Territory in 1996 (I cried all the way to Katherine!) my professional life has progressed extremely well. I work part-time teaching Art for an ACE group here in Kempsey, N.S.W. It is truly wonderful to watch a learner’s face light up “when the penny drops.” The teaching venue is my own studio which is registered with the Shire council as a Studio/Classroom. Some of my students have won Art Prizes. Some have gone on to higher education. I attend professional development courses run by ACE where all of my N.T.U. training is recognised.
My personal life revolves around my family, Art and Art teaching (with Sport in order to keep fit) I have been moderately successful in the local Art scene and in 2001 won a Regional Art Prize for a bronze sculpture (“The Monastery at Midnight.”) For that triumph, I am indebted to the ex Sculpture Dept. at the School of Fine Arts, N.T.U.
Despite ‘the tyranny of distance’ my connections with the Northern Territory and fellow N.T.U. graduates are strong. Some of my large canvases are hanging at Park Headquarters, Kakadu Nat. Park. Until recently, I was a .member of 24HR ART (of which I was among the founding members). My membership with the Art group “Rimages” is still current. (I was a founding member of that group as well).
This whole story is my “say” about the University as an education provider. Thus, whenever the opportunity arises, I extol the virtues of my “Intellectual Birthplace,” Charles Darwin University, formerly Northern Territory University.
