My name is Monique Tippett. I was born in Perth, Western Australia. I spent my childhood in my grandfather's workshop hammering and sawing away at pieces of scrap wood. My grandfather had been a successful architect and master stonemason in Budapest before escaping the war to begin a new life in Australia.

My Journey began in 1994 after taking on the position of Art Director at a children's summer camp in Wisconsin, USA. I began experimenting with pyrography (a technique of burning or etching wood with fire), which I saw the American Indians using in their art. This rekindled my love of wood and over the next six years I developed my own techniques in the art of pyrography, which led me to look at how to create the three dimensional artworks. In December 2000, I was accepted into the prestigious "Australian School of Fine Wood" in Dwellingup, WA. I relocated, with my husband and two children, to this Southwest timber town where I began a comprehensive two-year Diploma of Art in furniture designing and making. In 2001 I became involved with the 'Designing Futures Forum'. This exposed me to many international makers, designers and artists with whom I participated in many masterclasses, mentoring programs and hands on workshops.

Over these years, as my experience, skill levels and knowledge of timber (a living, moving medium) increased I perfected a totally unique fusion of graphic art/sculpture/furniture design. Inspired by the beautiful environment around Dwellingup, which is blessed in its variety of tree species. I am surrounded by my 'canvas', woodworker's heaven.

In 2003 after graduating, I took part in the state governments 'New Enterprise Incentive Scheme' (NEIS), a business development program. This allowed me to lease a run down commercial building in the centre of Dwellingup. After extensive renovations the "Dwellingup Gallery" was born. In the three years the gallery was in full swing, I was representing and mentoring around 50 artists from the Peel, Murray and Perth regions. I curated many group and solo exhibitions. 'Dwellingup Gallery' was soon an important part of the areas art culture.

Time given to the galleries administrational commitments soon outweighed the time I was able to spend on my own arts practice. I had recently received a grant from the 'Southwest Industry Assistance Scheme', which enabled me to set up my own fully equipped studio workshop. I therefore restructured the gallery in 2006. I invited three well-known regional artists to join me and it became the "Dwellingup Arts Collective". This freed up my time to concentrate on my own art, and research potential international markets. I have decided to target South East Asia first after visiting the ARTSingapore art fair in September 2006. Singapore has a vibrant culture and is on Western Australia's doorstep and will be the first stop in my international art career.