Basket, 2007
South-east Tasmania
blueberry, (Dianella tasmanica)
255x230 mm

‘I was taught to weave baskets in the traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal way by a much respected and gifted weaver friend who has now passed away. Weaving is very special to me and I am proud to continue this tradition.’

Colleen Mundy was born in 1940 in south-east Tasmania, the eldest of five children. Her mother came from the Central Highlands and her father from Nicholls Rivulet, near Oyster Cove. Colleen’s tribal ancestors were from Musselroe in the north-east and Robbins Island in the north-west of Tasmania.

Colleen enjoys gathering plant fibres from many places around Tasmania and on Bruny Island, sometimes in remote areas in the bush and by the sea. Much of her adult life has been spent in the bush on the Central Plateau and in the Lake Country living off the land and using plants and lichens for bush dyeing. ‘Much of my inspiration comes from my son who shares my love of the land and the sea and what they give to us’.

Colleen’s baskets have been exhibited at several Tasmanian and interstate venues including the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Moonah Arts Centre, Hobart; Ten Days on the Island events; and Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design, Sydney. Her work has been included in touring exhibitions interstate, and is represented in several public and private collections.

Basket, 2008
South-east Tasmania
white flag iris, (Diplarrena moraea)
115 x 175 mm