Silvia with her two years old Cinzia and the three months old Vasco.

Hi Silvia, great to see you in person! I thought it would be nice to know more about you since we are doing a collaboration soon base on your winning submission. From the brief look at your Facebook profile, seems like you have been drawing for a while now.

Yes, I have been drawing since I was a child. Drawing for me has always been an art form I have wanted to be really good at. I used to copy pictures out of children’s books and in my grade prep report, which my mum kept for me, the teacher wrote that I was good at drawing and that I was able to achieve a likeness of my subject. That’s so cute! It’s good to have mum supporting the creative side of you.

What are you doing now? Did you go to art school after?

Yes, my mum could always draw the way I wanted to be able to, so I kept persevering. I always chose Art subjects at Secondary School, then I went on to study a B.Ed in Visual Arts. I became a secondary Art Teacher, which I did for 10 years – until I began to have children – my youngest is 3 months old, the second born is 2 and the eldest is 5. The Art Teacher part of me flows on in our home – art materials, art work, inspiration are in every part of the house and our children love it – they are always drawing, painting, collaging, constructing 3/d assemblages. Next year I aim to have an exhibition at our cafe of work done in collaboration with my 5 year old son, Emilio.

Art teacher! I’d love to do that one day too. Talk about kids, I remember you also submitted a piece from Emilio, is he going to be the creative one among the kids? Or maybe he is just old enough to sit and draw?

Yes, Emilio really enjoyed designing his creepy doll, with sword of course. He is always telling me about ideas he has for art works, so he is already very creative. Besides drawing, his favourite medium lately is sticky tape! He sticks all sorts of objects together for his 3/d assemblages and makes faces, bodies, super heroes. I bought him and his sister, Cinzia, a sketchbook each yesterday and they were so excited that they sat on the couch and started drawing straight away. Vasco, the 3 month old watches them draw and paint – I bet he’ll be picking up a pencil & paint brush before long.

That sounds awesome! I can’t wait to see what you come up with them together. Tell me about your cafe, is it one of those cool cafe with art show happening regularly?

Little Deer Tracks is located off the beaten track on an urban street on the railway line in Coburg. My partner, Marco & I set it up together. It is a cool, family accessible cafe that serves up terrific coffee and superb Italian – inspired vegetarian food. I am the curator of the exhibition space within the cafe and we have regular monthly shows. I am always on the hunt for artists who like the idea of showing in an alternative setting – a space that has heaps of public access – patrons come to dine and view & discuss Art. I love over hearing children’s insights into some of the work that goes up on our walls. “Little deer tracks”, It’s a lovely name. How long since you opened the cafe? Are there many creative people in the area? We opened in 2011 – one and a half years ago. All sorts of creative types in the area have come ‘out of the woods’ and to our cafe. It’s been a wonderful thing to meet lots of them and discover what they do.

Well best wishes to your cafe and the little ones. Can’t wait to see you again soon in my show next year, we might catch up before that too!

Silvia’s winner entry “Zany”