Award winning artist Jeska Valk is an Australian artist from the Sunshine Coast who explores her love for the coast and the strong creative connection to her mother through the love of fabric. Making many garments in her time, Jeska’s mother was a seamstress, it seemed only natural for Jeska to filter the two into the one practice. Lace is symbolic due to its ability to be so fragile but strong in contrast. It’s complexity is woven like our DNA. Inspired by the finely painted lace detail from Master Renaissance and Baroque artists Titian, Rembrandt and Frans Pourbus, lace became more than a delicate piece of fabric but a way to share, connect and honour family. As a young girl, Jeska was diagnosed with Epilepsy, a condition that affects her nervous system in which, painting detail helped to calm her. Art became a way for her to express herself when her verbal communication would fail her. ‘Painting isn’t just a passion for me but a way to channel my difficulties through a creative outlet’