Saturday night was the launch of WUPA @ Wanaruah, an Aboriginal Art Exhibition organised by Ungooroo Aboriginal Corporation. This black tie event was held in the Barrel Room at Tempus Two Winery, Pokolbin. Ungooroo, in conjunction with major sponsors Hunter Valley Gardens and Coal & Allied, invited local Aboriginal artists to take part in this Aboriginal Art Exhibition.

So when the opportunity presented itself for one of our job seekers to take part, it was too good to pass up. Maitland BTPS staff pooled their resources and together with some support from BTPS, we sponsored Donna Brown, to allow her the chance to illustrate her work.

Donna Brown is 36 years of age and was born in Penrith- Nepean Hospital, NSW, and takes great pride in her family totems the great white shark (Biripi) and the koala (Gnarabul).

While Donna has always enjoyed painting it was only after losing custody of her children 3 years ago that she really started to emerge herself in her work. She discovered she enjoyed working with all kinds of different texture and would use toothpicks and a pallet knifes to paint her images.

As we walked into Tempus Two on Saturday night, it was with great pride for what Donna has been able to achieve, as her consultant Letisha Malloy turned to see she had tears in her eyes. When asked if it was tears of pride all she could do was nod as words had escaped her.