Born and bred in Ireland, Cockatoo woodcarver and sculptor Ronnie Sexton didn’t always have a full understanding of the Anzac spirit and its significance to her adoptive country. But that all changed with her spectacular creation for Emerald’s Anzac Place, unveiled just in time for this year’s Anzac centenary. She sat down with RUSSELL BENNETT to tell her story.
“I knew then and there, from day one, that was the beginning of the love affair … ”
VERONICA Sexton, or ‘Ronnie’ as she prefers to be known, was born in County Cork in Ireland in 1970 and by the time she was 18, her love of art had already taken her away from home soil.
“I loved art and back then I thought it was (all about) fashion design and I used to make all of my own clothes,” she said from her kitchen table, sitting opposite a range of stunning cedar wood sculptures that she has no intention of selling.
“I thought, that’s it! So I applied to two art colleges and I wasn’t accepted and I was absolutely gutted. I guess in hindsight it just wasn’t the way I was meant to go but when you’re 18 it’s just devastating – it felt like the universe was conspiring against me.”
But it was through a somewhat unlikely source – the London College of Furniture – that her creative spark was truly fostered.
She went on to receive her Higher Diploma and Graduateship in woodcarving and gilding at the City and Guilds of London Art School. She won the coveted William Wheeler Prize for Outstanding Work and was chosen to work on the five-year restoration of Windsor Castle, which had been badly damaged by fire.
And since then she has worked on a range of unique projects through commissions in Ireland, England, America, Malaysia and Australia.
“The day came that we were working with wood and it wasn’t anything amazing – it was just a piece of wood with pretty standard chisels – but I fell in love with it,” Ronnie explained.
“I knew then and there, from day one, that was the beginning of the love affair. There was no place in Ireland that I could learn the skills of woodcarving so I went back to England and I applied to the London College of Furniture to do restoration because carving was an aspect of the course and I thought OK, that would get me some skills and I could manoeuvre my way in.”
Since then, Ronnie’s passion for her craft has taken her right around the world – to some extraordinary places, with some even more extraordinary people.
“I worked in Malaysia for six months at one point,” she said.
“I could have worked longer there but being a younger, western woman there was a bit restrictive even though I had five-star accommodation and the like.
“It was incredible what I was being given, but it was for a mansion being built in Kuala Lumpur. So, I could have stayed there but it was the turning point of my career, ultimately.”
It was a light-switch moment that made Ronnie turn from working for the super wealthy and elite on pieces that would stay behind closed, private doors to realising that her time was better spent working on public pieces – available for anyone to see anywhere, regardless of financial status, race or religion.
Ronnie arrived in Australia 14 years ago and took a couple of years away from her passion to focus on her life’s work – her young family.
“I carved a few pieces for my children that I’ll never sell so I spent a couple of years just carving inheritance pieces. I didn’t want to get to the end of my career or life and have nothing for my kids,” she explained.
But a chance encounter with a Kallista resident who had slab upon slab of imperfect, knot-ridden salvaged wood – mostly cedar – started the ball rolling for what would result in a stunning statue of the Unknown Soldier that now features at Anzac Place in Emerald.
Having lived in Clayton South, Ronnie yearned for an idyllic bushland lifestyle and ultimately “fell in love” with the Dandenongs.
“The climate just suits me so much better than the heat up north,” she said.
“This is very similar to Ireland here – very green – so, like many people who live here, I just fell in love with the hills and that’s it.”
It was another chance encounter – this time with Cardinia Shire councilor Brett Owen – that connected her with the Emerald RSL. It’s almost like it was meant to be.
“One thing led to another and it was really all down to divine timing. I didn’t have to go knocking on doors or asking – they invited me up, I showed them my portfolio and we went from there.
“They already had a lot of the groundwork done – getting the grant, itself, for the commission was quite a big thing.
“It was through Jason Wood – he’s a really nice guy.
“I’ve met a lot of very good contacts that I might not have otherwise. Carving is what I’m very passionate about, obviously, so this was a really great piece to do. It’s for a public place – again something I really believe in.”
Ronnie poured her heart and soul into the project over an exhausting four-month stretch.
“There was a crazy amount of work that went into it,” she said.
“My life was put on hold basically. It was full-on and labour-intensive but I’m a perfectionist and wanted to get it done to the best of my ability so if I had to put in the hours, I had to put in the hours.”
But because of the sheer size of the sculpture, it was too big for Ronnie to create at home. Instead, she carved it at the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking in Blackburn, where she also teaches.
But the end result was worth it.
“I don’t find carving difficult,” she said.
“It’s like I’ve been given a gift but it’s about stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something different. I would never have thought I’d create a soldier, so this is really great to get that challenge.”
While Ronnie didn’t grow up learning about the story of the Anzacs, she quickly immersed herself in it through the project.
“I had to get into the mood. Like an actor, I suppose, I had to get into the emotion of it.
“When I was doing the research, doing the uniform and getting that exact, I was reading up on the war and what I found most upsetting was just how young these guys were in the photos. A lot of them wore uniforms that were too big for them – they were just boys.”
Ronnie will return to Anzac Place later this month as Emerald pulls out all the stops for its Anzac centenary services.
