Jo was naturally drawn to fabric, textiles, colour, threads, paints from an early age. Dressmaking and sewing for family and friends led her to the art of traditional quilt making, then to quilting as a profession. 

Eventually Jo followed up her interest in quilting by studying for a diploma in Visual Arts at Manukau Institute of Technology: then followed the diploma up by studying with the Moore Fine Arts Academy in Auckland. 

Her work often starts with a drawing either simple or detailed, which she then recreates with either fabric or paints, finishing it with thread; on the sewing machine, a serious practice of concentration, often taking days in the making. Jo says. ‘As I stitch, I am at one with the sewing machine’. 

She is fueled by a passionate love of textiles, threads and drawing. Jo has a mantra: ‘If it can be drawn, it can be stitched’.