Seeing things another way

IN her Leopold studio at Artisans of Australia, Linet Hilsberg displays her own photographs reimagined into pastel paintings, focusing intently on the personality of her subjects.

This is her third year as an artist. “I’d never done art before,” she said. “I keep saying I’ve not got a creative bone in my body because I just never did, I just worked.”

Hilsberg, who worked in forensic counselling and psychiatry and has two master’s degrees and a PhD, has found ways to transfer her sharp observational skills into her art.

When COVID ended her business, she tried retraining as a deaf interpreter, but online classes did not work out. Instead, a TAFE art course in 2023 uncovered a new passion.

This was her first formal experience of art, and also the first time she was provided with interpreters in class.

“I’ve never had interpreters ever; no one provided me with any sort of support,” Hilsberg said. “It was the first time in my life I actually had interpreters in my classroom to help me. I’m so thankful that Gordon TAFE provided this.”

Though she was born deaf, nobody knew until her hearing was tested at university, and she received hearing aids at age 20.

Ten years ago, surgery reduced vision in her left eye to 1 per cent, affecting her depth perception. Despite this, she still takes her own photos with a zoom camera, without editing.

Hilsberg said she often saw finished works in her mind before starting.

“I see the finished product in my head and I paint it,” she said. “It’s a really intimate process; there’s a piece of me in every one of them.”

This is similar to the solution mindset she used to take when volunteering in her spare time for a grief helpline.

Two years ago, Artisans founder and director Helen Meikle saw her portfolio and offered a studio space. “She said ‘You can make as much mess as you want,’ and my husband said ‘She’ll take it’,” Hilsberg said.

Her coming exhibition Australiana and Animal Extravaganza at Artisans will explore display she has taken around the country.

In September, these photographs will be reimagined in pastel for her exhibition Twice Captured.

Hilsberg said that despite how much she loved art, it has taken a while for her confidence to blossom.

“It’s taken me a while to see myself as an artist, but I’m finally there… I think anyone can do art,” she said.