SALLY SWAIN
When she was three, Sally Swain painted people with very large bellybuttons.

At five she kept an illustrated journal.

At thirty her first book Great Housewives of Art sprang forth and became an international bestseller. Great Housewives such as 'Mrs Degas vacuums the floor', 'Mrs Nolan posts a letter' and 'Mrs Pollock can't seem to find anything any more' danced their way into Belgian postcards, German calendars, San Francisco T-shirts, Hong Kong magazines and exhibitions from Darwin to New York. Following the enormous success of the first book, Sally created Great Housewives of Art Revisited and Oh My Goddess.

In 2004 Sally published Once Upon A Picture, a truly unique picture book which links "art, heart, imagination and education". Reviews and feedback on this book include:

Once Upon a Picture by Sally Swain is a stimulating, superbly illustrated picture book…It inspires the imagination and provides a springboard for higher level thinking.
Debra Bristow, Buddina State School, QLD

And so it goes, a delightful introduction to fine art for younger children, an inviting challenge to give free rein to the imagination… A visit to an art gallery may never be the same again…she invites children to be at one with the characters of four famous paintings and delight in the moments that may have ensued from the painted image.
Kevin Steinberger, 'Magpies', May 2004

Teacher's Notes for Once Upon A Picture are available from the publisher, Allen and Unwin, at their website.

Another string to Sally's many-stringed (!) bow is performing. She initiated Paper Bag Playback Theatre troupe and continues to love performing in the playback form which celebrates the transformative power of sharing stories.

Sally co-created and performed seven seasons of storytelling at the Art Gallery of NSW. These interactive storytelling shows for 4 to 9 year olds included "The Magic Carpet Frequent Flyers" Club' for the Orientalism exhibition, "Stir-Fried Stories" for the Asian collection and "Still Life with Apples, Still Apples with Life" for the Cezanne exhibition. Sally wholeheartedly embraced such characters as a dancing camel, a grumpy bird and the tough (but not scary) Fruit Fairy.

In 1993, Sally initiated her 'Art and Soul' practice to help adults free up creatively and remember how to play. She runs workshops and offers individual Creativity and Career Coaching.

In her roles as artist, writer, performer, coach and educator, Sally is delighted to offer an array of lively, engaging, accessible opportunities to students, teachers and teacher-librarians. These offerings include:

FOR STUDENTS
Once upon a Picture Creative Storytelling Workshop
Involves students (K-4) in interactive storytelling inspired by Once Upon A Picture, which in turn was inspired by the art of van Gogh, Renoir, Rousseau and Klee. This workshop stimulates passion about the world of painting, as well as nurturing students' own sense of imaginative power. These workshops can be extended in various ways e.g. working with smaller groups of students with art materials to create their own illustrated stories from pictures.

FOR TEACHERS AND TEACHER-LIBRARIANS
Picturestory
Wonderfully accessible and enjoyable strategies for exploring the relationship between words and pictures. Sally creates a safe, non-threatening environment for teachers to enter the magical, imaginative realm of creating stories from pictures - experiencing this creative play first hand and walking away with practical exercises to use with students.

Connecting with Creativity
Simple reviving, refreshing, enlivening exercises to tap into the creative stream that flows within us all.

Nourish and Flourish
Doubly wonderful - exploring how we nourish and sustain ourselves both in and out of the workplace. We conduct these explorations using creative approaches such as writing and collage, which are in themselves nourishing and sustaining.

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