By Fiona Harper

BRISBANE BASED SAILOR AND ARTIST Jo Wooler, and her boat builder husband Drew, recently launched Mojo Creations Floating Gallery at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show with a ‘sell out’ exhibition. Working in stainless steel sheeting, Jo transforms her own designs into exquisite threedimensional sculptures, creating stunning leafy sea dragons, turtles, dugongs and other marine creatures. Exhibiting onboard their brand new Mark Pescott designed 13.6m catamaran, Lickity Split Take2 the floating gallery actually doubles as their home. Their initial plan is to tour remote ports and islands on the Queensland coast, perhaps while also inviting other artists to exhibit, bringing culture to remote regions. Future plans include an Australian circumnavigation in the short term, with a world tour figuring in the larger picture.

A skilled artist, Jo initially began playing around with the offcuts from Drew’s business, transforming her drawings onto scrap stainless steel sheet. With encouragement from Drew, Jo experimented with his metal fabrication tools, wrestling with the cumbersome equipment. Liking the pieces she was able to create, Jo soon took on a mentorship at a local engineering firm, learning the basic techniques needed to work in such a rigid material. Building in confidence, Jo built a substantial following with regular appearances at the Redcliffe Saturday market. Commercial success followed, with Jo spending all week designing, cutting and polishing, only to sell all works within a few hours, sending her immediately back to the workshop to fulfil increasing demand.

Working from her bayside Redcliffe studio workshop, and using predominantly sheet stainless from 0.9mm to 3mm thick, Jo uses a grinder and plasma cutter as the primary tools to cut out her designs. Using heat to curve or bend the designs, some of which also require Tig welding, fire, oxygen and natural gas brings out blue, purple, scarlet and honey tones. Some of the pearly hues created are reminiscent of the New Zealand paua shell with rainbow tones. The stainless steel is then polished to an almost mirror-like finish, creating stunning results.

A successful solo exhibition at the World Trade Centre in Amsterdam last year, which was supported by Daydream Island Resort, has seen Jo’s reputation expand internationally. Her sculptures are sought after by marine interior designers, with one of her lionfish now taking pride of place on a $7.8m Horizon 98ft luxury yacht, also exhibiting at the SCIBS.

A visit to the Mojo Creations Floating Gallery, with its clean lines and smooth surfaces is a little like stepping into an Aladdin’s Cave filled with treasure. Lickity Split Take2, was built using strip planked western red cedar, fibreglass, foam and carbon. Internally, Drew has left a couple of cedar sections unpainted which allows the rich timber tones to add texture to the otherwise glossy white surfaces. Dominating the expansive saloon is the main forward bulkhead, which evokes the sensation of immersion in an underwater seascape. Jo’s wall mounted sculptures seemingly drift in the current, with a leafy sea dragon, a turtle and a school of angelfish suspended in the seascape.

Other bulkheads are finished in a stark white gloss, providing a flattering blank canvas to showcase the larger artworks, some of which, like the humpback whale, are over one metre long. At night time, the saloon evolves into Aladdin’s treasure land as discreet coloured lighting bounces off the polished steel artworks and grab rails.

Lickity Split Take2 took four years from concept to launch, with Jo and Drew living in the confines of a bus in the boatshed as the project evolved. But they were used to living in tight spaces, having never lived together in a house in the years they’ve been together. Meeting at a Mackay wedding, through family connections, they were drawn together and immediately started planning a sailing future together. They spent almost four years on the first catamaran Drew built, Lickity Split, cruising up and down the Queensland east coast. The Keppel Isles, just off Yeppoon, is perhaps their favourite cruising ground, with Brampton Island off Mackay holding fond memories. Floating over the reef in West Bay at high tide, they spent eight weeks on their honeymoon ‘beached’ every day at low tide. Revelling in the cruising lifestyle, the days quickly slipped by, as they do on a tropical island: beach walks, swimming, diving, eating shellfish and befriending an Osprey all combining to fill long idyllic days treasured by those who have the time to indulge.

While they hope to revisit many of their favourite anchorages of those four years, their latest venture has a much bigger purpose than just indulging in the cruising lifestyle. Demonstrating both Drew’s expertise as a boat builder and Jo’s skill as an artist, Mojo Creations Floating Gallery is a travelling showcase for their combined talents.

Being free spirits who find the confines of an indoor environment unsettling, Jo and Drew are thrilled to once again call themselves full-time sailors. Drew had long held a goal to be sailing and living onboard his yacht by the time he turned 40. Meeting Jo provided the incentive he needed to realise his dream. With the completion and launching of Lickity Split Take2, they are now free to put their long held plans into action and get back to exploring the world. They both confess to being adrenalin junkies so it’s hard to imagine them sitting still: Jo is a qualified hangglider pilot and Drew could be found clocking up road miles on his Harley Davidson before the sailing bug hit hard.

Because of the physical nature of Jo’s work, a large workshop is needed both for her tools and equipment, as well as to store the large stainless sheets that she works in. Regrettably there just isn’t room onboard for her to plan her sculptures, nor for the often-messy work of grinding and welding so intrinsic to her craft, that Jo will spend regular periods in her Brisbane studio keeping up with demand. As her popularity grows she finds herself constantly selling out her exhibitions.

Over the next 18 months, Jo also intends to utilise her experience in creating and exhibiting in, the floating gallery, as the basis for her Masters degree in fine art. Without holding formally recognised university qualifications, Jo is thrilled to be offered such an extraordinary opportunity. It is indeed recognition of how far she has travelled, yet one has the feeling that Jo and Drew’s journey has only just begun.

Contact Jo Wooler at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to find out the exhibition schedule for Mojo Creations Floating Gallery www.mojocreations.com.au