MARTA Lette was born in south west Sydney and moved to Kiewa six years ago to care for her father.
What do you do workwise?
I am a calligrapher and Celtic artist.
Calligraphy attracts several in depth commissions per year, which are a joy to create as each one draws out different aspects of my artistic abilities.
I tutor calligraphy one-to-one and teach Celtic art online.
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I do a few local annual events where I demonstrate calligraphy by writing kids names on bookmarks, talking with them about art and handwriting.
I enter exhibitions each year with my Aussie-Celtic paintings and drawings of our native wildlife.
What brought you to your role/career?
A love of beautiful lettering as a child led me to search for my place in the arts world.
I started in graphic arts when it was all handwork, typesetting, Letraset, cut and paste with paper, bromides and making physical paper or metal plates for printing.
Later, I discovered calligraphy classes where I immediately felt at home and never looked back.
What do you love about your work?
I love the meditative quality of my work.
I love working to a brief where I can bring to life someone else’s hopeful ideas.
I love the way I can instil my values, heritage and sense of belonging into a piece of artwork.
It’s lovely guiding students to find their creative grooves and helping to build their self-belief.
What do you do in the community?
All my time outside of my work is dedicated to caring for my aging parents who live separately in two states and assisting my daughter and grandsons.
When time allows, I love to be involved in community art group activities and community gardens.
Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing?
I support the push for a green field site to build a new hospital in Albury-Wodonga.
I am passionate about the changes needed to create harmonious family environments where domestic violence becomes a horror of the past.
What would you do to solve change or improve those situations?
Regarding domestic violence, I speak up when witness to coercion or abuse.
I call out misogynistic discord or behaviour.
I support others who work to create the necessary changes.
I add my voice for a greenfield site for a new hospital.
What do you see as one of the most important current world issues?
We must educate ourselves about how we can each contribute to reducing negative impacts on our natural environment.
The precautionary principle is essential in every decision by governments, corporates and communities.
Caring for each other and for our natural world is essential to our survival. If we keep going the way we have been, then the Earth’s stable systems will continue to unravel and make life unliveable for us all.
If the person you would most like to meet or knew, came to Indigo Shire or was already here, who would that be, and where would you take them?
My cousin Hannah, who has never travelled here from Germany.
I would bring her home to Kiewa, then drive her to Myrtleford.
We would visit the gallery, enjoy a lovely meal, visit Lake Buffalo and listen to the black cockatoos calling.
What book are you reading?
When I have time, it’s historical fiction and Australian novels.
