May 21 - 27, 2025
A creative haven for everyone
◆ OPTIMISE YOUR POTENTIAL: Caroline Gorman (left) is enhancing her artistry with the lending hand of art teacher Isobelle Cremin at Wangaratta Art School. PHOTO: Grace Fredsberg
AT some stage in each of our lives we can find ourselves at a potential turning point; a juncture where we decide to follow a dream or settle for the lot we have and try and make the most of it. For creative soul, artist, businesswoman and mother Samantha Badrock, that sliding doors moment came on her daughter Harriet’s first birthday. “While I was pregnant with Harriet I got back into drawing and painting,” Samantha said. “I started posting some of my work on social media and suddenly I had requests from
By SHANE DOUTHIE
people asking if I did work on commission. “I come from a creative family, my grandmother was an award-winning artist, my dad was a signwriter, my uncle was into water colours and I was into drawing when I was young, I was one of those kids who sat in the schoolyard to draw. “I did year 12 art in year 10 but I lost it (art) a little bit when I left school and as I grew older.”
Samantha went back into nursing after Harriet was born and that was life as a working mother until the Christmas prior to Harriet’s first birthday. “I had been granted leave to celebrate Harriet’s first Christmas,” she said. “Then I had asked for leave for her first birthday in February and was denied it. “It meant I had to work on her first birthday and I realised my priorities were out of balance. “It was then I decided I wanted to design my life around my child and decided to create a business around something I genuinely love
doing - art - which also gave me the flexibility to spend more time with Harriet “Harriet has been with me every step of the way, every meeting, every art class.” The business was called Art by Samantha Badrock and it was highly successful, but another life-deciding moment was just around the corner. “This year was Harriet’s first year of school and I decided I still wanted to be with her when I can, which meant dropping her off at 9am and picking her up at 3pm,” Samantha said. ■ Continued page 6
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