South Pambula sculptor Jen Mallinson is enjoying a trifecta of publicity.
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Her latest commission, for Lendlease's Calderwood Valley development west of Shoalhaven, opened on February 15, she appeared on Channel 7's Better Homes and Gardens on March 3 and won a major prize at this year's Sculpture Bermagui on March 10.
Her work Closer won the Bermagui Beach Hotel prize and can still be viewed at Sculpture Bermagui until March 19.
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The invitation to appear on Better Homes and Gardens caught her by surprise and not well prepared.
"I didn't have any sculptures in my shed because I was working on a big public piece in Queanbeyan", the magnificent metal archway that now welcomes residents and visitors to the Calderwood Valley development.
"I think they were coming down about Two Sheds in Bega and got in touch with me because they were coming down this way," Ms Mallinson said.
Much smaller piece than usual
They arrived on January 10 and spent most of the day filming, half the day at her place and then in Bega where her work The Meeting of Two Rivers is installed at Littleton Gardens.
They asked Ms Mallinson a lot of technical questions such as the make-up of the corten steel that she favours for her work so she was never sure when they were filming and when they weren't.
When she learnt she would be featured in the program's DIY section "I thought what can I do in that amount of time?
"Everything else I do would take three weeks."
Ms Mallinson came up with the idea of a sculpture inspired by the delicate fan-shaped leaf segments of maidenhair ferns.
All up it took three hours to make for the program.
"I just drew it, we cut them out and I grinded them," she said.
Gained new followers on Instagram
The night the program went to air her Instagram followers went up by more than 40, taking her followers to more than 1000.
She uses Instagram to show people what she is working on.
"Instagram gives good feedback from peers because a lot of sculptors follow me and I follow them."
Her appearance has generated considerable interest among people from the show who are looking at her website and asking her to do maidenhair sculptures.
"It was exciting," Ms Mallinson said.
"If you had asked me three years ago if I was going to be TV I would not have thought I would just take everything in my stride."
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