MFPA - Artists

My name is Geoff Dossetor. I was born in 1967 in Melbourne and lived there until
completing my education. Throughout secondary school I was particularly interested in
sport and graphic design. I decided to pursue my love of sport and eventually graduated
from university with studies in Physical Education and teaching.

I had been interested in Hang Gliding for some time and after completing university I took
some lessons. Immediately hooked on flying, I spent as much time Hang Gliding as
possible over the next twelve years. My flying passion became my job when I started
instructing in the early Nineties. I introduced over 5000 people to Hang Gliding through
instruction and by taking them tandem flying, most of which I did living in Queenstown,
New Zealand. I was quite successful in various forms of Hang Gliding competition,
representing both Australia and New Zealand, winning two World Cup events and several
national championships throughout the world. I appeared in television productions
featuring Hang Gliding and wrote regular articles for magazines, sometimes with cartoons
I had sketched.

After years of flying safely, a freak accident in 2001 changed my life. A passenger's arm
swung through and struck my neck when we stopped suddenly upon landing. Fortunately
my passenger was uninjured but I had been left a quadriplegic. While many aspects of
my life dissolved around me, I was introduced to painting in 2005 using a brush held in
my mouth. I sent some of my early acrylic paintings to the New Zealand branch of the
Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA). I was fortunate enough to be
offered a student membership of the MFPA in 2007. I learnt a great deal from several
local artists around where I lived in Queenstown, NZ, attempting a variety of paintings
using oils and also gouache. I still receive advice from those mentors over the Internet.

I returned to live in Melbourne towards the end of 2007. Being a solo parent of my young
daughter, I wanted to be closer to family and friends from where I grew up. During the
time it took to settle back into city life, I decided to concentrate on oil paintings. Though I
had moved from an area of natural beauty, there are many inspirations for my art around
Melbourne. Shops, galleries, parks, buildings and local events all capture my
imagination. I like to take art classes and sometimes join with painting groups, though
mostly I paint at home. The AGRA Gallery is very close so I see a new realist exhibition
every fortnight amongst many others taking place regularly throughout Melbourne. I can
often be seen speeding around the Camberwell area in my wheelchair with my daughter
riding on my lap on the way to one of her many activities.

I enjoy painting landscapes, real and imaginary scenes, buildings, people and the
occasional flower. I imagine I will always be learning and developing my skills, knowledge
and artistic tastes. I still consider myself very much at the beginning of my artistic
journey.