“Take the step. Grab everything by the bullhorns. It’s up to you - it’s not up to anybody else.”

Wayne is a Montello boy with an extensive career spanning more than fifty years including several prestigious awards and international residencies – not to mention the way-out seating down at the foreshore and outside Café Europa.

'Max and Marg' - Umina Park Nursing Home, Burnie

Wayne made the unique choice of mixing furniture design with sculpture. He says the fusion came naturally to him, but was met with scepticism from his lecturers.

“They said ‘you won’t get anywhere, you’ve got to do one or the other.’ But I can’t help it. I do mixed seating with sculptural forms. It’s just what I do. I’m not one to read books on sculpture and copy ideas. I’ve never had a reason to do it. My reasons are the experiences I’ve had growing up in Burnie,” he says.

One person who was impressed with Wayne’s avant-garde style was world renowned New York sculptor Albert Paley. Wayne describes the day he did a spot of international art networking from a hut in Snug.

“I went down to the phone box with about thirty dollar coins. I pumped them in and rang him up. I said ‘could I come and work with you for three months?’ as I’d heard he took people in for a residency. His office said ‘where’s Tasmania?’”