NOTHING is too old or too damaged that Mandurah artist Deb Zibah cannot find a good use for it.
Her old cottage near the Peel Inlet is arguably the most recycled home in the region.
She’s sanded back and whitewashed timber thrown out by Kmart, swapped a painting for a pair of french doors, used corrugated iron from a burned out mining shack and rescued old carpet from the rear of some shops, along with dozens of other items picked out from garage sales and verge collections.
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READ NOWHer vision for the old house started with a fellow gym buff who asked if she had any odd jobs she wanted done.
“Just a few, come with me,’’ she said.
After they had pulled down the warped ceiling and dead rats and possums tumbled out, the two put her vision to work.
Now she has a new vision – an art gallery in her large but mainly unused front room.
Zibah arrived in Australia from Zimbabwe in 1988. She attended Tafe for 12 months and later studied abstract painting at university.
While her young children were at school she produced several works and murals, not the least of which was a commission for 42 paintings for rooms at the then-new Sebel Mandurah.
She eventually ended up painting for all of the hotel’s 84 rooms, along with a 5 x 1.5 metre mural for the hotel.
In 2015, she took an en plein air (painting outdoors) course and was mentored by Leon Holmes, who lives in Mandurah and who she said was one of the 20 best en plein air artists in the world.
The new Gallery Zibah officially opened last Saturday with a garden soiree, at which her paintings were displayed throughout the house and garden.
She plans to offer some big paintings for sale but many smaller ones that people are more able to afford.
Gallery Zibah will be open by appointment.
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