Goulburn artist Tracy Luff's sculpture 'Parenthesised Existence' to feature in Bondi's Sculpture by the Sea

She compared her work to the way new people to Goulburn had to adapt to the icy, windy winters.

"People have to adapt to be able to survive in a place," she said.

"And if you think about my work, we'll see how it handles the weather there and if it handles it well, it will survive for many years, but if it can't handle the weather there eventually the work will look really sad."

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Ms Luff is known for her complex two and three dimensional artworks created from fluted cardboard and recycled pallet wood, which often explore her sense of place, displacement and adaptation.

She said it took her many years to fully integrate into the Goulburn community, but she had enjoyed the initial magic of watching the seasons change from blooming flowers and orange leaves to snow-covered yards.

Her sculpture, 'Parenthesised Existence', which is featured at this year's Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, is a continuation of her previous work, using recycled materials to create new unique forms.

"They almost look like a shoot growing out from the ground, and I do this kind of work a fair bit but at different scales and in different places to see how it survives," she said.

A similar work titled 'Recapturing the Soul' was showcased in Bowral for Earth Hour earlier this year.

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Ms Luff said her newest sculpture had been designed to adapt to the conditions of the seaside, so as the cardboard compacted, the work would remain intact.

"Initially you don't see much change, all you see is the compacting, they're not as tall and as the time goes by the height will become shorter and shorter," she said.

"And then the texture is changed because the cardboard shrinks then expands and then insects play with it and wildlife visits.

"So the form stays the same, the visual order, but the texture is interesting and the colours are interesting."

Sculpture by the Sea is staged along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk and is one of Sydney's most popular events, with 500,000 visitors viewing over 100 sculptures by artists from around the world.

The annual exhibition began in 1997, but had to be postponed over the past two years due to COVID-19. Finally, in 2022, the exhibition will run from Friday, October 21 until Monday, November 7.

Ms Luff said it felt "surreal" to finally be in the preparation and installation stage of the exhibition.

"Installing is not easy in Sculpture by the Sea because you have to watch what you're doing so you don't damage wherever you install the piece," she said.

Throughout the years Ms Luff has navigated a myriad of exhibition sites, featuring in Singapore, Korea, the Netherlands and around Australia.

However, she remains humble beyond her international acclaim and attributes her passion for art to a simple Christmas gift of an old ice cream tin painted in folk art.

"I just looked at it and thought 'I wish I could paint'," she said.

Through years of art classes, Ms Luff honed her art skills, but her creative use of cardboard has proven captivating and dominates her portfolio.

"I loved painting but somehow with the sculptures, it just happened for me."

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