A one-way ticket to Australia nearly three decades ago was a game changer for engineer-turned-artist Ricardo Pereyra.
Mr Pereyra immigrated from Argentina with a family of five, no job awaiting and little money.
He started carving as a stress reliever soon after, never envisaging his new hobby would turn into his craft.
“I wasn’t an artist, I was an engineer,” Mr Pereyra said.
“I started doing some carvings initially as a hobby … I was very stressed at work and I joined a carving club to go and relax a little bit.”
Mr Pereyra started working with wood, and once he retired he further honed his craft by doing courses at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2015, he went to Italy and learned how to work with marble.
Today, the 73-year-old Wyndham Vale resident has exhibited at a number of group exhibitions and this month opened his first solo exhibition, One Way Ticket, at the Saltwater Community Centre in Point Cook.
Mr Pereyra, who works under the name Richard Pearfield, said the exhibition was inspired by historic events, his journey from Argentina to Australia and his evolution as an artist.
One Way Ticket is on until March 31.
