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Rebecca Osborne was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1954. At the age of 5 she was given into the care of the Sisters of Compassion, living under their authority until she was 16.
In those years Rebecca would escape the strict demands of the Home of Compassion, and the confines of dormitory living, by taking to the hills above Island Bay and Berhampore - hiding in the trees and scrub. It was here that Rebecca discovered a love for nature and the land.
Rebecca was strongly influenced artistically by her years at the Home of Compassion, the visual symbolism and style of the Catholic world around her - the costume of the nuns and priests. Equally influential was the connection of Mother Aubert (the order's founder) with the people of the Whanganui River. Rebecca vividly recalls trips to the Maori township of Jerusalem on the banks of the Whanganui River, with the powerful mix of Catholicism and Maori culture. The influence of Maori on the order itself found expression in the Maori arts and crafts that were practiced at the Home of Compassion by the children.
Rebecca presently lives on a one-acre property covered in close to 200 species of New Zealand native plants.
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