User:DanielleSuppa/sandbox
Prue Acton initially wanted to become a traditional artist - a painter - before focusing on fashion [1] . "At 15 I went to RMIT I was one of the youngest ever to go to RMIT" [2] Acton says about her art studies that lead up to her fashion career "And during that time I was making my own clothes and making clothes for friend and that’s how I was making pocket money" [2] . Right after graduating, Acton worked on clothing samples, and began her business [2]. At the start of her career, she wrote a fashion column for the journal Go-Set [1]. Acton was the first Australian female designer to show her own fashion range in New York [1].
Acton returned to painting in the 80s [1] . She shifts her focus from fashion to painting because " it’s all about making money and I’m becoming far more interested in painting" [2] . Acton found both hobbies to be similar "I don’t think it makes any difference whether I’m painting or I’m a designer it’s about the art of what we do of how the parts come together" [2]. She attended life drawing classes at Swinburne College, and studied painting with Clifton Pugh and Mervyn Moriarity [1] . Since 1989, Acton continues to hold exhibitions with Clifton Pugh and the Dunmoochin Artists [1] .