Tag: art

Rebecca Lewis brings Little Queensland Histories to life in her first solo exhibition

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


Remember Rebecca Lewis? She merges creativity and community in her playful and inventive art projects, which are made exclusively from second-hand and recycled materials. 

When we last chatted, she was preparing her first solo exhibition, an endeavour both terrifying and electrifying. After months of research, preparation and creative frenzy, Little Histories is ready to go and will run until the 14th of September! Head to the Project Gallery at QCA (Southbank) for a taste of what this highly talented and imaginative artist has to offer. 

Little Histories is an exploration of the local, daily and real lives of five Queensland families. The show documents those tales that are passed down through generations and which are part and parcel of the very fabric of the land, although they mostly go untold, and forgotten. 

Weaving together the small threads of little family histories, Rebecca is giving them their place in the broader tapestry of South East Queensland and its rich past. What she found through her interviews was a community with strong links to each other and to the land. 

She has genuinely enjoyed the whole creative process. “The best thing that’s come out of it has been finding even more connections between the families I featured in the work, which speaks to me so much about community and our links to where we live.”

The idea for Little Histories was actually born over twenty years ago. Rebecca interviewed her great-grandmother for a school project and discovered whole episodes of family history that she had previously been entirely unaware of. 

One such event was the murder of her great-grandmother’s sister. Upon mentioning her great-grandmother’s story to a friend who happened to work in the QLD State Archives, Rebecca actually found a write-up of the 1927 event! The archives also held the watercolour map depicting investigative details like the location of the revolver, and news clippings from the time of the murder – the perfect example of how ‘little’ histories affect and shape whole communities. 

Today’s exhibition is the culmination of interviews with friends and their relatives. Rebecca worked with them throughout the creative process to produce visual, tangible and multi-dimensional representations of their collective memories.

Featuring a technique called locative collage, Little Histories is a juxtaposition of genuine family photos and miniature lino-print replicas of their homes, photographed together outdoors. The effect is both nostalgic and joyful, pulling you into the fragmented details that together make up a community’s history. 

Each image is accompanied by a story narrated by a family member, immersing you into the tiny joys, the little tears, the trivial things that make us all human. The audio is available at www.thelittlebrowndogworkshop.com/little-histories with a thumbnail of each image. 

In line with Rebecca’s environmental ethos, the prints are created using local and reclaimed materials. Rebecca’s friends have all been on a lookout mission for months, keeping their eyes open for frames in op-shops and vintage stores! 

Check out Rebecca’s Instagram page for sneak peeks of the show (https://www.instagram.com/littlebrowndog/) then take yourself down to Southbank to see Queensland, community and history in a whole new light!

Saving Bimblebox: how art can change mindsets

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


Queensland is a treasure trove of highly varied landscapes, ecosystems and parks. From rainforests to eucalyptus groves, grasslands to tidelands and everything in between, our surroundings are magical, vibrant and vital.

What better way to celebrate Queensland’s natural magic than through art? Visual, musical, and spoken creativity is uniquely poised to capture the emotions and mystery woven into the fabric of nature.

This bond is powerfully expressed at the Bimblebox Nature Refuge. The Bimblebox Art Project, run by Jill Sampson, engages with the diversity of life in the sanctuary as well as issues of conservation and exploitation that are plaguing this beautiful ecological hotspot.

The Bimblebox Nature Refuge is an 8, 000-hectare sanctuary nestled in central-west Queensland. One of the few remaining intact remnant habitats, the Bimblebox refuge has never been cleared and is of extraordinarily high conservation value to ecologists state-wide.

This semi-arid deserts uplands refuge is home to a wide diversity of ecosystems, providing welcome and necessary shelter to myriad indigenous flora and fauna. Over 158 bird species call Bimblebox home, including twelve which are of high conservational significance. There are also a wide variety of reptile and animal species which thrive here.

Bimblebox further doubles as a sustainable cattle property, where on-going research is taking place in nature ecology and sustainable grazing practices. The aim is to marry production with biodiversity conservation.

Despite having a Nature Refuge Agreement with the QLD State Government, Bimblebox and other nature refuges are not protected from coal mining.

In fact, the Bimblebox Nature Refuge is under threat, as of 2007, from a massive coal-mining operation proposed for the Galilee Basin. The projected plan suggests open-cut mining more than half of the reserve, and underground mining the rest. This would increase the state’s coal production by 150%, and Australia’s emissions by 130%. The coal produced will be sent to China to be used in energy and power generation.

The effect of this on Bimblebox‘s groundwater reserves, agriculture and ecosystems, not to mention on Australia’s efforts to apparently reduce their emissions, will be profound. If Bimblebox survives, it will be one of the only remaining long-term research sites into ecology and biodiversity conservation. If it does not, the priorities of the QLD State Government will have been made clear.

Luckily, Bimblebox and the conservation efforts taking place there are not without supporters. In 2012, artist Jill Sampson launched the Bimblebox Art Project, which aims to creatively engage with and document the refuge’s ecosystems and habitats.

The initiative gathered artists at the refuge every September. Together, they would explore the threatened ecology of the sanctuary and comment on biodiversity loss, food security, water use and climate change from within their own creative practices.

The Bimblebox Art Project is hitting Brisbane this September with their Bimblebox 153 Birds exhibition, which has been touring since 2015. Head to the Queensland College of Art from the 3rd to the 14th of September to be blown away by the spoken word, music and art which celebrate the multiplicity and significance of the bird species which inhabit the sanctuary. This year, the exhibition includes work by Aussie music and art legend, Reg Mombassa.

Over 450 writers, musicians and artists worldwide have creatively given voice to the 158 bird species of Bimblebox. Beautiful artist prints and soundscapes, composed of poetry, prose and musician’s bird calls, come together to create a dynamic and poignant installation.

The idea came about when Jill received interest in the Bimblebox Art Project from artists who couldn’t make it to the remote location. To find ways of involving them and their work in an exhibition which needed to be compact and transportable, Jill explored multi-disciplinary and multimedia options.

Birds are one of the critical ways humans interact with the Wild, be it by sight or sound. As such, they make a highly relatable symbol for Bimblebox, one which feels real, tangible and provocative. They also depend on the soil and its own ecosystems for sustenance, accordingly symbolising the symbiotic nature of the Bimblebox ecology.

The first call-out went out in 2013, and the first exhibition took place in 2015. The project has been on-going since then, with over seven new species having been discovered and added in the meantime.

Reg Mombassa, who has been a successful and beloved musician and artist since 1976, made his own contribution to 153 Birds. His iconic Mambo style art and beautiful re-imagining of a musical bird call have joined the effort the save Bimblebox. He encourages people to come to the exhibition and engage with the issues which it raises, hoping that collective awareness can help to bring about change.

See you there!

For more information, visit their website.

Image Credit:  Rew Hanks, The Coal Throated Finch, 2014, Hand Coloured Linocut, photo courtesy of the artist.

The Bold Ladies of BAM Are Painting the Town Red

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


The creative and artistic fields have always been at the forefront of social, ideological and philosophical debates. They make spaces and opportunities for those who are ‘Other’ to have their voices heard, their work seen, and their value validated.

This remains the case to this day. Visual arts provide platforms to tackle knotty social issues and raise awareness of local or global concerns. From racial marginalisation to economic disenfranchisement and privilege gaps, artistic mediums are used to build bold statements and reach a broad range of audience.

Most significantly, creativity stimulates collaboration, bringing together artists and creators with similar values and missions, empowering both individuals and communities in tandem.

One such powerhouse creative collective is formed by the four bold ladies of BAM, Brisbane Art Matriarchs. Gender bias is still an obstacle to many women in the professional art world today, especially those from marginalised ethnic communities. BAM aims to level the playing field and create new standards for equality in the industry.

This recently formed all-female curatorial group aims to enrich Brisbane’s vibrant and inclusive arts community. To this end, the fierce foursome channels their energy into providing equal opportunity, equitable employment and ongoing development opportunities for women in the art and design industry.

The team of established curators will collaborate with Brisbane City Council, Queensland College of Art and The Culprit Club street art agency to continually push the boundaries of inclusion, creativity and community in Brisbane. With a focus on high-impact, large scale works which pioneer new pathways in female contemporary art, the curators of BAM are ready to shake things up.

You’ll be seeing the fruits of their collective labour displayed in laneways around Brisbane any day now, in their debut project, Women’s Work.

Responding to Brisbane’s landscapes from both historical and modern perspectives, 11 female artists will exhibit their artwork throughout the city. This will be Brisbane’s largest display of women’s street art to date!

The curators and artists are engaging with attitudes towards work, gender and work, and contributions to society which go unpaid, unnoticed and unvalued. They aim to connect public awareness with aspects of many women’s lives that are unseen. From energy-intensive maternal roles to nurturing those around us both physically and emotionally, the fabric of women’s lives will be celebrated on Brisbane’s canvas.

The beautiful creations will be on display and free for the public to admire from August 12th to December 1st, alongside a wide assortment of activities including curated walking tours, public talks, and events on offer in the coming weeks.

LOCATIONS:
Eagle Lane – Artwork by Alex Saba, Lusid Art
Edison Lane – Artwork by Courtney Brims
Edward Street – Artwork by Dominique Falla
Edward Street – Artwork by Claire Tracey
Fish Lane – Artwork by Rae Cooper
Hutton Lane – Artwork by Emma Wright
Irish Lane – Artwork by Rachael Sarra
King George Square Car Park – Artwork by Mosessa
William Jolly Bridge – Artwork by Tori-Jay Mordey 

Wander around the city and see Brisbane in a new light as these talented ladies leave their mark.

Forget Me Knot: One Man’s Mission to Modernise Rope Craft

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


Ah, the life of a sailor – full of dangers and excitements, battling the forces of nature and imbibing rum as if it were water.

In between fights for survival, though, long sea voyages were punctuated with phases of profound monotony. Having scrubbed the floors for the third time that day, resourceful seamen found creative ways to entertain themselves and make their lives easier.

One of the crafts born from this juxtaposition of necessity and boredom was marlinspike knot craft. Sailors knotted and shaped rope for the myriad duties they had to carry out aboard the ship, often competing with each other for style and versatility. These ingenious knot structures could be put to any number of uses, from balustrading to securing timbers and creating fenders, hooks or mats.

The legacy of these seafarers who created form and function from limp strands of hemp is far from forgotten. To this day, people like Mick Corker keep this art alive, bringing it into the twenty-first century through a judicious combination of traditionalist approaches and modern aesthetics.

Mick grew up in Fremantle WA, a port city renowned for its maritime history. Surrounded by vestiges of its naval past, Mick absorbed the nautical aesthetics and traditions of his home. They may have lain dormant until a decade-or-so ago, but there were always essential aspects of his relationship with the world around him.

His days as a tree lopper resulted in many a length of rope hanging around. One of these was to become his fateful first finished piece: an ocean plait mat. From that moment on, Mick was “taken in hook, line and sinker,” and regularly spent hours and days twisting and twining rope in a quest to perfect just one knot. Having figured it out, he would never forget it.

Teaching himself his craft through meticulous book research and chance meetings with mentor-figures, Mick developed his art, learning to create a broad range of products. In his own words, once you know the basic knotwork, you can make anything!

A decade down the line and Mick has based his business, Jack Tar’s Locker, in Palm Beach, where he specialises in handcrafted rope decor, accessories and homewares. In his capable hands, tradition and craftsmanship come together in bespoke, modern rope pieces reflecting a fascination with times gone by. He’s worked rope for clients from around the globe, helping home-makers or business owners everywhere to craft their ideal nautical atmosphere.

As you’ve probably guessed, there aren’t too many knot crafters around these days, and Mick’s specialism has led to some exciting projects! He was in charge of creating the rigging for the Pirates of the Caribbean film, even re-building the ships late into the night after the movie crew accidentally blew them up!

More recently, he was asked to create all the homeware and decor items for a new hotel in Cagliari, the Italian island of Sardinia’s stunningly picturesque capital city. Using only rope and knots, Mick designed everything from toilet paper holders to drawer handles and towel rails!

To find out more about Mick’s work, and maybe purchase some bespoke rope decor, check out his Instagram page and Etsy shop!

Instagram: jacktarslocker
Etsy: JackTarsLocker

If you’re keen to test your mariner skills and try your hand at some knotting, Mick’s running a workshop at the artisan gallery on the 12th of October. Engage with this unique craft as Mick demonstrates the highly versatile monkey fist key chain, before making your very own rope mat using the over-and-under technique. This technique is the base for creating myriads of rugs in all shapes and sizes!

Find out more here: https://artisan.org.au/blogs/workshops/marlinspike-knot-craft.

Artist of Life spreads joy and creates impact with bold, bright and beautiful paintings

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


Simple is always best, and Tracey Keller’s mission is simply to create joy. This quirky and vivacious artist spreads smiles and good deeds from her idyllic sea-view studio perched high up in the Noosa mountains. Overflowing with life and joie-de-vivre, Tracey strives hard for meaning and impact through her art, focussing on the creative process and its power to change mindsets.

The famous ‘pet-painter’ grew up on a farm, surrounded by a wide variety of animals in all shapes and sizes. From the beginning, Tracey felt a powerful connection to them, and they would eventually come to play a significant role in her mission to create joy.

In the midst of a successful high-end corporate management career, Tracey decided that there were more impactful ways to spread positivity in the world. Picking up on a passion that had been with her since time immemorial, she launched herself as a professional artist, without actually ever having attended a single art class. She has now been a full-time artist for over seventeen years, and her passion is only building.

Her signature style is bold, vibrant and exuberant. Combining thick splashes of bright acrylic with whimsically applied hessian and resin, her works are textured and full of energy, her characters full of depth and complexity. Even her budget prints are given special treatment, as she applies the textured paints to their flat surface and imbues them with bold intricacies.

Tracey is best known for her spirited portraits of animals. Having had such a connection with them in her youth, they naturally became a huge part of her quest to spread joy. Characterised by sparkly, playful eyes and vibrant colour palettes, her comic and endearing portraits resonate within each of us. She most famously does commission portraits of your very own darlings!

As is often the case, great challenge and difficulty led to significant change and forward momentum in Tracey’s life. Having gone under the knife for a major operation during which her leg was removed and re-built, she was unable to walk for over three months.

This also meant she was unable to paint. While fear and negativity very much rose the surface, Tracey put her mind to creating something new and beautiful. Attending the open university of YouTube tutorials, she taught herself the art of bronze sculpting, and today her sculptures are produced and sold alongside her signature pieces.

Central to Tracey’s creative ethos are the concepts of art, healing and intention. Tracey creates to create joy, and her effervescent paintings are an explicit celebration of life and living.

Being a dedicated yogi, she understands how deep intentions run, as well as the impact they can have on what we put out into the world. When Tracey paints, she channels her intent from the tips of her toes to the tip of her tongue, positively vibrating with the desire to create joy. Watching people smile, she knows she has made her own little, but by no means insignificant, contribution to worldwide happiness.

Tracey’s ability to spread positivity goes well beyond intention, though, overshooting squarely into the realm of action. She’s teamed up with B1G1, a social enterprise and non-profit which helps businesses give back in meaningful, measurable and long-lasting ways.

B1G1 stands for Buy 1, Give 1. Whenever someone buys a piece from Tracey, she makes sure to give back. It might be educational support for a child, protection for the environment, meals for the hungry, and so much more! Every purchase you make has a tangible positive impact.

Through whimsically bold and joyous art, Tracey spreads smiles and positivity, as well as finding concrete ways to influence the world around her. Let her draw you into her bright and beautiful universe! Contact her for a commissioned piece or check out her artwork here: https://traceykeller.com.

Meriam Mer Artist Strives to Help Traditional Arts Remain Relevant

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


While living in the past is inadvisable at best, our histories shape our present. It’s vital that we nurture our connection with the past and give it the respect it deserves, so that we may grow and learn from it. This is precisely what Horn Island (Torres Strait) artist Emily Beckley is seeking to achieve.

Honouring the Meriam Mer experiences, stories and history of her people, she moulds metal to her will, creating striking pieces of jewellery which blend traditional and contemporary elements. In effect, Emily is bringing traditional values and aesthetics into the 21st century, adapting them with love, respect and a cutting edge.

Emily is by trade a gifted painter, whose work, exhibited in the National Gallery of Australia, has recently been bought by UTS, Sydney. However, after attending a workshop by the Indigenous Jewellery Project (more on them in a bit), she has thrown herself wholeheartedly into jewellery design.

In November of 2018, Emily became the first indigenous artists in residence at the prestigious ANU School of Art and Design and held her first solo exhibition of contemporary jewellery at Craft ACTL Craft and Design Centre, Canberra. But what gives Emily her edge? What creates interest in her work? How is she making traditional arts and practices relevant in a contemporary context?

Traditional Torres Strait art is primarily concerned with the warrior’s way of life, emphasising traits and qualities revolving around martial masculinity. Emily is bringing her people’s art into the contemporary world by shifting her focus, and our focus, onto the usually unseen softer, more romantic side of her culture.

Her most striking pieces, and her projects which have attracted the most interest, revolve around her people’s bridal and celebratory traditions. Emily’s work on the Haddon Bridal Pendant, or sabagorar pendant, eventually led to her being interview by ABC TV News, while her series of Kulap seed pendants reference her own practice as a traditional dancer.

The Sabagorar pendant was traditionally carved from turtle shell and worn by brides. Collected by Alfred C Haddon in 1898, it’s been kept at the British Museum for 120 years. Thanks to Emily, the pendant has now been revived and recreated for the first time using contemporary metal jewellery practices.

Kulap seeds, on the other hand, were initially used by Torres Strait Islanders to make shakers, used in traditional dance. Emily’s Kulap seed pendants are woven with silk, silver and brass wire, in allusion to her history as a traditional dancer and of her people’s powerful bond with the sea.

In September this year, Emily will be bringing her works to Radiant Pavillion 2019, the largest biennale of Contemporary Jewellery in the Southern Hemisphere, Melbourne. Bringing lesser-known aspects of the Meriam Mer culture to the forefront, Emily highlights the depth and diversity of what was once perceived as a simplistic artistic tradition. She demonstrates powerfully that echoes of the past in the present, and the present in the past, are always to be found. It’s extremely poignant to see artistic traditions evolve and remain relevant, creating strong links between the past and the present.

It all began with a workshop by the Indigenous Jewellery Project. Created by McCulloch & McCulloch co-director Emily McCulloch Childs, IJP’s mission is to bring you “the world’s oldest continuous jewellery tradition, in a contemporary form.” Acting through research, workshops, film and exhibitions, IJP hopes to promote traditional jewellery artists through exhibitions and educational programmes, as well as the creation of a space for artists to further their creative practices.

The emphasis is on bringing traditional elements and contemporary crafts closer together, ensuring that cultural traditions remain relevant and respected.

Are you fascinated by this merging of the traditional and the contemporary? Check out Emily’s IJP exhibition at artisan gallery from the 21st of September, and inject yourself into this process of bridging the gap between past and present.

Mixed Media: Where Traditional Art Meets Contemporary Fashion Design

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


Art has been a medium for storytelling since the beginning of the human story itself, used to capture memories, emotions and knowledge. Whether sharing information, imbuing representations of nature with abstract significances or tapping into our more profound emotional landscapes, art has always brought us together.

Drawing on this tradition, the artists at the Cape York Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre are teaming up with QUT Fashion Design students. This exciting union will see the creation of a young, cutting edge couture collection entitled Wubuul buii, ‘together.’ Textiles designed by the artists are transformed into provocative and creative zero-waste garments. The products of this collaboration have told their individual stories at the 2019 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and will be displayed at the artisan gallery from September 21st.

Established in 2009, the Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre is a space for local Guugu Yimithir artists to further their creative practice and maintain their unique culture. This not-for-profit corporation is owned and governed by indigenous artists and board members, actively encouraging Aboriginal people to engage with their cultural traditions and languages through intergenerational sharing.

Here budding or experienced artists learn ancient skills like gathering, weaving and bush dyeing local fibres, or more contemporary skills like printing, etching, and modern art techniques. There is also a workshop space available to members of the community, providing them with a safe place to experiment and push their creative practice.

The centre displays the arts, crafts and artefacts produced by local artists, which can be bought on-site or through the exhibitions which the centre attends. The work produced is highly interdisciplinary, with much emphasis on textiles, multi-media and collaboration with other art forms such as dance, fashion design and song.

The Wubuul buii collection will celebrate one of the oldest cultures on earth, with garments characterised by the bright, bold patterns used as forms of storytelling and cultural communication. The garments which made their way down the runway were designed with a zero-waste work ethic, further emphasising our connection to the earth and each other and challenging the designers to push their creativity to new levels.

The design students are excited to renew their collaboration with Hopevale, whom some worked with last year as well. Expressing kinship with each other and our past, this juxtaposition of traditional cultural storytelling with modern fashion design is narrating ancient stories in a new way, to an ever-changing audience. By adapting and transforming themselves, storytelling and art are always evolving, always relevant, and always essential to the human condition.

Be sure to check out this fabulous and thought-provoking collection at artisan from September 21st! For sneak peeks at the work in progress, take a look at the Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre facebook and Instagram pages.

How one local artist is combining creativity and consciousness to build community

Posted on by Chiara Torelli

More than merely a tool for bringing communities together, art spreads messages and sparks inspiration, exploring our motivations as individuals and bringing to the forefront issues that can only be solved as a collective.

So what happens when creativity, community and environmental awareness meet? Unique and meaningful works of art, of course!

Ipswich-based artist Rebecca Lewis understood from very early on the power of art to be a messenger, an inspirer and a platform for transforming mindsets.

Her own artistic transformation started early, during a childhood spent on an acreage in the bosom of a family with a highly attuned sense of their environmental footprint.

Although her parents would never have described themselves as ‘creatives,’ they were nonetheless continually finding creative ways to re-use materials and fabrics. Their imaginative perspectives on matter, function, and aesthetics have significantly impacted Rebecca’s own.

While creativity in her family was linked with a practical, economic, and ecological philosophy, Rebecca invariably took this practical inventiveness one step further. She perpetually had a pen or pencil in her hand, took up printing early on at afterschool clubs and then lino printing in high school. Textiles and printing would come to be the hallmarks of her artistic practice while her creativity would continue to go hand in hand with environmental awareness.

After having kids, it came naturally to Rebecca to combine working from home and being available for her children with furthering her creative practice. Like many artists, she needs to be exercising her creativity to find personal fulfilment (and not go stir-crazy).

Today, she reconstructs our discarded and unwanted objects in ways that enable us all to perceive the beauty and potential in them.

Working exclusively with second-hand fabrics, discarded craft supplies and found objects, Rebecca produces singular and quirky items, which you will find nowhere else. Browsing her Instagram page instagram.com/littlebrowndog, Rebecca’s childlike ability to see magic and beauty in everything is palpable. Joy and wonder emanate from each item her hands have crafted.

One of Rebecca’s priorities in working with second-hand supplies is letting the materials speak for themselves. Their stories, characters, and quirks inform the design of each work of art: they stay true to themselves even as they are transformed.

While most artists work in isolation, Ipswich art shops have opened up studios and performance areas, enabling artists to share workspaces and creative processes. Practising alongside each other and engaging in personal artistic growth as a collective has greatly strengthened an already lively creative community. Local artists frequently attend each other’s exhibitions and are deeply involved in each other’s progress and growth. As an artist in Ipswich, Rebecca has found her ‘tribe.’ (She shudders as she says this, having found no better word to describe her community but hating the new-age hipster vibe she is imbuing it with).

However, she really hit her artistic stride around 2014, when she ran one of the three teams taking part in a community grant project across Ipswich. For Rebecca, the Animating Spaces project was truly about showcasing the artistic talent Ipswich has to offer and getting artists involved with the local community. Gaining lifelong friends and a confidence boost, Rebecca grew in her practice, with stronger project management skills and more courage in working with the community and other artists. But this was only the beginning…

In 2017, Rebecca was part of the Queensland Regional Art Awards touring show; then in 2018, she took first place in their Digital Art category! While she found this hugely validating to her artistic ambitions and self-belief, even more valuable to her was being embraced in the wider Queensland artistic community. She found herself surrounded by like-minded people who aligned with her creative practice. To this day, the artists involved are actively supportive of each other and genuinely involved in each other’s progress.

Rebecca’s sustainable ethos has continuously informed her creativity and brought her into contact with like-minded artists from all over Queensland. Nevertheless, her immediate community is just as crucial to Rebecca’s practice. Community, the forging of bonds through creation and exploration of self, and the ability to spark discussions on pertinent and urgent themes are central to Rebecca’s artistic values.

In this spirit, workshops are an integral aspect of her creativity, and she loves creating environments where knowledge and understanding flow alongside creative development. Her workshops for kids and grownups build on motor skills and artistic confidence as well as being highly open, friendly and nurturing environments.

Although she’s an introvert, Rebecca also loves the face-to-face interactions which take place at markets. This aspect of the creative process is perhaps one of the most rewarding, and while ‘design and maker’ markets are always fun, her favourite is the Southside Arts Market, in Brisbane. Here, people set out knowing they’re going to purchase artwork, and there’s nothing a creator loves more than connecting with someone who connects with her creations. Rebecca is most moved when she witnesses a person genuinely relate with the one-off items she’s produced. Knowing she has impacted this person’s life in very personal ways is profoundly fulfilling.

This artist has big plans for the future – or does the future have big plans for Rebecca? Having attended a workshop on running exhibitions, she won the opportunity to host her own solo show, and her ambitions are running high! Be prepared to witness the fusion of sustainable art with secret histories.

Taking the family unit as her starting point, Rebecca wants to collect the ‘little’ histories that inform the daily lives of real people and real places. Giving them their place in the broader historical tapestries of state and nation, she’ll bring to the forefront the personal struggles that shape entire communities. Highlighting these ‘little’ histories will truly bring to light our power to impact society around us. Make sure to keep a look-out for her first solo venture in Ipswich!

artisan gallery: connecting makers and spectators

Posted on by Chiara Torelli


The art and design scene in Brisbane is thriving, vibrant and diverse, and a cherished element of our community. Enabling our Brisbanite and Australian creatives to spread their wings has the potential to enrich us all, as the people at artisan have always known.

Founded in 1970, artisan is proudly referred to as ‘the Queensland home of craft and design’ by its members. A beautiful modern space at 45 Kings Street, in Bowen Hills, artisan supports and promotes craft and design practices through a year-round calendar of exhibitions, event and workshops, as well as its on-site store.

This not-for-profit organisation aims to share, celebrate and offer advocacy for local and nationwide creatives, whatever their practice; whatever their medium. Their focus is on community collaboration, heavily involving the audience in the work of the makers through their many workshops and their hands-on approach to art, exhibition curation and celebration.

artisan is operated by a team whose members are themselves makers and creators. They have a first-hand understanding of the struggles facing budding artists and the challenges of making your way in the art world. This enables them to offer targeted support to their many protegees, bringing out the best in them.

One of the avenues through which artisan supports Australian makers is via their stunning on-site store. Home to the handmade and unique creations of over 100 Australian artists, this beautifully designed and curated space is more gallery than store, with jewellery, ceramics, glass, fabric, weaving and ornaments available to be perused and purchased.

This is the perfect place to buy one-off, handcrafted and thoughtful gifts for friends and family, or yourself and your home. The items here are all lovingly made with either traditional artisanal skills or contemporary design and manufacture practices, but most often a delightful combination of both. What’s more, purchases made at the artisan store truly make a difference to a maker’s experience.

The friendly staff at the store are intimately acquainted with each of the items on display, including their makers and their stories. Ask them about pieces you are interested in to gain insightful glimpses into the creative processes behind them, helping you to choose personal and pertinent gifts that will be cherished for years to come.

artisan also supports and celebrates its members through its full-on calendar of exhibitions and events, housed in the on-site gallery or workshop space. If you’re keen to get involved with your local creative community and support artists nationwide, why not head on down to check out some upcoming events?

Exhibitions

AGENCY BY DESIGN: Expressive Design for Disability
Main Gallery
11 May – 13 July

This exhibition explores the full breadth of designing for disability, with a focus on individual expressive and physical needs, which cannot be met with a one-size-fits-all attitude. The exhibition includes jewellery, apparel, ocular prosthetics, furniture and technology.

HELEN WYATT: I WALK THE LINE
Small Object Space
11 May – 13 July

Helen Wyatt’s wearable jewellery designs are centred around a visualisation of edges, borders and fences as transitional sites between nature and culture.

MAKE IT: TOOLS, TECHNIQUE & TIME
Main Gallery
20 July – 14 September

Man’s intimate relationship with tools and creating is investigated in this exploration of the thousands of years of evolution behind each new item in our toolbox.

Workshops

The workshop calendar at artisan is so exciting and diverse; I don’t even know where to begin. The workshops are quite regular and frequent but tend to sell out quickly, so make sure you get in there early if you see something you’re interested in!

BRASS & TIMBER BANGLE with Kirralee & Co
When: Saturday 29 June 2019
Time: 1:00pm

Play around with a variety of workshop tools, including a mandrel for bending brass, a vice, Dremel and a drill press, as well as materials such as steel wool and epoxy glue, as Kirralee Robinson walks you through the creation of your very own brass and timber bangle.

BOOK SMITHING with Sam Parsons
When: Saturday 13 July 2019
Time: 10:30am

Repurpose illustrations from old books using simple stitching methods to embellish, personalise and add texture. Create artwork to frame, take home or offer as a gift.

SCIENTIFIC GLASS TALK & DEMO with Jarred Wright
Date: Saturday 20 July
Time: 11:00am

Learn about the dying art of scientific glass blowing, and watch one of the last few practitioners in action!

CREATIVE GLASSWARE SANDBLASTING with Jo Bone & Aaron Micallef
When: Saturday 27 July
Time: 10:30am

Work with these two established artists to master the processes of stencilling, masking and sandblasting, creating your own personalised matching glassware to take home.

LEATHER SANDAL MAKING with The Shoe Camaraderie
When: Saturday 7 September
Time: 9:30am – 5:30pm

Spend the day creating your very own leather sandals from scratch while enjoying tea and coffee in the morning and cheese and wine in the afternoon.

For more information go to https://artisan.org.au

The Blind Leading the Blind: Artist-Run Initiatives

Posted on by Chiara Torelli

No one understands what drives an artist as much as another artist. So who better than artists themselves to provide the spaces and opportunities for others to experiment and create fearlessly? This is the principle behind Artist-Run Initiatives. ARIs are projects, organisations, and galleries run by artists, for artists, enabling creatives to experiment with, innovate, develop and present their work in a collaborative environment.

Brisbane is home to many ARIs. Outer Space, Wreckers ArtSpace, The Wandering Room, Diagram and ArtWorld Studio Gallery are all safe havens for artists to express themselves, but Boxcopy is the only ARI in Queensland to be a member of All-Conference, a national coordination network of fifteen artist-led organisations.

Through positive and constructive peer-to-peer networks and diverse and innovative artistic programmes, All-Conference pushes an experimental and cross-disciplinary art agenda throughout Australia. The fifteen member-ARIs often collaborate, building a supportive platform for creative exploration on a large scale and advancing the practices of living artists.

In this vein, Boxcopy strives to provide a platform for experimental and innovative creative practices, with an extensive programme of curated exhibitions by both new and established artists, a diverse range of events, two artistic publications, and discussion forums focused on the role of art in the lives of both artists and audiences. Here, artists are enabled to develop and present new work in a wide range of media, from moving image, to sound, performance, and installations.

The ethos behind Boxcopy has always been one of experimentation, collaboration, and a D.I.Y attitude to contemporary art practices, stemming from its own D.I.Y origins: it was founded as a collaborative project by seven art school graduates, from the basement of their Queenslander in New Farm.

Today, Boxcopy is one of the longest-running ARIs in Brisbane, having been the ARI-in-residence at the Metro Arts Centre, before moving to the historical Watson Brothers Building in Brisbane’s CBD, then Normanby Fiveways, on Petrie Terrace.

This June 8th, Boxcopy’s yearly silent auction, The Annual, is taking on a significant role: Boxcopy has recently moved to a new home! Celebrate their move to 16 Merivale St, South Brisbane, by joining their housewarming auction, and bid silently on artwork donated by a variety of local artists, with the support of both local and national art institutions and galleries.

Join their mailing list here: https://boxcopy.org to receive the catalogue in advance! All proceeds from the sales go directly to paying the artists and writers involved in the upcoming programme.

ARIs are creative communities where artists are enabled to support artists, and promoting and getting involved with these initiatives is the best way to empower the local arts scene. Going direct to the source and helping artists provide for each other means they are indeed being given the space they need to grow their practices and launch themselves into the world, benefitting from the experience of those around them.