I balance my time between the solitary work in my studio, and my public work as a community artist.
Sew Local Sweat Shop - Tamborine Mountain 2019
This public art event actively engaged the community to sew shopping bags in a factory production line setting. Together we generated 200 limited edition bush turkey shopping bags, with a purpose to educate the community about overuse of plastics . The event was held in a vacant shop front thus activating one of the many dead spaces in our retail sector. This project ticked all the boxes: gathering people together, fostering community , teaching new skills, pushing the "save our planet" message, with a bi product of a shopping bag that is highly functional. The legacy of "Sew Local Sweat Shop " lives on through the use of these bags in the community.
Read more...
Funded by RADF. Chief sidekick bag lady: Amy Lane.
Photography by Sabine Bannard
"Yarning in Yarrabilba"
These three panels were created as part of a Community Art Project for the Yarrabilba Community Centre in 2017. The images of the panels were conceptualized by a group of children using stories of Yarrabilba past and present as inspiration. Artist Bec Andersen used these images to create the designs which were then produced with the local community using the Punch needle rug Making technique.
Make do & Mend
I was asked by The Scenic Rim Regional Council to create a Community Art Installation with the theme “Make do and Mend”, as a reflection on war times and what people did to save pennies. So with my community we created “Piece by Piece for Peace’. A restored rocking chair sat upon a giant shag pile rug that was surrounded by a curtain of hand -made paper beads. The visitors to the gallery could take a seat and listen to the stories of Make do and Mend that were gathered as part of the project.
Read the full details of this project on the Stellar website here
Artist in Residence Tamborine Mountain State School 2015
“11 and Beyond” was inspired by the cultural shift that occurred in Queensland in 2015, where year 7 children began the first year of high school and Year 6 children became leaders in Primary schools. The year 6 children designed and produced their own unique chair pads using the Punch Needle Rug Making Technique.
This Project was funded by the Australia Council for the Arts and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Science, Information Technology Innovation and the Arts.
Yarn Bombing Doughty - Tamborine Mountain 2012
This project was inspired by a changing dynamic in my community, our little IGA was expanding and moving out of the heart of the town to its’ own isolated location. Doughty Park Picnic shelter grounds itself amidst all this change, with the wisdom of history. I wanted to celebrate that.
Funded by RADF.
