Special cloak creation featured in Waste to Art exhibition
Photographer: Morgan Roberts
A screen-printed cloak made from recycled denim created by a group of at-risk teenagers will be a highlight of the Waste to Art Exhibition that opens at Gatakers Artspace in Maryborough tomorrow night (Friday 11 November 2022).
This is the second year that participants from ‘The Maryborough Creative Industries, Social Enterprise and Restoration and Repair Program’ have exhibited pieces in the competition.
Over 10 weeks, the 13 youths studied screen printing, painting and restoration techniques, along with literacy and numeracy skills, with support coming from a diverse range of individuals and organisations (more details below).
Fraser Coast Regional Councillor David Lewis said the Waste to Art competition challenged our perceptions of waste.
“Many items that end up in landfill can be turned into art, upcycled, reused or repurposed such as the furniture made last year by the TRSC participants from shipping pallets,” he said.
“The competition helps us challenge our perception of waste and encourages people to find new ways to use cast offs.
“It also challenges people to look more closely at what they are throwing away to see if it can be reused, repurposed or upcycled rather than ending up in landfill.”
More than 150 pieces ranging from a motorcycle made from reclaimed objects to a multipurpose camera obscura/lucida wheeled machine using an old pram, found materials, and a magnifying glass will be on display in the Waste to Art exhibition from 11 November 2022 to 8 January 2023.
Cr Lewis thanked the sponsors who helped Council stage the competition: Cleanaway, Hyne Timber, Reuse & Recycle Group and NuGrow.
“These companies have an interest in recycling, upcycling and repurposing materials which otherwise would be considered waste,” he said.
Breakout/additional background about the Creative Industries Program
‘The Maryborough Creative Industries, Social Enterprise and Restoration and Repair program’, which was formerly known as ‘Transformative Repair for Social Change’, again collaborated with artist and producer Tammy Brennan, Managing Director of Testimony Arts.
The cohort studied screen printing at Gatakers Artspace tutored by Gympie based fine visual artists Sandra Ross, Kieth Kuch and Fraser Coast Indigenous artist Sam Raveneau.
The group were also again mentored in building, repair and restoration techniques by The Maryborough Men's Shed volunteers over 10 weeks.
A unique partnership with Brisbane Youth Education and Training Centre (BYTEC) enabled a 9-week literacy and numeracy component at the Maryborough Library working alongside My Education Rules and a group of retired teachers, which aimed to support skills development for social entrepreneurship.
While onsite at Gatakers, the young men were also mentored in block printing by members of the Maryborough Printmakers.
Over the program, 13 participants studied painting techniques with award winning Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta artist Jandamarra Cadd, worked with bespoke furniture maker Manu Bugallo, did a one-day fashion up-cycling workshop with designer and costumier Cindy Vogels, and worked alongside Gamilaraay artist and facilitator Joshua Brown.
Jandamarra Cadd is the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned to do a work for the historic Memorial Collection at Parliament House. His portrait of Nova Peris OAM was unveiled at Parliament House in October in 2019.
The 10-week in total program has been guided and supported by local Indigenous artists Aunty Jodie Collins, Aunty Donna Murdoch, University of Sunshine Coast Indigenous Community Partnerships Officer Uncle Les Raveneau, Fraser Coast youth worker and facilitator Troy Sullivan, parent support Tony Hodges, Barry Argent Maryborough Men's Shed, Duncan Inglis Education QLD, Simon Clowes Trauma Informed Education Specialist, Dr Eleni Kalantidou and Kristine Abbott, Wide Bay Youth Justice.
2022 program supporters and partners include Department of Social Services, Testimony Arts, The Maryborough Men's Shed, Gatakers Artspace (Trevor Sphor and Patrice Chapman), Aldridge State High School, Maryborough State High School, the Maryborough Civic Library, My Education Rules, Maryborough Print Makers, Brisbane Youth Education and Training Centre (BYTEC), Wide Bay Youth Justice, Griffith University and The Light Christian Bookshop Cafe.
The CISERR Project is an early intervention creative arts-led program for young people (age 15 - 18) who identify as male and are considered at high-risk of entering the youth justice system, and/or disconnected from mainstream education pathways.
The program includes skills development, capacity building, social and creative arts participation and readiness.
It builds on a pilot program that was co-designed and delivered in Maryborough in 2021 by Tammy Brennan funded by Arts QLD with six young people, artists Jandamarra Cadd, Joshua Brown, Manu Bugallo, Fritz Schwarz, Aunty Jodie Collins and community members, local high schools, MACorp, Youth Justice Wide Bay and The Maryborough Men's Shed, with Griffith University researcher Dr Eleni Kalantidou and program contributions from Kristine Abbott, Barry Argent, Dr Guy Keulemans, Duncan Inglis, Kieren Grassmayr, Amie Moffat, Dr Jayne Clapton and Timothy Birch.
The Repair Project focuses on three key priorities: Hands on soft skills training/learning experiences; functional literacy and numeracy for creative entrepreneurship activities, exposure to multi-artform practices and techniques, and social inclusion through community building.
The program fosters creative relationships between young men, artists, industry experts, mentors, researchers/universities, community, and service organisations. The program uses a multi-faceted repair approach: Practice of Repair; Socio-emotional Repair; and Socioeconomics of Repair.