pattie beerens
…in my art practice I wonder how we can inhabit where we live more collaboratively as part of nature … listen to the earth through my hands and my feet …and wish for honest nurturing relationships as part of the ecosystem of nature.
@pattiebeerens
tom radtke
… fortunate, to be working with the talented and creative people in this project, and to have had the privilege of working with many capable people throughout a solid career in the sciences supporting Defence.
I have a strong technical and imaging background, and videography has extended what I see and feel, and harmonised with my other passion, music. Anglesea, our coast and hinterlands are home and my inspiration.
miranda jarvis
miranda is a multi-media artist interested in narrative, heritage, and experience of place. miranda is currently studying a bachelor of museum studies at deakin university.
thaedra frangos
thaedra lives on Wadawurrung Country and is a proud Wemba Wemba (Gourrmjanyuk) and Dhudhuroa (Theddora Mittung) woman with greek lineage. “I honour the wisdom of the Ancestors and Elders, past, present and emerging as the custodians of the unceded lands of the Wadawurrung People where I am at home.”
I have spent special times walking and weaving with pattie and look forward to leading the gathering (10am on sunday 25 july) in a practice of wayapa wuurrk 'connect country' - an earth mindfulness and movement practice founded in Aboriginal wisdom.
“Bare feet, grounded. Feeling, sensing, communicating. Within this intimate, fluid relationship, emerges a practice, a dance, a prayer. Healing begins, potency awakens, tensions and patterns unravel and reorganise. Stories are retold and reimagined. Presence is felt within a wholeness of being that we know as our truth. I am a creative movement artist, dancer and healer inspired by how the story of our lives and that of our ancestors is woven into our connective tissue and into the landscape.”
hello@thaedra.com.au
@thaedra_
linda diggins
I’m very happy to be involved in the project in creating, sharing, even leading a meditation.
I don’t consider myself an artist but what i do try to do is be mindful, in the moment, to be present, and to really look at things and try to see them as they really are. I think an artist has an eye that sees things differently from a casual observer, to look beyond. This really fits with my Buddhist perspective and philosophy of life. I would love to share my knowledge of meditation to explore the practice of mindfulness.
victoria jost
Born in buenos aires, argentina and living in melbourne on Naarm Country, i am a frequent visitor of the surf coast who enjoys finding longboard waves to surf.
I am an artist fascinated by the way words weave with our imagination and alter how we experience the world.
The forest and the key is a sound-based installation to be enjoyed as part of moonah gathering. “It is a series of recordings of short verses inspired by the moonah trees in anglesea and my hope is that it opens an interconnected web of fictions between the forest-dwelling creatures.”
“Stories and illusions are uncovered from stem to root, an intertwingled path amongst the moonahs is drawn around spoken words. A spider caress, a lizard angel, and a fungi mouth are passwords into the deep forest web.”
Through a surreal plot, a latent narrative and a key word, this work opens alternate and fantastical ways of inhabiting the world. If not a forest, what better fertile field to re-consider our existence in the world today?
@skytois
https://victoriajost.com/
helen gibbins
For helen … it’s all about the quirks, the kinks, the unimaginable shimmer, the flutter of curious pauses, gentle ins and outs…. how she seeks to reflect these moments through mark making, voice and shaping spaces. Helen says “the intention may not always be clear - and that’s a fabulous place to be. :^)”
Check out the windows of the anglesea art space on your daily walk!
@helengibbins
www.helengibbins.com
sally groom
I was born on Guringai Country on the north side of what is now called sydney, a place my father comes from too. My mother comes from ‘the other side’, across the bridge on Gadigal Country. Neither of them knew these names, and it is only in the last 20 years or so that I have been conscious of being on Aboriginal Land.
I grew up playing in the bush, mystified by rock engravings, making pots out of white clay exposed on the street cuttings, running away from bush fires, and mucking around in boats (as well as watching way too much tv).
The banks of Kuarka Dorla on Wadawurrung Country are my adopted home, and our two boys were born and grew up here. We have lots of memories of meandering around the river, through the bush, and along the coast, getting to know and getting to love this place.
margot smith
Former mayor of the surfcoast, and co-worker on ‘battlestar galactica’, margot responded to my guest weaver invitation with - “you want a strategy person not to plan?” margot doesn’t know what she’ll do, but if all else fails she says she’ll “bring her knitting”.
@magooster
eamon dooley
I’m a singer from anglesea. I used to play the piano and sing down at mcgains nursery on weekends. Now, I spend most of my time singing classical music. I’m currently studying at the melbourne conservatorium alongside a design degree. I also sing with opera scholars australia, and as principle bass for the newman college choir.
i’m very excited to sing publicly in anglesea again (although i’m sure my anglesea neighbours can vouch that i sing publicly quite often). I grew up surrounded by moonah trees, and it has been amazing to collaborate with such an incredible group of artists for the moonah gathering. Hopefully, i can sing something that makes people feel more connected to these beautiful trees and their sense of history. It should be a very special night.
https://www.facebook.com/EamonDooleyMusic
juno gell-fabinyi
juno is five years old and is an experienced clay weaver from point roadknight
Why do you like weaving with clay in the trees?
J: "Because the trees are my favourite thing. I cuddle them. I love trees …I just really like getting my hands really muddy...it feels nice to have the mud in between my fingers..."
Why do you want to be a guest weaver?
J: "Because it's just really fun, being next to pattie and dipping my whole hand in the clay....sometimes I pull up my sleeve and dip my whole arm in."
caroline hawkins
Fibre artist and weaver, caroline hawkins, has extended a fascination with plant fibres for weaving into the realm of ephemeral art. “The immediacy of creating art using ‘only hands and materials which are present’, requires concentration, focus and an intimate awareness of my surrounding environment.” For caroline, the practice aligns beautifully with mindfulness and brings with it all those added wellness benefits, as well as just sheer pleasure.
Website: carolinehawkins.com.au
Instagram: @coilyline
ingrid petterson
“I believe art is a tool that can be used to create connections with the transpersonal, that which is beyond the person. I believe in art as a potential portal to healing. I believe in the use of art for health as much as I believe in biodynamic food, the moon, the ocean, the trees and kindness as nourishment and support for humans. Art is a great gift of expression for the many unspeakable experiences we enjoy and endure. I call this art medicine.”
Working creatively and therapeutically in geelong and the surfcoast, ingrid petterson believes in art medicine and its ability to create sacred connections. I am inspired by people, place, felt sense and memory and look forward to writng about moonah gathering.
tim wood
tim is an impresario who works across film, television , live music and theatrical events. He believes art and music are the keys to most doors worth opening. He is excited to help bring a world class aesthetic to the moonah trees on precious Wathaurong Country.
possum pete
pete (peter crowcroft) has the fortunate and rare job completely concerned with appreciating, observing, learning, and sharing knowledge about the surf coast natural environment. Living here as a naturally nature curious kid now trained biologist, pete’s goal is to experience and learn as much as possible about everything living here alongside us, starting with their names. moonah’s are pete’s favourite tree.
@possum_pete
rosemary
harris-arnott
rosie is a local anglesea artist and she loves nests. She is fascinated with them and finds immense joy in them. For rosie, nests symbolize nurturing, warmth and safety. She says “they can be so delicate, yet so protective and they remind me of my childhood. I collect them, paints them, print them and people gift them to me. For moonah gathering I have decided to imagine myself as a bird – nesting."
@ rosemaryharrisarnott
lucy o'grady
lucy grew up in ned kelly and nick cave country, (the slice of pangerang land known as wangaratta), and feels their anti-authoritarian and musical leanings in her bones. She has been a musician all her professional life; songwriting, performing, teaching, conducting choirs and practising music therapy.
In recent years she has been sparked most by exploring our primal relationship to music, the voice, and the land; and in collaborating with other artists and musicians while doing so. This project has ticked all those boxes of curiosity!
“I have written hundreds of songs in my life, but the process for this one felt different because of the various strands I wanted to bring together: the thoughts and words of pattie and thaedra frangos, as well as my own growing relationship to the land on which we stood as we chatted together, plus my strong inkling to ground the song in women's voices, harmony and the rhythm of the body - a bit of a new musical direction for me!”
For emergence I will perform this new song with beautiful local singers kylie nam, anna cutler, stephanie vernon, megan Vernon and mandana baker. “I am imagining a nocturnal choir.”
george carman
george’s ancestral roots are woven in yeomanry, husbandry and matters of the earth and perhaps it is no surprise he chose to study geology. He is skilled at sculpting rock data to paint pictures of ancient landforms going back millions of years (paleogeography or fossil landscapes) and more recently has further developed his interests in observational/experimental drawing. When invited to participate in moonah gathering he felt “ponderously nervously interested” and will share his experiences to tell some of the stories of the rocks along the Anglesea coastline.
@geolygeorge
ferne &
rhondda millen
Ferne shares how for her "moonahs are symbolic of love and love is connecting with self and others. Story is all around us... in the trees, in the sounds of the wind, in the earth we walk on. Take your shoes off connect, breathe in, breath out. We are one.
“This is the reason for me being a part of this project with Pattie, with my mum - amongst the moonahs”
rhondda millen, ferne’s mum, is a printmaker and painter. She taught art and shares, “there was always a clay component. I think it is important for people to make connection with the earth. To get their hands messy and to mould and manipulate the clay. Muds pies as kids!!! Oh we miss those carefree days. I look forward to my involvement in the project.”
@fernemillenphotography
deb elliott
last but by far least - deb is a generous contributor to all things art in our community and is so talented there is little she can’t do. This project is however a bit different and calls for listening, sensing, slowing down and letting go - “I can’t wait to explore these ides with deb as we weave with the moonahs” (pattie)
morning photo by deb
