During the month of August, I was given the opportunity by Brisbane City Council to be artist in residence in 'The Pod' in the Brunswick Street Mall in Brisbane's valley area.
The Pod is an open studio space in a refurbished shipping container, designed for occupation by artists etc, to help activate the mall.
The busy, noisy urban environment was a big change from my home studio in my backyard, but I enjoyed the constant stimulation of watching the various types of people in the mall. There were tourists casually walking, school girls passing through at 3.15pm, swearing teenagers eating McDonalds, office people and of course, many people who looked like they'd had a hard and difficult life.
During my residency I started work on a series of drawings of urban birds on takeaway brown paper bags. The patterns of the drawings were directly sourced from the mall buildings and infrastructure, such as pipes, facades, pit covers, seats, and sculptures.
I also ran daily free activities for the public, making a stab bound notebook and carving an easy relief block. These were very popular, I had approximately 80 participants over the 15 days. As the activities were free, I was able to share my art with a broader audience than usual, which I really enjoyed.
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Patterns on a sculpture, this pattern
was incorporated into my drawings |
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| My favourite pattern on a roof in nearby Chinatown Mall |
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| Drawing onto my paper bags |
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| Drawing in progress |
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| Here I am outside The Pod, as Artist in Residence |
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| Activity time, lots of keen participants |
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