Artists

Blocking out a couple of hours a week to step off the treadmill and give ourselves time to nurture our relationship with the earth and ourselves, is one way to keep our creative spirit and ‘lust for life’ alive. If you haven’t done so yet, one opportunity over the next two weeks is to spend some ‘slow’ time in the 2024 Wynne Prize exhibition at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.

Visiting the Blue Mountains Zine Fair was exhilarating! On Saturday 29th March it was a grey wet day in Katoomba, but from the moment we stepped out of the lift at the Cultural Centre, we felt as though we’d been hit by an explosion of creativity, warmth, joy and proof that ‘the resistance’ to the destructive forces at play in our world is alive, well and spreading infectiously.

Hamish Dunlop interviews prize-winning children’s book illustrator, mother, activist and proud Bundjalung woman, Charmaine Ledden-Lewis about the power of storytelling and how we can inspire our children to build a better world.

Artist Joel Mitchell tells the story behind his public sculpture in Blackheath, Reveal: A Celebration of Blue Mountains Orchids. He talks about his inspiration, the beauty of intergenerational collaboration and how the artwork, in-situ, invites us to experience the wonder of the natural world.

Artists with an Indigenous heritage are telling their stories and finding a voice through a certificate course in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Arts at Blue Mountains TAFE.

During COVID lockdowns, Merryl Watkins posted a new bird photo on social media every day. The Blaxland resident wanted to remind people there was still beauty in the world and joy to be found if you stop, look and listen.

Lower Blue Mountains artist Corinne Loxton has used daily walks in the bush, journaling and painting to help her overcome culture shock and a personal crisis, and to connect more deeply with herself and the rest of the natural world.

Learning to give our worries and anxieties less dominance by being fully present in our bodies through dance is a valuable art to master. Dancer Beckie Wilson is sharing her dance practice at both Bursill Lane Studio and with young people in the Street University in Katoomba.

This week, Tracie McMahon takes a walk with author John Low, a former Blue Mountains City Council Librarian, and now Portland resident, around the Millpond at The Foundations, Portland.

At Provocations, the Seven Valleys Festival of Big Ideas, local high school students, Ollyvar Baker, Samara Kirkland and Jasmin Cole, performed poetry that communicated the future they want to see.