MEET THE ARTISTS!
Join us for insightful talks, panels and keynote presentationswith artists and curators, gain a deeper understanding and engage in creative conversations. You will hear firsthand the creative process to bring artistic concepts to life.
Friday 11 September
PANEL – LIFE, UNIVERSE and the FIRST NATIONS ART SPACE
Hosted by Shannon Best with panellists Colleen Lavender, Kyle Slabb, and Jennifer Rowe
Join panellists Colleen Lavender, Kyle Slabb, and Jennifer Rowe for an engaging conversation exploring First Nations art, culture and connection to Country.
Through shared experiences and perspectives, the panel will explore the role of art in storytelling, cultural identity and community, and the importance of First Nations voices within Australia’s contemporary arts landscape.
Saturday 12 September
KEYNOTE
By Patricia Piccinini
Patricia Piccinini is an artist interested in what it means to be human. She creates a world between the one we know and one almost upon us, focused on the emotional lives of new creatures that might emerge and relationships with them. Hers is a world of questions, not answers, asking how viewers feel rather than what to think. She has exhibited worldwide, including the 2003 Venice Biennale, and created the Skywhale for Canberra’s 2013 Centenary. Her exhibition “Kinship” is showing at Suwon Museum of Art, Korea, until November 2026.
Sunday 13 September
CALL TO THE COUCH
with Dr Natasha Edwards
Panellists to be announced
Join SWELL Sculpture Festival founder Dr Natasha Edwards for Call to the Couch — a relaxed and insightful conversation exploring the stories, people and ideas that have shaped SWELL.
Joined by special guest panellists, Natasha will reflect on creativity, community, public art and the evolution of the festival, sharing some of the experiences and conversations gathered along the way.
Monday 14 September
THROUGH THE SAME FIRE
with Sara Gonzalez, Jo Norton, Vanessa Skye & Andrew Zanette
Through The Same Fire presents four ceramic artists united by a shared wood-firing practice, where collective labour and atmospheric firing produce distinct yet connected work.
Tuesday 15 September
CREATIVE COLLABORATION
with Fiona Haynes from Monte Lupo Arts
Fiona Haynes is the General Manager Creative Arts at Multicap and has been a driving force behind Monte Lupo Arts for more than 25 years. Beginning her journey as a potter, Fiona has helped grow Monte Lupo from a small studio into a nationally recognised social enterprise that provides meaningful employment and creative opportunities for artists with disabilities. She is committed to using art as a platform for inclusion, empowering artists, building confidence, and showcasing the value of diversity through creative expression.
Wednesday 16 September
PULLING THE THREAD OF CURIOSITY: GIVING IDEAS ROOM TO GROW
with Melanie Maclou
Thursday 17 September
Devorah Ungerleider
Join multidisciplinary artist Devorah Ungerleider as she explores the power of art to create connection, curiosity and shared experience.
Through abstraction, sculpture and participatory public art, Devorah’s practice embraces intuition, resilience and human connection, creating works that invite reflection, conversation and a sense of belonging.
Friday 18 September
IN MY NEXT LIFE
with Drew McDonald
In My Next Life, artist Drew McDonald traces an unlikely path from fitter and turner to award-winning artist, using SOMA as a touchstone for the ideas and experiences that shaped his practice. Moving through career changes, art school, illness, risk, failure and reinvention, McDonald explores how finding meaning and purpose is rarely a straight path. Part artist talk, part personal story, the presentation looks at where ideas come from, how experience becomes practice, and what becomes possible when you stop saving the life you want for “next time”.
Saturday 19 September
10.00am
CONFERENCE – BETWEEN BUILDING AND ART
with Jai McCartney, Brent Grainger, Ajay Thomas, Phil Darnton & Reuben Mergard
A discussion between young & emerging architects.
Saturday 19 September
11.00am
MAKING MONUMENTS – THROWING LARGE DEMO
with Claudia De Salvo & Bella Woolard, hosted by Jo Norton
Join ceramic artists Claudia De Salvo and Bella Woolard for an immersive five-hour live demonstration as they work collaboratively to create large-scale ceramic forms, exploring historical ideas of form and proportion through a contemporary lens.
Working together at the wheel, Claudia and Bella will share their techniques, creative processes and approaches to pushing the scale and possibilities of clay.
Claudia’s practice draws on traditional forms, playfully combining nostalgia, whimsy and the ornamental, while Bella’s work is heavily influenced by classical forms and techniques, continually exploring the boundaries of what clay can achieve.
Hosted by ceramic artist Jo Norton, this extended demonstration offers a rare opportunity to watch the creative process unfold — from clay to monumental form.
Sunday 20 September
LAND ART – ART as a PATHWAY
with Alejandro Propato
Join renowned Argentinian artist Alejandro Propato for an inspiring exploration of land art and the relationship between art, landscape and place.
Drawing on his international practice, Alejandro will share how the natural environment can become both canvas and collaborator, and how art can create new ways of seeing, experiencing and connecting with the world around us.
