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Joel Adler NSW – Viewfinder   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I love having space where I can combine my creative and practical sides. For me, creating art is a blend of craziness and sensibility. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Material for me is only a

Mimi Dennett NSW – Measuring the Sky   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Being able to produce what is in my mind and look at it in 3D form. It’s another way to communicate. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? I love all materials. Would you rather

Robert Guenther NSW – Ragnar V Moby   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I like the fact you are forever bringing it back to the art. Someone loves it-someone hates it. It does not matter. But then unless you want to exist in a bubble, its great to get feedback and evolve

Stephen Newton QLD – Can you hear its tender frame, screaming from beneath the waves?   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? As a sculptor I get to work in different locations with different people. My studio work is R & D and exhibition objects, my large scale public sculpture engages people, places

Charlie Trivers NSW – The Alley Sirens   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Working with my hands. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Plywood at the moment. Would you rather share an Uber with Barbara Hepworth or Cornelia Parker or Antony Gormley? Barbara Hepworth hands down. If

Barbara Licha NSW – Tenants   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Communication. Dialogue between me and my creation in studio, dialogue between finished work and individual viewers. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? I can easily say wire, as I am working with it for more than

Karl Meyer SA – Life Support   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? The journey & processes associated with moving ideas from the mind into a physical reality. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Every material has characteristics, I am currently engaging with stainless steel. Would you rather

Simon McVerry QLD – Julara – The Mullet   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Taking the time to go to my shed and create art work. It opens doors in your thinking – how to balance form, creativity and make-ability. I also enjoy the installation process where you attempt to set your

Yoshio Nitta Kyoto Japan – I put a moon on the table but it has cracked   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? My work moves the human heart. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Copper, bronze, wood. Would you rather share an Uber with Barbara Hepworth or

Phillip Darnton Kent UK – ANOMALY   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I love building and creating. I love working through complications and problem solving. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? I have always loved plywood but mirrors are what I am into at the moment, creating

Nikita Zigura Ukraine – Drop of Wine   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? My favourite moment is when I finish a work, when a draft finds embodiment in a perfect creation. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? I mostly work with clay. Would you rather share an

Pam Walpole & Yanni Van Zijl (Art forARTsake QLD – Vortex   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? The chance to bring art to the people – to surprise – comment and delight onlookers. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? We strive to use recycled material. So much

Monte Lupo QLD – Cohesion   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? As a group of artist working together , we get to bounce ideas around, work through the making process then make the pieces.  The collaboration is great, bringing all the creative minds together to work on one amazing sculpture.  This is

Mari Hirata QLD – Sentinels   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I love the feeling when I’m in the state of ‘Flow’. It’s like a very focussed, intentional phenomenon. It’s out of this world. I also love the fact that as long as I have a space and the means to create,

Robert Barnstone NSW – Gene Rosa   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? The intellectual endeavour of developing a body of work, my work often is an exploration of spatial concepts and signifiers.  Forms of containment that force the minds eye to to imagine the depth of the piece.  I also enjoy the

Miles Allen QLD – 15 000 Declarations of Love   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Starting with nothing but an idea and finishing with a tangible object that says something. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Wood. Would you rather share an Uber with Barbara Hepworth or

Lana Scoville NSW – Interconnection   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Birthing ideas and seeing them come to life. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? I like to use materials that are often overlooked. Anything from used tea bags, to fallen wood on the forest floor to

Luke Zwolsman QLD – Unity   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Being able to be freely creative, work in solitude most of the time, and being able to choose myself when to come out of hiding and play with others the rest of the time. Do you have a favourite material you

Jasmine Mansbridge VIC – You/Me/Sky/Sea   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? The making of new things and seeing ideas in my head come to life and then being able to share them. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? As I am a multi-media artist this is a

Jessica Harris NSW – What Was Pavilion   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I am trained in architecture and so I don’t necessarily identify myself as an artist but find that the two are inextricably linked. The discipline of architecture is exciting to work within because it crosses so many disciplinary boundaries

John Forno QLD – Totem/ What’s that Skip? There’s a fire on the horizon!   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? What I remember of my childhood is limited in its narrative playback to a few ready-made toys, BMX riding, skateboarding and Atari. As a child while this limiting form of play helped

Jeff Raglus VIC – BONEYARD or BONEHEAD.   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? The freedom, the lack of ‘normal’ timeframes  and the pleasure of doing what you actually love for a living. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Acrylics and wood. Would you rather share an Uber

Guy Cooper QLD – Guardians of the Gold Coast   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I love the freedom of being able to create with my hands. Ideate something in my head and then translate it to a physical manifestation through sculpture. Being able to embed a feeling and emotion through the

Hugh Burrell NSW – The Five Elements Orrery   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? To create in the world the wildest thing I imagine. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? I love all materials, especially re-working found items into art. I’m fascinated with steel currently and its

E Farrell Huntley Florida – The Womb   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I feel moved to create. Most of my creations are inspired by natural events. Research and conversation is a big part of my process. One of my favourite aspects of being an artist is meeting people. I love to

Gabriel Rosati NSW – Adam and Eve   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Whilst planning a new work, searching for a solution, sometimes this can take months, its like being in a vortex and you’re just hoping that you can feel and find the answer to complete the artwork. And when the

Egor Zigura Ukraine – Colossus that Rebelled   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? My favourite aspect of being an artist is presenting my works in my native country and abroad. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? I mostly work with bronze. Would you rather share an Uber

Christian Newton NSW – Five fathoms deep   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? The opportunity to make intangible tangible. A thought turns into a scribble that may inspire an object. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Wood. Hands down. It comes with its own story. Take something

Courtenay McCue, Connor McCue & Eduardo Knox (District 23) QLD – Umbrella Effect   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? Getting to create and discover new things everyday that people enjoy, and putting a smile on their face. Do you have a favourite material you like to work with? Paint! Would you rather

Arvin Abbassian QLD – Coral Rehab   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? I love the power of expression & total freedom art enables. I think art can envelop a sense of empathy and help us better understand people, places, periods of history, and issues with which we may otherwise be unfamiliar with.

Dragons Abreast Australis QLD – The Good Ship Awareness   What’s your favourite aspect of being an artist? As an eclectic group we naturally would provide a wide range of answers to the following questions, but we would all agree that there is unlimited satisfaction in fulfilling the creative urge. Do you have a favourite

German Jauregui QLD– Flow. The power of a single golden module has been created with simple geometry to bring harmony when it blends with itself into the greater pattern of a single whole. Geometry is the language of man to provide rhythm to the eye and these rhythms are the root of human activities. Flow represents this imperceptible rhythm, with a hidden sequence behind the intense and passionate red colour. A piece with multiple points of view.

Russell Solomon Food for Thought Photo: Masa Russell Solomon QLD – Food for thought. Rubbing Buda’s belly for good luck, rolling the ball in the lion’s mouth and spinning prayer wheels in temples are some examples of interactions with sculptural forms. As a young boy my Grandfather introduced me to the Paul Klee image of

Charles Robb creating the likeness of General Sir John Monash Image: awm.gov.au Charles Robb is an Australian artist based in Brisbane.  His work focuses on sculptural, digital and photographic media and explores notions of subjectivity and incidental form. His work has been seen in both group and solo exhibitions at venues including MONA (Hobart), the

Kristen Baade is a talented Queensland artist. Her work Lenticular Lenses is used to display multiple images from different viewing angles. Her intention with Lenticular Lenses is to create an engaging visual effect by using wind power, gear trains and lenticular lenses. Kristen intends to use them to create an animated effect, by using a

  Clayton Blake is a Queensland artist who has taken his artwork all over the world. His artwork for SWELL this year, Transparent Connection, represents the connections and relationships we have are the single most important aspect of our lives and we must strive for greater transparency with one another. The artwork encourages us all

Brad Hill is a talented Queensland artist. His work Caged is a reflection on emotions of mental illness. Behind closed doors nobody knows what you’re experiencing or how you’re feeling. We all put on a fake persona where we are caged behind our emotions. Let’s strip the cage. Writer Haley Smith spoke with Brad about

Philip Darnton is an international artist from the United Kingdom. His work is concerned with creating and exploring space and how that space can then be altered and affected. The piece is influenced by the mathematical models of Arthur Moritz Schoenflies. Some influence was derived from concepts present in skateboarding. Writer Haley Smith spoke with

  Wendy Johnson is a local New South Wales artist. Her work “Mothers Wisdom” is a symbolic teapot, like mother’s wisdom that passes through centuries, across geographical and cultural boundaries. Down through time it is constantly being poured out and replenished. The ritual of tea drinking provides an occasion to pause from the fast-flowing current

Rebecca O’Connell is a local New South Wales artist. Her work Spiralling Connections centres around the investigation of belonging and connection. In an ever increasing digital age how do we maintain genuine connections with each other and the natural world we were once wholly immersed in? Writer Haley Smith spoke with Rebecca about what inspires

  Anna Bonshek is a local Queensland artist. Her work Structure references the built form conceived by the human mind utilising nature’s resources. Fashioned wood frames connect via stacking and are held by weight of tree lumber. This simple, monumental work honours nature and the impulse to bring structure into being. Part of an intimate

Oliver Howes is a local Queensland artist. His work Big Fish is a big bamboo fish semi-submerged in the sand; origins unknown. Did it emerge from beneath the surface of the earth or was it pulled from the sea by some divine calling? Did it always possess this woody hard exterior or was it once

Barbara Licha is a New South Wales artist who lives in Sydney. Her work Gold Coast CBD Sunny One Day Perfect the Next. As humans, we are connected to each other, but also to the places we inhabit. Our cities are admired, as are their development and their atmosphere. I wish to bring to the

Elizabeth Poole is a Queensland artist who lives on the Sunshine Coast. Her work Rebirth: Blooming Yellow Wave / Medals Blooms is a reflection of an earlier installation during the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Writer Nicole Browne spoke with Elizabeth about what inspires her art practice, her connection with nature and how this evolves

“I USE PLEIN AIR PAINTING (AND INDEED ALL STUDIES FROM LIFE) AS AN EXERCISE TO PUSH ME OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE AND ENGAGE DIRECTLY WITH THE SUBJECT IN A LESS STATIC MANNER.” Write Nicole Browne took time with Seabastion Toast to find out how she discovered Plein Air Painting and how it consistently inspires

“THESE STORIES AND THIS DISCOVERY OF MY ABORIGINAL HERITAGE, THE CONVERSATIONS, CONNECTIONS, IS WHERE ART FOUND ME. THE ART FOUND ME AMONGST MY IDENTITY.” GLENN BARRY IS A QUEENSLAND ARTIST WHO LIVES ON THE GOLD COAST. HIS WORK IN COLLABORATION WITH BRIAN KEAYES LIGHT ROCK COMMENTS ON A CONTEMPORARY WORLD, WHILE UTILSING SOME ASPECT OF

Cate Collopy is a Queensland artist who lives in Brisbane. Her work Fantastic Plastic – Land, Sea and Air Penetrato has a strong environmental focus with a playful yet calculated message. Writer Nicole Browne spoke with Cate about what provokes the environmental themes in her work and about life as an art therapist. Fantastic Plastic is the

IN CONVERSATION WITH IVAN LOVATT “TAKE AN ORDINARY PIECE OF MATERIAL AND DON’T NECESSARILY MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF THAT MATERIAL BUT TURN IT INTO SOMETHING ELSE, SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH THAT MATERIAL, AND SEE WHERE YOU CAN APPLY THAT TO CREATE SOMETHING – ART DOESN’T NEED TO RECOGNISABLE”   Ivan Lovatt is a

Writer Katlyn Anderson How art reduces anxiety and depression A great deal of research has been conducted in recent years on the effect that both viewing and creating art can have on supporting people’s mental health. The findings have been incredibly encouraging and many studies show that art therapy is particularly effective at helping alleviate symptoms

‘I HAVE ALWAYS FELT THAT MUSIC FEEDS ART AND ART FEEDS MUSIC.’ Rebecca Cunningham is a Gold Coast artist and exhibited at SWELL for the first time in 2015. This year, Rebecca is hosting Life Drawing Workshops at SWELL. Writer Nicole Browne learns more about Rebecca’s inspiration, process and why art and music are intrinsic

Jo Elliott is an emerging artist from Sawtell, NSW and is exhibiting at SWELL for the first time. Writer Nicole Browne spoke with Jo about how she came to exhibit at SWELL, and what informs her artistic process.   JO: This is my first year exhibiting at SWELL, and I am really excited to be a

In 2006, Queensland artist Elizabeth Poole exhibited Blooming Yellow Wave for SWELL Sculpture Festival. The blooms stood gloriously amongst the Currumbin Beach dune, simulating the way wildflowers grow. For the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, SWELL commissioned Elizabeth to rework the installation on a grand scale with the 853 medal winning athletes at its core as the Medal

  SURFERS Paradise has been inhabited by two radically upscaled hand crocheted sea urchins suspended in Appel Park as part of Festival 2018, the arts and culture program of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games running from Wednesday, April 4 to Sunday, April 15. Embodying the spiny sea creatures of the deep, the giant artwork commission by City of

June 06, 2017   ARTISTS ANNOUNCED AS SWELL CELEBRATES 15 YEARS Over 600 artists have exhibited at SWELL since its humble beginnings in 2003 and in 2017, another 50 artists have been selected to join this distinguished cohort. Celebrating its 15th year, the 10-day exhibition has been instrumental in engaging the community in a vibrant

Image – Alicia Lane’s award winning entry, Rainforest Remnants – Photo by Rowly Emmett Queensland College of Art postgraduate student Alicia Lane has scooped the $15,000 top prize at the Gold Coast Swell Sculpture Festival. Ms Lane,43, took out the Swell Sculpture Award with her work titled Rainforest Remnants, which has been acquired by a private collector. Taking

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 GAME CHANGERS FEATURED AN ARTICLE ON RUTH DELLA AND NATASHA EDWARDS

A very special art installation, to remember the fallen and to honour those in active service, has taken place over the past two years. In 2015 our nation commemorated the ANZAC Centenary and 100 years since Australia’s involvement in the Fromelles and Pozieres battles. The ANZAC Poppy Project is an art installation on Elephant Rock that flows with

The Bush to Beach project was a new initiative in 2010 and was developed to connect remote children with the creative process of sculpture, local school children and the Swell Sculpture Festival. The aim, to give young people an opportunity that may not have been accessible to them. The Bush to Beach project created an opportunity

Swell Sculpture Festival’s Regional Engagement Program aimed to bring children from remote Queensland communities to experience the Swell Sculpture Festival, its environment and communities in and around the Gold Coast. There was a particular, but not exclusive, emphasis on involving Indigenous students in enriching, confidence-building activities. Each year a particular project is tailored to suit

SWELL SCULPTURE FESTIVAL IS PROUD HAVE TO COLLABORATED WITH GOLD COAST FILM FESTIVAL TO REVIVE THE PRESTIGIOUS CHAUVEL AWARD WITH A NEW SCULPTED DESIGN FOR THE AWARD. The Chauvel Award, named in honour of Charles Chauvel commenced in 1993 and acknowledges an individual who has made significant contribution to Australian cinema. Charles Chauvel was not only born

A UNIQUE COLLABORATION BETWEEN TWO OF THE GOLD COAST’S MOST SIGNIFICANT CULTURAL EVENTS TOOK ON NEW DEPTH THIS YEAR, WITH AN AWARD-WINNING SWELL SCULPTURE FESTIVAL ARTIST COMMISSIONED TO CREATE A BESPOKE SCULPTURAL TROPHY FOR THE 2016 GOLD COAST MUSIC AWARDS (GCMA). For the second year running, SWELL has joined forces with the Gold Coast Music