AFTER a few difficult years following COVID-19, staff changes and finding a new home in Davies Avenue, Mount Eliza, Baluk Arts has returned to members’ workshops with public access sessions to follow soon.
The program series will feature some of the biggest names in Victorian Aboriginal art, including the first session which was with Maree Clarke, a pivotal figure in the reclamation and revival of southeast Aboriginal arts and recent recipient of the 2023 Yalingwa Fellowship.
Artforms to be explored in the series include painting, sculpture, weaving, possum skin pyrography, and jewellery-making. There is also a weekly weaving circle which is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples.
While some workshops are restricted to Aboriginal members, public workshops will be held where attendees will have the chance to connect with Aboriginal artists and culture, while learning new skills and techniques in painting, weaving, and working with kelp, to name a few.
“It’s our mission to create awesome opportunities for our artists to develop their practices. We also want to offer the public the chance to listen and learn alongside Aboriginal artists and knowledge holders,” program coordinator at Baluk Arts Lochie Bradfield said.
“With those two aims in mind we’re really excited about amplifying first nations’ perspectives onto the vibrant arts scene that is happening on the Mornington Peninsula and beyond.”
Chairperson and member at Baluk Arts, Aunty Yvonne Luke, said she looked forward to attending “the rest of these exciting workshops and artists’ presentations by our outstanding mob”.
For more information about Baluk Arts go to the gallery at Mount Eliza from Tuesday to Saturday or visit balukarts.org.au
Baluk Arts is an urban Aboriginal community arts centre that supports the artistic, career and audience development of artists from the Bayside, Mornington Peninsula and greater Melbourne.
Baluk is a Bunurong/Boonwurrung word meaning many or group of people, which also reflects the diversity of our artists and their work.
First published in the Mornington News – 28 March 2023
