Words and image Eve Lamb

The permanent relocation of Clunes Neighbourhood House to the town’s former Free Lending Library Building is poised to breathe new life into one of the town’s historically significant sites, invigorating the CBD as well.

For the previous 20 years or so Clunes’  historic former free lending library in Templeton Street, has sat largely unused, save for some assorted community meetings and a brief stint involving youth activity.

But plenty of groundwork by dedicated community volunteer committee of management members has paved the way for the beautiful old building’s reinvention – for essentially the very same use its founding mothers intended way back in 1852.

Stage one works inside the building, are now in full swing and are scheduled for completion in June, says Clunes Neighbourhood House manger, Lana de Kort.

When the new flooring and other internal works are done come the end of June the Neighbourhood House will then base itself there permanently, having previously been housed in the town’s Lee Medlyn Bottle Museum complex for the past 10 years or so.

In the meantime, while key works are under way, the Neighbourhood House HQ is temporarily working out of the town’s BOOM co-working space in Fraser Street.

Lana says the move to the former free lending library building has been informed every step of the way by what the community wants, guided by the ethos “focus on the Neighbourhood and the House can follow”.

“The Committee of Management and Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) approached us to use the building at a time that was perfect for us,” she says.

“We’re still continuing to take responsibility for the Lee Medlyn space and we will work out how the community wants to use that into the future.

“Most of the works here (in the free lending library building) will be finished by the end of June, and that will enable us to get into the building. The current work is the first stage of a series of stages and we expect there will be four stages,” Lana says.

She says funding for this work was “just the latest in a series of smart decisions made by people protecting this building” and was secured by Graeme Johnstone, Phil Taig and Denise Fordham (the then committee for the building) through the Hugh D.T Williamson Foundation.

“The volunteers that went before us did engineering and structural reports and historical reports, and stabilising works so now we’re at the stage where we can preserve and restore.

“With these reports, as well as engineering reports completed over the last decade, we have been well placed to work with DEECA to begin the safety works to restore the entrance and meeting rooms.

“The volunteer committee stabilised the building and we had an event in February where people could look through the building and share their ideas for it.

“The real magic is that the ideas that the community has come forward with are essentially exactly the same ideas that brought the building into being in 1852,” Lana says.

“Back in 1852 a group of women from Clunes identified a need for a space where people could come together and read and learn together.

“They worked with the community to raise the funds for the building. They lobbied landowners and the mining industry to support the development of the building as a place to develop literacy skills.

“I think it started off as the mechanics institute but it was always a place of informal learning. It’s always been a space where the community can come together and grow and that’s what we intend it will continue to be as we go forward.

“It is a community space where people can connect, learn and gain support.”

The Clunes Neighbourhood House itself has existed for four decades, operating from various venues, and is a vital community hub delivering social connection activities including group exercise, training courses, general support including digital literacy, and help navigating things like applying for the state government’s power saving bonus.

“We also provide emergency relief support,” Lana says.

The newly reinvigorated former free lending library building will provide contemporary meeting, office, kitchen and training spaces, all set off beautifully by the historic high timber ceilings, fine old arched windows and stained glass.

Lana says staged work planned ahead will also include shower and laundry facilities that will be made available for use by those who need them through a partnership with Anglicare Victoria.

 There are also plans to accommodate the re-introduction of a regular children’s playgroup for the town.

“We are certainly looking at having a playgroup here, after the playgroup in Clunes ceased operating as of the middle of last year,” Lana says.

There are also plans to use one of the beautiful old high-ceilinged rooms within as a parlour to host music events among other activities.

“For us it means we have a permanent home,” Lana says.

“We will be operating from here three days a week from Tuesday to Thursday, and this location is much more visible and accessible to people.”

Lana notes that with CNH temporarily based in BOOM Clunes, that shopfront will be open until the June long-weekend, seven days a week from 10am – 3pm with staff available on Wednesday and Thursday to assist with the power saving bonus.

In the meantime concept boards are being used to highlight the different ways the community has imagined spaces might be used at Clunes Neighbourhood House once the Clunes Former Free Lending Library building is fully restored.

“All of the activities that the Neighbourhood House does in Clunes are community–led so people can continue to come forward with ideas.”

Creswick Theatre Company has been having a wickedly good time preparing to stage dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace.

The script by American playwright Joseph Kesselring was written in 1939 and sweeps its audience into the world of two (seemingly) dear older ladies, the Brewster sisters, who live with their nephew in Brooklyn. 

The gals are sweet and welcoming older ladies who just happen to have a personal practice of murdering single men – to save them from being lonely. 

“It’s a farce,” says director of the Creswick Theatre Company version, Jenni Sewell. “It’s a very funny script, subtle but clever, and there’s bits in it where we just crack up in rehearsals.”

The original Arsenic and Old Lace made its Broadway debut in 1941, enjoyed a successful three-year run, and went on to be made famous by the 1944 film adaptation directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster.

The Creswick Theatre Company production features a cast of 13 and is being staged over June 16-25 with four evening shows and two matinees, and tickets are on sale through Humanitix online.

Jenni says they’re selling, so best not mess about if you want to be sure of catching it.

“We have a seating limit so if people really want to see it they should get tickets.”

Elly Kries has one of the lead roles as Martha Brewster and, when The Local dropped in on a recent rehearsal, was obviously having a rollicking good time getting into character for the part. But there are challenges.

“It’s really hard when everyone’s breaking up laughing, not to crack up yourself and just keep performing the part,” Elly said.

“It’s a great script and I do like playing dress-ups and being someone else for a little while.”

There are plenty of strong character parts including Elaine the minister’s rather naughty daughter played by Imogen Nooney.

“She’s a bit saucy, a bit more worldly then a minister’s daughter really should be,” Imogen said of her character.

Delacombe’s Ellen Scott plays Officer O’Hara, an interesting character as well.

“He could best be described as duplicitous,” Ellen said. “He lives one life to earn his keep but has been writing a play… for twelve years.”

Like many of his fellow cast members, Ballarat’s Chris Andrew has been with CTC for a while and has appeared on stage in previous productions with this lively little community theatre company. For Arsenic and Old Lace he’s playing Dr Reverend Harper.

“It’s a challenging role but I love it,” he said. “It’s heaps of fun. I love being on stage and bringing fun and laughter for the audience.”

Tickets are through Humanitix.com

The Local is running a producers’ series over the next few editions. Here Eve Lamb talks with Graeme Grigson from G’s Bees Honey – Down to Earth.

How does someone go from having just two bee hives to having 80? Don’t ask Clunes’ Graeme Grigson because he doesn’t know how it happened.

Suffice to say it did and now he’s a fulltime beekeeper. Bee-sotted you might say.

So is his buddy in all things apiary, Ian Macfarlane a former Clunes resident who now lives in Ballarat.

Ian keeps his four hives alongside Graeme’s, and, just between you and me, confides that it’s all part of a cunning plan to find out more about the pastime for which the two share a never-ending fascination.

“Graeme’s a great mentor. He likes to pass on all his knowledge,” Ian says.

Graeme says he started out as a hobbiest beekeeper with just a couple of boxes about two decades ago..

“I’ve been in beekeeping now for about 20 years,” he says.

“It started out as a hobby with two hives. Then I started helping others and my two hives became 10 and now it’s about 80 all up. I don’t know how that happened.

“It’s become full-time over the last two to three years.”

While his beekeeping enterprise that’s called G’s Bees Honey – Down to Earth, is a boutique business compared to the bigger commercial operations, it nevertheless sees him producing some 3000 kilograms of honey annually, “in a good year”.

“Normally in a good year we’d get about 3000 kilograms,” Graeme says.

As a result Graeme now supplies multiple local retail outlets from Melton and Bacchus Marsh to Creswick and Clunes, and he also regularly attends local farmers markets, selling his bees’ delicious produce.

But honey is far from the only product that flows from this pursuit of choice.

G’s Bees – Down to Earth has now also helped to create part-time employment for a neighbour of Graeme’s, in Clunes, who uses some of the honey to produce a range of tempting confectionery including chocolate-dipped honeycomb, lolly-pops and ginger honey.

“The ginger honey has really taken off,” Graeme says.

As well as this, G’s Bees – Down to Earth provides wax to other enterprising locals who convert the raw product into beautiful candles including natural tealights, and moisturizing lip balms, which also sell at local markets and select retail outlets.

“There’s nothing in a bee hive that can’t be used,” Graeme says.

“The wax, the honey, the pollen, the propolis…”

Then there’s the almond pollination. Graeme’s 80 or so hives – plus Ian’s four – get to travel quite a bit including up north to pollinate commercial almond crops.

“We migrate our bees throughout the year to different sites from Clunes to the Little Dessert,” the Clunes beekeeper says.

We go north to Piangle on the border in August for almond pollination then down to Kerang, and Sheparton and the canola which helps build the bees up after the almonds.”

Depending on where the hives are stopped, they collect from tree species including “long leaf box, yellow box, brown stringy bark, yellow gum, red gum, grey box, orange blossom, messmate.” Grame reels off some of the species from which his bees typically collect.

When possible, this list may also include the type of tea tree from which the precious medicinal manuka honey is produced.

When The Local caught up with Graeme and Ian, it was at a magnificent Buninyong site where about 60 of the hives had been sited but were soon to be collected and shifted to another site near Mount Beckworth just out of Clunes.

“My first honey extraction is normally around October and if it’s a good season we can extract every four to five weeks after that through to May,” Graeme said.

He explained what drew him to beekeeping in the first place.

“I just love honey really. And what better way to enjoy honey? I never use sugar any more as a sweetener. Just honey. It’s medicinal as well and, I believe, the darker the better.”

Both Ian and Graeme take the occasional sting as par for the course, but are also careful about donning the correct protective beekeeping kit before getting up close and personal with their buzzzy charges.

The challenges of bee keeping include “keeping on top of pests”- something Ian mentions – to the sometimes prohibitive costs associated with travel and transport which Graeme mentions.

“And if we get a bad season that’s a big challenge,” Graeme adds

The wetter weather of last year was challenging and impacted yields for many of the state’s beekeepers, for example

But Graeme and Ian agree it’s one of the most addictive enterprises you can get into.

“Really I got into it when I started learning how wonderful those little insects are,” Ian said.

Graeme names the lifestyle and the practice of getting out and about into some glorious parts of the state among the sweet aspects of becoming a beekeeper.

“It’s a fantastic interest to enjoy,” he says.

But he has some parting advice for those who think beekeeping may be for them.

“If you’re going to start out as a beekeeper, do your researcher and go out with a mentor. Also there’s beekeeping clubs like the Ballarat club and the Melbourne Beekeepers Club. Join a club.”

Words and Images: Eve Lamb

(Next edition, Red Hare Estate Vineyard)

Words: Eve Lamb. Image Kyle Barnes

BACKED by a scholarship from the Daylesford Foundation, Hepburn resident 19-year-old
Lucinda Lowe had the stress removed from her travel equation as she tackled a double
diploma course last year.
Lucinda had to travel multiple times during the week to complete her Diploma of Sport/Diploma of Leadership and Management through the Swinburne University of Technology and the Richmond
Football Club.
“I won the Daylesford Foundation scholarship last year and it covered all my Myki transportation costs,” Lucinda said.
“They even offered me more but I didn’t need it. It was amazing. It just took
such a load off my mind. It saved me about $40 to $50 each week which, for a uni
student, is huge.
“Doing the course was a full-on transition from year 12,” said Lucinda who had
completed her year 12 schooling at Daylesford Secondary College in 2021.
The keen local netballer and cricketer who plays for Hepburn not only completed
her double diploma, she was one of only four students who took out the program’s
excellence award as well.
“Doing the course has honestly been the best thing I ever could have done.”
Lucinda is also a keen swimmer, gym-goer and devoted Richmond Football Club
supporter.
Now, having completed her studies in style, she’s tackling some casual
employment opportunities while waiting to pounce when just the right position
comes up.
“I definitely want to do something in sport and now I’m just taking my time
to think about what direction to take next and earn a bit of money and explore my
calling. Leadership is also something I’m passionate about.”
Lucinda was very grateful for the assistance she received from the Daylesford Foundation.
“The Daylesford Foundation scholarship was so helpful, to not have to stress
about travel,” she said. “I would encourage others to take up the Daylesford
Foundation’s offer of help.”
Foundation Youth Scholarships coordinator Jo Van Son says the focus is very
much on helping young people fulfil their potential and helping young locals succeed
in pursuing further education.
“The idea of the scholarships is to support people to transition well from school
to further study,” Jo said.
“Last year we provided five scholarships and this year we’re providing seven.”
Jo says the Foundation’s scholarships are individually tailored to assist local young
people who have the desire to pursue studies.
“It might be with the cost of laptops or other study materials or with travel costs
or mentoring and accessing other supports that are out there and available to them
but which they otherwise may not know how to access,” she says.
“There is an application process and we meet with the young person. They need
to have an offer (of further study) or the desire for further study.”
The Foundation’s scope of support is varied and may also include essential foods, household goods, household maintenance, emergency vehicle repairs, medical appliances and computer hardware and software.
Assistance to cover the cost of school fees, school camps, excursions, apprenticeships, and other education-related activities is also available.

Words: Eve Lamb

Fancy a wild pine mushroom risotto? A crisp dandelion and wild brassica salad? Or an elderberry cocktail perhaps?

These are some of the sorts of wild food delicacies that may result as local teacher and experienced food forager Irina De Loche prepares to share her passion for enjoying the bounty of nature that’s out there just waiting to be gathered and relished.

Over the past three years, Irina has already become well known at the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre where she teaches yoga, dance and pilates. But later this month Irina is also facilitating the new Free Fresh Food Foraging workshop.

Humans are historically foragers and where the land and forests have not suffered the ravages of the modern world many cultures still forage on a daily basis, she says.

Much of the plant life in Australia is introduced and exotic species now outnumber indigenous ones. But if there’s one positive to take away from this it’s that many of them are edible and medicinally beneficial, and if you fancy the idea of gathering free fresh food, this workshop is probably for you.

“Before I moved to Ballarat seven years ago, I lived in Melbourne near the Merri Creek and I would often see the Greeks, Croatians and Lebanese ladies there gathering wild food along the creek – a lot of foods that many people just don’t know about but that are highly nutritious,” Irina says

A qualified teacher with plenty of French, German and Russian heritage, she has previously taught at Melbourne’s CERES School of Nature and Climate  and has completed a wild weeds course, complementing her long-held passion for the natural world and living sustainably with nature.

Those who get along to this month’s foraging  workshop can expect not just to learn a whole lot about the wild foods that are under our noses and that often go unappreciated as “weeds” but to also to learn a fair bit about the pleasures of “forest bathing” into the bargain.

“There are so many health benefits in just being in nature and letting your body be healed by the forest,” Irina says.

“I am going to be supplying notes on how to identify edible plants and I’m also hoping to give people some recipes.”

Actually learning how to I.D. the edible underappreciated wild plants that exist around us –“things like wild brassicas, nettles, sow thistle, dandelions, acorns, hawthorn berries and pine mushrooms” will be a main aim of the workshop.

Learning how to saviour  “weeds” and wild foods that go under the radar despite their considerable nutritional values is often largely about  knowing how to prepare them properly, and Irina plans to enlighten workshop participants with quite a bit of  know-how on this front.

She says the workshop will involve a walk through the landscape to teach participants how to identify the edible plants as they naturally appear growing in the environment.

“The Europeans have been using acorns for years and years…Stinging nettles are another amazing one, used for detoxing in Europe, and amazing in soup. You just need to know how to prepare them to remove the sting,” she says.

“Many of these plants are delicious and nutritious and so many have valuable medicinal qualities as well. I want people to be able to identify food that’s free.

“I’m also keen to wean people away from the idea of killing everything with weed killer, and to perhaps set aside a part of their own garden for these sorts of plants.”

The three-hour-long  afternoon Foraging for Free Fresh Food workshop is part of the new term two program of courses, workshops and activities currently on offer through the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre.

The workshop is set for Sunday May 21 from 12 to 3pm, but Irina says that if the weather is no good for foraging the date may change as she’s particularly keen to get people out in the environment, actively identifying the free fresh food that’s out there.

More information about the workshop and how to register to attend is available from the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre.

with Eve Lamb

HEPBURN Springs artist Lisa Gervasoni is renowned for her imposing abstract landscape works. As a child she was fascinated with geographical and street maps. Her passion for cartography persisted into adulthood informing her preoccupation with land and the many layers of value it holds. Today this abiding interest informs both her professional work as a strategic and town planner and the creation of her imposing art works, some of which are about to feature in her new exhibition, Reimagining our Cultural Landscapes, held from today, May 11 to June 25, at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
Eve: What is your artistic style?
Lisa: Abstract landscape, predominantly aerial or aerial oblique viewpoint work with a Fauvist colour
palette and using paint or thread. I’ve always enjoyed art and I have a sister who’s an art teacher and a mother who’s a master decouper. Traditionally I’ve worked more in thread and photography, but I
went back to painting during lockdowns. I was inspired by Jackie Case and her book Flying Penguins to start painting again.
Eve: Who has influenced your work?
Lisa: Von Guerard. He painted so many places that are important to me. The Impressionists and the fauvists. Grace Cossington Smith, Sybil Craig, the Hermannsburg School, Fred Williams and Peter Tyndall.
Eve: What is your medium and subject matter of choice?
Lisa: A mix of acrylics on canvas or board, thread on linen. And landscapes. I’ve always had a close connection to Australian landscapes through family connections, as a student of geography and then as a heritage planner. People have strong connections to place. While places will change and evolve this change can cause discord within the community and break intergenerational connections to place. I saw this through my work and in our local community after the changes to Hepburn Mineral Springs
Reserve. People would be looking for the places they, or their parents, came to on their honeymoon or as children, and although these places still existed the place no longer held that connection through time. My exhibition is inspired by that idea. Some views remain. Others have completely changed but you can still see connections on close examination.
Eve: Do you work outside your arts practice?
Lisa: I work full-time outside the arts. I have qualifications in applied science (planning) and environmental studies and I’m into my fourth decade as a planner. As a child I loved the Melway. I knew all the maps so my family were not surprised when I became a planner. The cartographic symbolism in my work also stems from that way of seeing different elements or layers in a landscape. Over the last few years I’ve also
seen the failure of many professions, including my own, to understand farming and
farmland. Productive land is valued in the UN Sustainable Development Goals but too many people see it as vacant land where they can do anything without impact. That tension inspired one work in particular.
Eve: What are you working on at the moment in your current arts practice?
Lisa: I’m currently focused on getting everything ready for the exhibition in Backspace at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. I have several other works planned, both on canvas and in thread. One work that I didn’t complete for this exhibition I really want to start next. I invited a colleague to the exhibition and found out she has links to the subject. She was a stalwart through the months after Black Saturday and a
champion for better understanding of social license and agricultural impact

Eve: When you work in the studio do you like to play music and if so what is your
music of choice?
Lisa: I used to play and study music (piano, saxophone, voice, theory) so I have an eclectic taste in music – from Gregorian chant through to punk rock. Safer to say what I don’t listen to – Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac. I often have news radio or TV on as well.
Eve: What are your career highlights as an artist?
Lisa: I won the lovely Madi McCrystal’s Daylesford Small Art Prize many years ago (with an embroidery of the Savoia Hotel) and was a finalist in the Harden Art Prize last year. My photographs have been in several galleries as part of 40 works nationally selected by the ABC and one year one of my photographs was chosen as the managing director’s corporate Christmas card. One highlight is curating an exhibition at Warrnambool Art Gallery that looked at local people who shaped the city, or wider, from builders to Nobel Laureates and a lot in between.
Eve: What are the challenges for artists today?
Lisa: Well, I have a full-time job that helps pay for the equipment, and I think that is common to most. Most art needs time. A work that might challenge you initially can end up becoming a favourite when you spend the time to engage with it. I’m lucky to have a trained art teacher as a sister. She has no fear in challenging me to evolve or resolve.
Eve: And the main rewards?
Lisa: Art is an expression. It is a great way to start to switch off the analytical brain, but at the same time you often resolve issues while the other side of your brain is switched on. I think that is quite important for me. It helps deal with work that can be quite stressful but also keeps open those neural pathways that are looking at the big picture, at the connections in the detail and how it all fits together.

The owner of Daylesford Victory Vapes says the federal government decision to crack down on the sale of vapes will put him and his wife out of the family business they’ve run for a decade.
Steve Douglas says the business he and his wife Stacy Kilpatrick have run for the
past 10 years will have to put off staff and shut up shop as a result of the new rules
expected to come into force later this year.
The federal decision will see vapes heavily regulated and the importation of all
e-cigarettes will be strictly controlled under a federal government crackdown on the
smoking alternative. Non-prescription vapes will be banned from importation, and
the federal government will work with states and territories to close down the sale of
vapes in retail settings.
The tax on tobacco will also increase 5 per cent each year for the next three years,
as the government also seeks to curb cigarette smoking through higher costs.
Under new rules, vapes will only be sold in pharmacies and in “pharmaceuticallike” packaging, with certain flavours, colours and other ingredients banned, and the
concentration and volume of nicotine reduced.
“These are supposed to be pharmaceutical products,” Health Minister Mark
Butler told the National Press Club last week.
“They have to present that way – no more bubblegum flavours, pink unicorns or
vapes disguised as pens for kids to hide in pencil cases. Instead, we will have plain
packaging with plain flavours.” All single-use disposable vapes will also be banned.
However, the government will also make it easier for people to get a prescription
for “legitimate” therapeutic use, such as using vapes to help quit smoking.
And all doctors will be able to prescribe nicotine vapes to smokers looking to quit,
rather than smokers needing approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
While many have welcomed the move as helping to avoid creating a new
generation of nicotine addicts who will go on to develop serious and costly health
problems, Mr Douglas believes it will drive sales underground.
“The black market will continue to flourish, the same one that’s selling chop-chop
here in town, while our market, the regulated market will be gone,” he said.
“We are age-restricted and we’ve never sold to a minor in the 10 years we’ve
operated. We are going to be shut down with no recourse whatsoever. We also have
stores in Ballarat and Cairns and this will mean 12 employees over our three shops are
going to be out of a job.
“It’s going to wipe us out. It’s going to completely shut down our 10-year-family
business. I’ve had locals in here in the last two days literally crying. The first one was
a 70-year-old retired nurse who we got off cigarettes eight years ago. She doesn’t want
to use tobacco.
“People are panicking because they don’t want to go back to smoking cigarettes.
This will mean many people will go back to cigarettes.”
Mr Douglas believes the crackdown is motivated by a concern to “balance the
budget” and to “make up for a shortfall in excise tax on tobacco”.
“The federal government normally make $16 billion a year on tobacco taxes but
this year they’ve only made $12 billion. This will balance the budget but at what
cost,” he said.
Cancer Council CEO Tanya Buchanan has praised the government’s move
describing it as an “historic shift toward ending the vaping epidemic”.
“Unlike smoking, we have a window of opportunity to take policy actions that
prevent the growing use of e-cigarettes,” Professor Buchanan said.
“With support from all levels of government, we can reverse the e-cigarette
epidemic and prevent history repeating itself for a new generation of Australians.”
Words: Eve Lamb | Image: Kyle Barnes

Words & images: Eve Lamb

FLOWERS are good for the soul. So says Lyonville’s Janae Paquin-Bowden. And she should know.

Together with her husband Chris, Janae owns and runs organic family flower farm, Fleurs de Lyonville, where the couple live with their two young children and their yin and yang, black and white, little terrier dogs. It’s the sort of job description that makes the word “idyllic” spring to mind.

“It’s physically hard, and a bit taxing on the body, and the weather is challenging,” Janae says to the suggestion that this work environment is more than a little enviable.

“But there’s so many rewarding stages,” she concedes.

Chris and Janae both have professional backgrounds as teachers. In fact they met as teachers, and that background comes in handy when they deliver their on-farm events ranging from flower arranging workshops to farm tours.

In business these days, it’s accepted wisdom that you need a good story to tell. And theirs is a beauty.

The couple’s organic flower farm journey started back in 2014 after they experienced some issues in finding flowers for their own wedding.

“We found it quite difficult to source local organically grown flowers for our own wedding,” Janae says.

“Thankfully we came across Matt and Lentil from Grown and Gathered who were growing flowers for trade at the time.

“When Lentil pulled up in her van and opened the back door, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The van was full of flowers and foliage from foxgloves to Queen Anne’s lace…we knew this was what we wanted to do on our farm. Grow flowers.”

Clearly a woman of determination with a keen eye for business, Janae became the main driver in getting Fleurs de Lyonville up and going, such that at the end of 2021 Chris too was able to leave his job as an assistant principal, to devote his working days to the flower farm full time.

“I haven’t looked back,” Chris says.

Late summer, on a sunny day, the farm occupying about just under half a hectare of their 3.2 hectare block is a dream to visit.

There are gleaming new sunflowers, the mauve gauze of globe artichoke heads, the cobalt blue structure of echinops spheres held aloft on silvery spikes, a riot of fragrant old-fashioned sweet peas, blousy cosmos on slender stalks, a field of bobbing poppies, and glorious musk pink dahlias…to name just a few of the floral abundance.

Chris and Janae say there’ll be plenty of chrysanthemums ready for Mother’s Day too, thanks to the recent addition of two big new polytunnels.

Not long ago they clinched a handy Agriculture Victoria grant that covered half the cost of installing the two new polytunnels, completed October 2021. It’s a move poised to deliver a major benefit in extending the flowering season beyond the warm, bountiful days of spring and summer.

“They have been a game changer,” Chris says.

The couple supplement the sale of their organic blooms and arrangements by also offering an array of on-farm workshops that, judging by the “sold out” posts, seem to be going down a treat with aesthetes and flower lovers.

Janae’s working background features ceramics and she says she’ll be offering some ceramic hand-building workshops as part of the series.

“Because we have a background as teachers, we love to talk,” she says. Janae knew starting Fleurs de Lyonville was a winning idea – although following through with such a vision is not for the faint hearted.

“It wasn’t an easy decision. But I’ve always followed my gut and I knew it was the right decision,” she says.
Post those difficult days of Covid lockdowns, the wedding trade picked up, Chris says, creating a strong demand for their blooms which are all grown with a careful eye to variety in form and colour.

“I do a lot of the picking and design work but after a while I just have to put my hands in the soil,” Janae says.

Being organic, working with nature, using birds and friendly bugs as natural little pest control agents is an important aspect of their operation, she says.

And getting their heads around succession planting, always planning ahead, being ever-ready for the implications of frost and heat is a necessity.

“We didn’t have a clue how to do anything at the beginning. We’ve learnt a lot through failure,” Janae says.

“We’ve lived and learned. We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved. The aim was to be together working off the land.”

with Eve Lamb

TRENTHAM’S Morag Turner hails originally from Lanarkshire, Scotland and it was her love of art that led to her completing a degree in textile design which then led to her moving to Australia. Today she’s inspired by the landscape and natural beauty she sees around her. But this well-established local artist is equally at home turning her talent to life drawing and portraiture, and to realism or abstractionism.

Eve: How do you describe your artistic style?
Morag: I work mainly in artistic realism, without trying to be photographic. I also
do abstract, life drawing and have been practising pencil portraits.
Eve: How did you come to art?
Morag: As a child I loved creating and drawing. I won art prizes at school. I
got my degree in textile design and built a career. That’s what got me to Australia.
It was a desired profession. I didn’t practice art for over 25 years. Life got in the
way, immigrating three times, being a working mum and a marriage break-up. The
kids flew the nest and I got remarried. My husband is extremely supportive and
encouraging. He is building me a studio and comes to all the exhibitions I enjoy
when travelling.
Eve: Which artists have influenced your work?
Morag: Dali’s imagination and drawing skill and Van Gogh’s use of colour and
movement. Like Monet, I use my garden as an endless source of subjects. I was lucky
enough to visit his gardens in Giverny and stood under the wisteria on the bridge
over the lily pond. A very special moment.
Melbourne artist Paul Borg taught me a lot when I attended his art school. One
of the reasons we moved to Trentham was because of the art in the area. I am now
privileged to be part of a local life drawing group. I draw alongside very inspirational
artists Rose Wilson, Helen Cottle and Louise Otten. Great artists and lovely people.
Eve: What is your medium of choice?
Morag: Traditionally I’ve used watercolour, but more recently I love painting with
oils and drawing with graphite. My dad always wanted me to use oils like he did, but
I preferred watercolour.
On holiday here 10 years ago he left his oil paints behind and gave me a quick
rundown before leaving for Scotland. My husband gifted me lessons with Paul Borg
and I have never looked back. I like to experiment with different mediums in travel
sketchbooks.
Eve: What is your subject matter of choice?
Morag: Nature, flowers, trees, landscape and the human form. Nature is so varied.
No two trees are the same. I love drawing the human form as it’s so unique.
Eve: Have you ever worked in any other area besides your arts practice?
Morag: Yes, I’m a public servant. I work full-time. Roll on retirement.
Eve: What are you working on at the moment in your current arts practice?
Morag: I am putting together a collection of flowers. I am playing with the
composition and using close-ups to give a different aspect, making the subject not
obvious at first glance.
Eve: Do you like to play music when you create your art?
Morag: I like to listen to gentle, but not elevator, music. My own playlist or
Spotify café list.
Eve: To date, what have been your career highlights as an artist?
Morag: Selling paintings. It’s a thrill when somebody wants my artwork in their
home.
Eve: Do you have any exhibitions or special arts events coming up?
Morag: We are in the process of renovating my studio. I am planning an open
studio for the Melbourne Cup weekend. I am considering an exhibition in a local
gallery.
Eve: What do you think are the main challenges for practicing artists today?
Morag: The digital world. Photography, photoshop, CAD. Look what has
happened to animation. Computers have taken over people skills.
Eve: And the rewards?
Morag: I find art relaxing and de-stressing. I appreciate that many of the
traditions in the art world no longer exist. I enjoy working from photographs. I
experiment with mixing mediums – unlike the impressionists who were shunned for
being different.

with Eve Lamb

AN ONGOING love affair with all things Italian informs the aesthetic in the much collected and admired work of Daylesford artist Brian Reberger. Each year, Brian spends time working in his studios in both Daylesford and Umbria, Italy. Now he’s preparing for a significant exhibition coming up at Steps Gallery in Carlton in May.

Eve: How do you describe your artistic style?
Brian: My artistic style isn’t easy to categorise. I guess a realist with a twist, capturing fleeting
moments in people’s daily lives, or aspects of nature. The finished works often resonate deeply with
the viewer.
Eve: How did you come to art?
Brian: I came to art almost by accident. As a floundering 19-year-old in a very small
country hometown in NSW, one day a close family friend invited me to visit her art studio. She sensed that there was perhaps an untapped artist flair awaiting release. That day changed my life, I never looked back and I will always be indebted to Molly Lewis.
Eve: Which artists influence your own work?
Brian: My influencers and admired artist list has always been broad and varied.
They include Piero della Francesca and Raphael for an Italian Renaissance mix. Then
Edward Hopper, David Hockney, Francis Bacon and Jeffrey Smart for a more modern
addition.
Eve: What is your medium or media of choice?
Brian: In the past I have worked in oil on canvas, and chalk pastel on Italian
rag paper. For the past few years, I have specialised in charcoal on rag paper. It
is a medium that many artists find difficult, but I thoroughly enjoy the depth of
contrast achievable and the challenge of keeping it in total control. Sometimes I also
incorporate a broad mix of varying media with the charcoal. It all depends on the
individual piece, and the look I want in the finished work. I love that there are no
‘rules’. Anything is possible and experimenting can often surprise both the artist and
the viewer in a very positive and unexpected way.
Eve: What is your subject matter of choice?
Brian: My subject matter has always had a very strong Italianate influence.
Indeed, I have always had a very strong calling for everything Italian, and now I
am very fortunate to spend time in Italy each year, cementing and gathering the
inspiration, and working in my Italian second studio. The first studio being in
Daylesford. It is fascinating how spending time in a place as a local totally changes
the finished outcome. You are able to view from the inside, not merely as an outside
observer passing through.
Eve: Have you ever worked in any other area besides your arts practice?
Brian: Of course, in my younger days there were the hospitality experiences to
supplement my art practice. Later on I was fortunate to be the buyer for a boutique
homewares store specialising in European high end products. Even though I am a
full-time artist, I now work casually as an extra for film and television.
Working in the art studio can become a solitary, introspective experience, so the
extras work allows me to meet new people, experience at very close range a totally
diverse art practice – the crazy, manic world of film production – and travel to many
varying locations. It allows great flexibility with working hours.
Eve: What are you working on at the moment in your current arts practice?
Brian: I am completing two major private commissions to take back to Italy later
this year. I have been very lucky in recent years to have successfully completed many
major commission projects. This was particularly so during the Covid lockdowns. I
am also working towards my solo retrospective exhibition to be held the first week of
May 2023 at Steps Gallery in Carlton.
Eve: When you work in the studio do you like to play music?
Brian: This is a very important question for me, and one that artists are seldom
asked about. My artworks take from weeks to months to complete each one, and for
me working on them becomes like a form of meditation. Hence the preparation for
work each day is an important ritual. With lighting, scent, and of course sound in
the studio all being important considered elements. For the music I have created a
carefully edited, and often tweaked, Spotify playlist for the studio comprising close to
10,000 tracks.
It is a very eclectic mix ranging from opera and classical, to ambient, Italian pop
and current music, each one chosen for a personal resonance. Played on shuffle, so I
am constantly surprised and the concentration is tweaked without being interrupted.
Eve: To date, what have been your career highlights as an artist?
Brian: Every exhibition is a wonderful highlight. Over the years I have had many,
and the opportunity to share your work, and discuss it with visitors and clients, is
always wonderful. Also I have been told on numerous occasions from collectors of my
works that my paintings have changed their lives, or give them endless joy when they
look at them daily. Such feedback is always such a positive affirmation that the time
spent on the creative process is never in vain.
Eve: Do you have any exhibitions or special arts events coming up?
Brian: Yes, I have a very special exhibition planned very soon. This will be my
40 + 1 year retrospective exhibition. I have called it ‘My Italian Life’ and it will be
a celebration of my career as an artist for over 40 years, and also celebrating my
ongoing love affair with all things Italian, in particular the people, the landscape
and its culture. Works from all periods of my career will be exhibited. It is at Steps
Gallery, 62 Lygon Street Carlton (the city end) from May 2 to May 7. The opening
hours are 11am to 5pm daily. I invite all your readers to visit if they can, and make themselves known to me, as I will be there each day.

Words & Images: Eve Lamb

THE sky rolls wide and blue above Pig and Earth, a sustainable free-range organic pig farm set on the
volcanic plains just out of Kingston.
For owners Will Bennett and Emma Horsburgh, raising and selling fresh pork that’s been lovingly grown here allows them to lead a way of life that meshes with their ethos.
A walking tour of the 16-hectare farm quickly illustrates that the Old English Large Black breed pigs that forage here – and their cute-as-pie piglets – clearly enjoy their days.
There’s plenty of wallowing in troughs, snuffling for ground treasures, piggy pranks and luxuriating in that rich volcanic earth.

_{Will Bennett with one of the resident pigs at Pig and Earth. Image: Eve Lamb}

“Each pig has plenty of room to roam, and spends their entire lives outdoors, with access to shelter from bad weather,” says Will (pictured above here with one of the resident pigs at Pig and Earth).
“Because they’re social animals, our pigs are generally kept in pairs or small groups, and young pigs are kept in sibling groups.”
Emma is Sydney-born, has a degree in international studies, and also works for Environment Victoria.
Will, a Victorian local, has a degree in agricultural science, studied fine art at Ballarat’s Federation University, and tries to read 52 books every year – “only succeeding twice”.
Will and Emma, who have an 18-month-old daughter, met while walking 300km across South Australia, campaigning to build Australia’s first solar thermal plant.
Since then they’ve been activists, students and workers engaged in environmental conservation and social justice. The way they farm is strongly informed by their underlying desire to minimise the carbon footprint that goes into keeping human beings fed.
“We’ll have been here for six years in June,” Will says, on the farm that also features their 1930s renovated farmhouse.
“At the moment we’re looking to grow our membership, our subscribers, a bit more.”
Pig and Earth supplies fresh free-range pork – including bacon, sausages, chops and roasts – to the local community and beyond, through a Community Supported Agriculture system.
The system aims to connect consumer and farmer more closely by offering shares into the farm’s harvest for a season or for a year.
By purchasing shares members, or subscribers, receive a percentage of the harvest weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
There are various share options to choose from depending on your needs as an individual, couple, or group – including some lamb options as well.
“At the moment we have 50 members and we’re now aiming for 60 and, in the long term, 70,” Will says.
Will and Emma use a holistic approach to farming, incorporating permaculture, free-range and organic principles, paired with a desire to let their animals live as naturally as possible.
“It’s very satisfying, but it can be hard work and pretty full-on,” Will says. “It’s very satisfying knowing I’ve fed 50 or 60 families for the whole month.
“We work with our animals to improve the land that we are on, producing only as much as the land will provide. We’re a small farm with a big vision.
“Because pigs are not ruminants they don’t produce methane and with their feed we are diverting food waste streams from landfill so we’re minimising the carbon footprint.
“In the paddocks our pigs forage the ground as they would naturally, which helps to turn the soil and improve its nutrient content with manure.
“We believe that the best way to produce high quality meat is to be as involved in its production process as possible.
“We’re not just getting covered in mud while trying to care for a small patch of land – although we do love that. We’ve also got big ideas.”

MY dining companion (Paddy H) and I are ravenous as we enter the Daylesford Hotel for lunch, mid Monday, me having done a gruelling morning group weights class and Paddy having arisen
well before 11am.
And so, it’s with relief that we notice immediately the robust nature of the menu
on offer. There’s plenty here for the hungriest of carnivores – ranging from small
plates to share like the popcorn chicken with chipotle mayo ($18) and the confit pork
belly with apple and wild fennel slaw, celeriac puree and jus ($19) to the Scotch fillet
with buttered kipfler potatoes, beetroot puree, roquette salad and red wine jus ($49)
among the main meat options.

But, notably, we see vegetarians and vegans are also well catered for. The
roast Moroccan seasoned cauliflower steak and the spring saffron ricotta gnocchi
(handmade) are among the tempting options that leap off the menu in this
department. I’m also delighted to discover there’s also an excellent range of options
for those who do not tolerate gluten. At all. And it isn’t just a trendy lifestyle choice.
Atmosphere
We settle in. The atmosphere in the Daylesford Hotel dining room is welcoming
– mellow and relaxed. Green panelled timber walls, a high pressed metal ceiling,
beautiful stained glass windows and a gas log fire which is going (as though in
homage to the season’s shift) all enhance the soothing country ambience.
Nearby, the attractive bar is well stocked with all manner of glinting temptation.
Paddy does the honours, ordering us a lovely lunchtime local wine – Lachlan’s
chardonnay 2021 from Amherst Winery at Talbot. It comes in French glassware.

Starters
For starters (or “small plates to share”) Paddy selects the spiced lamb ribs served
with mint yoghurt, dukka and pickled cucumber ($22). I opt for the gluten-free
mushroom and mozzarella arancini with tomato relish (3 pieces for $15).
Arriving in no time, my choice of starter proves to be golden and crunchy on the
outside with an easily assimilated comfort food factor within. We make swift work,
Paddy happily musing on his selection: “old school flavours, tangy accompaniment”.
Mains
Next up I don’t resist the market fish (salmon) served with buttered kipflers,
avocado mousse, orange and fennel salad GF ($34). Paddy goes for the Daylesford
Hotel pie (beef bourguignon) served on a bed of mashed potatoes, peas and gravy
($29). Our mains also arrive swiftly and prove both ample and satisfying. By the time
they’re but a mere memory on our emptied crockery we agree we can hardly fit in
dessert.
Dessert
But we’re on a mission. So we push on, Paddy plumping for the house-made
decadent chocolate brownie with orange blossom syrup and ice cream ($16) while
I can never go past a good creme brulee. This one comes with vanilla ice cream and
strawberry and is also GF ($16). Both of our selections arrive with fresh violas for
garnish and multi-coloured sprinkles on the ice-cream.
There’s just the right degree of crunch on the brulee’s toffeed top while beneath
the surface my choice of dessert is pleasingly creamy. Paddy reports the brownie to be
“warm, rich, and very dark for chocolate lovers”.
Venue manager Trae Galea stops by to ask how things are, and we’re very happy to
report satisfaction. In response to my question, Trae confirms that the chicken dishes
on the menu here are free range. These include a parmigiana for die-hard devotees
with both half ($21) and full ($30) options available.
We note too that burger and pasta fans are well catered for, and that, beside my
large salmon plate of choice, there’s a good range of other seafood options including
classic fish and chips, chilli mussels, salt and pepper calamari, and barramundi which
comes with vegetables and lemon butter sauce.
Country pub
On the other side of the bar, supervisor and bar attendant Sion says the thing she
enjoys most about working here is the conviviality. “It’s just a very nice country pub
atmosphere, very friendly and a nice little community hub.”
Leaving with dessert lingering agreeably on the palate, we can see what she means.
Along with the satisfying portion sizes, good range of gluten free, vegetarian and
vegan options, the Daylesford Hotel gets a big thumbs up for laid-back ambience. It’s
somewhere you can really chill while getting a fill. Words & images: Eve Lamb

IT’S been said that “clothes maketh the man” – and there’s little doubt that applies for women as well.
But sometimes obtaining snappy threads, so essential to making a vital good first impression, is easier said than done.
That’s where Thread Together comes in. Based in Sydney and also run in Victoria, under a partnership arrangement, by Ballarat’s Cafs (Child and Family Services) this not-for-profit provides new in-vogue clothing and accessories to those who otherwise could not afford such goods.
We’re talking new fashion house labels provided gratis to those doing it rough, thus diverting countless tonnes of perfectly good new clothing that would otherwise be dumped in landfill annually by big fashion houses.

In recent days Thread Together, or TT, held its second ever pop-up day in
Daylesford, working in with the town’s Thursday Good Grub Club to reach folk in
genuine need of the innovative free quality clothing and accessories.
Cafs TT program and volunteer lead Nicole Roberts says Threads Together is
extremely rewarding to be involved with and, come July, will have been running in
Ballarat for two years.
She says TT held its first visiting pop-up event in Daylesford in March last year
and it was extremely well received, providing free quality new clothing and accessories
for men, women and children.
“I absolutely love it,” Nicole says, recounting some of the heart-warming stories of
those whose lives have been changed for the better as a result of TT.
“I remember one young guy, a teenager, who lived in a caravan at the back of a
factory and had been offered a job interview in hospitality, but didn’t want to attend
his interview because he didn’t have anything suitable to wear.
“We decked him out in quality labels including R.M. Williams boots. And he got
the job. He was so kind and grateful.”
In the time it’s been helping out residents of Victoria’s Central Highlands
region TT has helped so many people doing it tough including some who have led
comfortable lives but, due to circumstances, have found themselves in a place they
never thought they’d be.
Sometimes it’s domestic violence escapees, sometimes it’s prisoners coming out of
prison with nothing, who need to find work and reintegrate.
“Sometimes it’s people with a serious illness who can’t work,” Nicole says.
“There was a lady, a single mum, who had a terminal illness and had nothing to
wear to her son’s debut. We were able to deck her out in a beautiful Carla Zampatti
dress.”
Besides Daylesford, TT is also delivering its pop-up visiting van services to
Bacchus Marsh and Ararat, driving out to locations in the Cafs van full to capacity
with new fashions of all sizes and styles.
“But now we’re about to get a new dedicated wardrobe van – and we will be
returning every three months to Daylesford in the future,” Nicole says.
She says presenting well in new, impressive attire for a job interview, work
placement or application for a rental property can be the first step towards a better
life for many doing it tough.
“It can break that cycle. It’s that one step forward, which means someone can
then keep taking more steps forward,” she says.
To use TT clients have to first receive a referral to it from another agency – or
from Cafs itself.
“All of the clothing is new and is donated from fashion houses. The fashion
industry regularly pays for landfill and TT was started about 15 years ago by Andie
Halas, a partner in Seafolly, who thought that surely it would be possible to do
better,” Nicole says.
Thread Together headquarters remains in Sydney and Nicole says the donated
clothing is transported free of charge by Toll.
As a non-profit, TT runs on fundraising, and the Hepburn Springs Golf Club has
become a staunch supporter through its annual Tee-Up for Kids Day, held in memory
of Ian Stanley.
Now, as TT introduces its new quarterly seasonal pop-up visits to Daylesford with
its new dedicated wardrobe van, Nicole says it is keen to provide the pop-up visits for
those in need wherever it can throughout the Central Highlands region.
“We are open to everywhere that it’s possible to get to,” she says.

Words: Eve Lamb | Images: Contributed

This Easter is a great chance to support Daylesford and surrounds annual Good Friday Appeal raising funds for The Royal Children’s Hospital.

The main sponsor of this annual fundraising favourite locally is Biggin Scott, real estate agents in Daylesford.

Biggin Scott director Michael DeVincentis, pictured above far right, with fellow director Tom Shaw and local coordinator Natalie Kirby and her children, says it’s a cause close to his own heart.

“I spent some time in The Royal Children’s Hospital myself as a kid. They basically saved my life,” Michael says.

Michael survived that childhood playground misadventure and went on to have children and now grandchildren of his own.

“We all have kids in our lives,” he says.

Natalie also spent some of her childhood in The Royal Children’s where she forged some wonderful friendships.

As someone who also clearly cares deeply for children it’s a cause very close to her heart as well. She says there’ll be plenty of great opportunities to support this year’s appeal and help it strive to better last year’s record fundraising total of $22,981.

There are some great prizes to be won through the appeal’s raffle with tickets being sold at multiple sites ranging from Biggin Scott’s main street offices to local schools and childcare providers as well as various local businesses.

“We’ll also be selling tickets outside Coles (Daylesford) from this Saturday (April 1)  – so Saturday, Sunday and throughout the week,” Natalie says.

Then on Good Friday (Friday, April 7) Biggin Scott will have a marquee at the front of the Daylesford Town Hall in Vincent Street, Michael says, providing another prime chance to grab a ticket or several, and support the excellent cause.

Daylesford has a long history of generously supporting this cause. In fact this is the appeal’s 93^rd year.

“We couldn’t do it without the community and the generosity of local businesses,” Natalie says.

“We aim to raise a bit more each year and last year we raised nearly $23,000.”

Michael reckons $30,000 is a good goal to reach for this time around – “why not?” he says.

Those keen to contribute can go to the dedicated Facebook page for Good Friday Appeal Daylesford and Surrounds.

There’s also an Instagram account and dedicated fundraising page, making it easy to donate via the virtual tin shake.

The Good Friday Appeal relies on the support of the community to raise funds to ensure that The Royal Children’s Hospital is able to keep providing world-class care to young patients and their families.

Each year the hospital treats more than 44,000 children in the wards and medical centre, 91,000 in emergency and sees over 470,000 through telehealth or as outpatients in the community.

To contribute to the appeal head to:

Facebook: Good Friday Appeal Daylesford & Surrounds 

Instagram: goodfridayappeal_daylesford

Web: https://fundraise.goodfridayappeal.com.au/fundraisers/Daylesford

Words: Eve Lamb

with Eve Lamb

DIANNE Longley’s considerable artist oeuvre depicts dreams and fantasies,
weaving real and imagined figures and landscapes to create works that intrigue
and beguile the viewer. Working at her Agave Print Studio in Trentham, Dianne uses both
traditional and digital methods and here she chats about her prolific creative practice.

Eve: How do you prefer to describe your artistic style?
Dianne: I think I have an idiosyncratic approach. I explore diverse techniques for making art and representing my ideas visually.
Eve: How did you come to art?
Dianne: Well, I always made things. Like fairy floss from cotton wool, cochineal and sugar,
cork platforms for my shoes, when they came into fashion and my sisters had them, out of wine
bottle corks placed in my mother’s electric mincer to grind them up. The mincer smoked with the
strain and then blew up.
Eve: Which artists – current or historic – have influenced your own work?
Dianne: David Hockney line etchings, his theatre/opera set designs, Hieronymus Bosch
paintings, early printed books with letterpress text and woodblock prints, devotional books of hours,
Paula Rego etchings, Jessie Trail prints, Dorrit Black linocuts.
Eve: What is your media or medium of choice?
Dianne: I work across a range of media including printmaking, pokerwork on wooden panels, artist books, mixed media encaustic works and small-scale bronzes.
Eve: What is, or are, your subject matter of choice?
Dianne: Theatre of life, chance and random interactions, absurd juxtapositions, visual narratives of imbalance and implied misfortune. How we as humans make our way in a troublesome world.
Eve: Have you ever worked in any other area besides your arts practice?
Dianne: I am currently studying ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, which has a
long history relating to Buddhism, but samurai warriors would create ikebana flower
arrangements as a meditation to reflect on man’s fleeting mortality. I go to Melbourne
for classes.
Eve: What are you working on at the moment in your current arts practice?
Dianne: I am currently working on a second book on printmaking, Printmaking
with Photopolymer Plates: a multifaceted approach. This new book is a combination of
a technical manual on photopolymer printmaking combined with prints by a range
of Australian artists using a diverse range of techniques. As well, I am participating in
group exhibitions in Adelaide (mid 2023) and Melbourne (early 2024).
Eve: When you work in the studio do you like to play music and if so what’s your
music of choice?
Dianne: Gregorian chants, Leonard Cohen, Freddie Mercury, Johnny Cash, Patsy
Cline, Antony and the Johnsons, contemporary classical, and audio books.
Eve: To date, what have been your career highlights as an artist?
Dianne: Australia Council Tokyo studio for three months in 1990, Tracing the
Echo – Artist books and folios 1978-2001 exhibition which toured SA, Victoria and
NSW. Teaching at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, USA in 2011,
where the studios are open 24/7 and there are no locked doors anywhere. Travelling
to Oaxaca in Mexico to see the ethno-botanic garden.
Eve: Do you have any other projects in mind at the moment?
Dianne: Yes, some small artist books for my participation in Sydney Contemporary Works on Paper in September. A few ideas for concertina books and small pamphlet stitched books containing artworks and text.
Eve: Finally, what are the main rewards that you derive from your arts practice?
Dianne: Each and every day is unique and propositional.