Redland artists are in the spotlight at the city art gallery this month, sharing their unique creative journeys with the community.
Rachael Wellisch's exhibition Polymorphic Magic: Textiles Transformed and Fiona West's The Marvellous and Magical: Collage and the Moving image open on Sunday 26 June and run at the Redland Art Gallery until Sunday August 14, 2022.
Wellisch has exhibited her work in Australia overseas including in New York, London, Vienna, Budapest, Japan, Ireland and Slovakia.
She describes herself as an artist who "unifies different techniques with shades of natural indigo dye and who uses discarded, threadbare clothes and worn out bedsheets that undergo alchemical alterations to refabricate into sculptures, hand-made paper and installations."
In 2021 she was one of 131 artists from 35 countries whose work was featured in Scythia, the 10th International Mini Textile Art Exhibition, Ivano-Frankivsk, in western Ukraine.
It was Ukraine's first privately organised international art event and has been running since 1995.
Ms Wellisch said Ivano-Frankivsk had been impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and was struck by missiles in February and March.
"While I was delighted to have my work featured in the exhibition last year, what has happened since then in Ukraine is terrible," she said.
"The work itself in Scythia wasn't in response to any Ukrainian specific issues.
"Unfortunately COVID travel restrictions last year prevented me from travelling to Ukraine for the exhibition but earlier this year I reached out to the Scythia organisers via email to express my heartfelt concerns and they appreciated the thoughts."
She said her upcoming exhibition touched on waste issues.
"While the works may suggest abstractions of nature, such as rock sediment or vistas of water, the materials I use for the exhibition offer a view on the relationship between textile production, consumption and waste."
West is a Zimbabwean-born Australian artist and author-illustrator, now based in the Redlands region.
She works with large-scale photographs and intimate projections and has recently completed a Doctorate in Visual Arts through Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane.
She said her exhibition featured the "marvellous and magical" as characteristics. Both puppetry and surrealism are used by her within ongoing investigations into lived experiences of displacement and belonging.
Fiona's exhibition features large-scale photographs and intimate projections, handcrafted using a collage and puppet typology with visual tricks and nastolgia to create a whimsical tone.
Both exhibitions will be opened by Dr Carol McGregor, Senior Lecturer and Program Director, Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University at the launch event at 6pm, Friday, June 24.
Bookings are essential for both events, book at http://artgallery.redland.qld.gov.au/programs/public-programs/.