Sunday. Also pictured at rear are workshop facilitator, Sarah Rodgers, Outback Arts’ Partnerships and Engagement Officer, Mim McKeown, and local artist Kylie Harvey.
Cobar’s ‘Crafties’ were able to let their imaginations run wild at a Waste 2 Art workshop, hosted by Outback Arts at the Cobar Youth and Community Centre on Sunday.
Coonamble artist and teacher, Sarah Rodgers, has been facilitating workshops throughout the region offering local artists the opportunity to create entries for this year’s Waste 2 Art competition.
Waste 2 Art is a community art exhibition and competition that encourages artists to create works made from reused and recyclable waste materials and challenges people to look at the way they look at waste.
Participants were encouraged to bring along their own materials but they also had the opportunity to make use of a large suitcase of various items that Sarah had brought with her.
“I’m in my culling phase at the moment and it would have ended up in landfill, so I brought it with me for people to work with,” Sarah said.
Sarah moved to Coonamble five years ago to take up a teaching position at the local high school and found Coonamble to be a very creative community which enabled her to get back into her art.
“I’ve embraced it and, as I’ve entered this competition for the last couple of years, I was asked if I would facilitate a workshop.”
There was a variety of different projects being worked on at Sunday’s workshop.
“Kylie’s got some old photos, a collection she bought online, which is kind of like the life story of this woman in the 30s and 40s.
“They’re just beautiful.
“It’s this woman’s life, a love story, she’s moved around the world and she probably doesn’t have any family that wanted them.
“Emma is making a trio of book covers.
“She’s planning on three different covers and mounting them, and it can double up as an entry in the local show.”
Another participant was making an ocean-themed diorama in a discarded cardboard box.
“For the Waste 2 Art competition, everything needs to fit into a shoe box for transport.
“People can make bigger things, but they need to be able to be broken down smaller for transport,” Sarah explained.
She said the workshops aimed to inspire artists and to also help those who might have started a project but just need some encouragement and direction to help finish it.
“As artists, it’s all very emotional and personal. So just being able to converse with other artists and enjoy their company and relax is a big part of being able to produce art works,” Sarah said.
