Kaiela Arts is excited to share our latest events, news and updates with you! Read on to find out about upcoming exhibitions that will open next week featuring over 60 works from Kaiela Arts artists including our own NAIDOC 2024 exhibition and Off the Kerb’s annual group show Winter Days.
See Kaiela Arts featured in the UPLANDS Journal in a beautifully written piece by Chloe Jones; get a sneak peek of Term 2 of our Galnyatj Schools Program; and be amongst the first to know about a new on-country cultural immersion tour Murrabit Gunyah Woka, with Kaiela Arts artist Dylan Charles.
Exhibitions & Events
NAIDOC 2024 Exhibition – Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud
Opening Tuesday 9 July 2024, 5.30 – 7.30pm at Kaiela Arts
Celebrating the 2024 NAIDOC Week Theme, Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud, this new exhibition will proudly display the vitality and resilience of First Nations cultures and storytelling in contemporary forms.
With over 50 new solo and collaborative works created by Aboriginal artists and Elders spanning three generations, the exhibition features paintings and weaving, alongside a collection of new of screen-printed homewares, inspired by fresh-water country, plant-life and colour palettes. The exhibition will also feature a special display of artworks created by local Aboriginal Year 5 and 6 students who have recently participated in our Galnyatj Schools Program.
Kaiela Arts warmly invites everyone to come and join us as we pay homage to the fire that is the enduring strength and spirit of First Nations cultures, in a vibrant, joyous and unapologetic celebration of Aboriginal identity – ‘Blak, Loud and Proud’!
Exhibition opening – Tuesday 9 July 2024, 5.30pm – 7.30pm
Exhibition dates – Tuesday 9 July – Tuesday 20 August 2024
Gallery opening hours – Mon, Wed, Thur and Fri 10am – 4pm and Sat 10am – 3pm
Click here to register for the opening.
Winter Days Exhibition
Opening Friday 12 July 2024, 6pm-8pm at Off the Kerb Gallery, Collingwood
Kaiela Arts is excited to be participating this year in Off The Kerb’s annual group exhibition, Winter Days. Ten of our Aboriginal artist members including Ally Knight, Amy Briggs, Brett Wilson, Dylan Charles, Jack Anselmi, Kayden Duggan, Laurel Robinson, Melinda Solomon, Tahnee Day and Tarn Parker, have contributed to a collection of creative responses on the themes surrounding the season of winter.
Located in the heart of Collingwood, Off the Kerb is a Melbourne-based Artist Run Initiative, which fosters and exhibits emerging to mid-career Australian Artists, Curators, Designers and Sound Producers.
The exhibition will open on Friday 12 July 6pm – 8pm and runs until Thursday 25 July at Off the Kerb Gallery, 66B Johnston St, Collingwood.
Click here to find out more about the exhibition and see the full catalogue.
Artwork: Winter Days, Brett Wilson, 50.8×50.8 cm, Acrylic on Belgian Linen, 2024
Murrabit Gunyah Woka –
Cultural Immersion on Yorta Yorta Country with Dylan Charles
Saturday 3 August, 2pm – 4.30pm at Kaiela Arts and surrounds
$100 + booking fee
We are excited to share a new collaboration with one of our artist members Dylan Charles. Dylan is a proud Yorta Yorta/ Boonwurrung / Wurundjeri/ Pangerang man, an emerging ‘painter keeper’ and ‘passer of sacred knowledge’ a ‘storyteller’ and ‘historian of the traditional life’.
In Aboriginal cultural traditions, knowledge is sacred and is passed on in whispers. Murrabit Gunyah Woka means to whisper and educate on country. Dylan Charles has a dillybag of important sacred knowledge to pass on to future generations and in this special cultural immersion, he is a providing a rare opportunity for the broader community and visitors to the region, to walk alongside and learn about the traditional ways of life of his ancestors, the Yorta Yorta people.
Participants will also be introduced to Kaiela Arts gallery and studio to experience and learn about art in the Southern Eastern regions of Australia. Included in the experience:
• Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony
• Cultural education walk along the lake and river (approximately 1km along an accessible path)
• Kaiela Arts gallery talk
Please note this cultural immersion is not suitable for children under 18 years of age as some sensitive topics and history will be discussed.
To get tickets click on the button below.
Photo by Max Orter
Latest Updates
Introducing Chloe Jones
Like its many counterparts across Australia, Kaiela Arts is run by a majority Aboriginal Board, many of whom are creatives, cultural practitioners and knowledge keepers. We would like to shine the spotlight this month, on one of our newer Board members Chloe Jones.
Chloe is a proud First Nations Yorta Yorta artist, freelance creative, and emerging writer and curator based in Naarm (Melbourne) and has been a member of Kaiela Arts since 2020.
She is currently completing a Bachelor of Art History & Curation at Monash University and over the last few years, has specialised in the contemporary Indigenous commercial sector, working within the secondary market at a leading commercial gallery in Melbourne, D’Lan Contemporary. As a creative, she has also engaged in commercial collaborations with various brands, both in Australia and internationally.
Chloe hopes to inspire other fellow First Nations artists and creatives, and drawing on her own experiences, insights and networks, to open opportunities for them to have more agency and self-determination, as successful artists and leaders within the industry.
Most recently Chloe has been honing her skills as writer and we are very proud to share a journal article she has written for UPLANDS Journal, about Kaiela Arts and the unique position we occupy in the contemporary Indigenous art sector in Victoria and nationally.
Click the button below to read the full article.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Galnyatj Schools Program Term 2 Wrap- Up
Our Galnyatj Schools Program is an exciting opportunity for local First Nations primary and secondary students to deepen their understanding of Yorta Yorta culture, stories and history, and to explore their own connections to country, culture and people.
In Term 2 students from Wilmot Road Primary School and Gowrie Street Primary School, took part in the program. Over 8 weeks the students each created an artist book, exploring a range of techniques and concepts, drawing on inspiration from the immediate outdoor environment surrounding Kaiela Arts. They designed a set of personal symbols and constructed clay stamps out of these to use in future artworks and in their artist books.
The students also collaborated on large banners, encouraged to express what is most important to them and their families. These banners will be displayed back at their schools and shared with the broader school community.
The program finished up in late June with a celebration morning bringing both schools together. Local Yorta Yorta man Michael Bourke cleansed the space with a smoking ceremony and introduced the kids to ochre, painting them up before some of them shared in dance and song. They also sang along with Lillie Walker as she performed two songs from the Short Black Opera Dungala Children’s Songbook by Deborah Cheetham.
Bringing the groups together at the end of the program highlighted the familial nature of the Kaiela Arts studio space and helped the kids feel at home here. A display of their work will be featured in our NAIDOC 2024 exhibition launching next Tuesday 9 July.
Find out more about Galnyatj Schools Program here.
Aboriginal artist Members Only Development Workshops
Ceramics Workshop with Kaye Poulton for Aboriginal Artist Members
Date: Friday 11th July
Time: 1pm – 4pm
Venue: Kaiela Arts Studio
Kaiela Arts Aboriginal artist members are invited to join local ceramicist, Kaye Poulton from 1pm – 4pm for a ceramics workshop in our studio. This is a great opportunity for artists to try something new and experiment with different techniques for applying colour and design to ceramic vessels or to come along for a yarn and work on a current project.
RSVP: info@kaielaarts.org.au or call us on 5821 9842
Become an artist member with Kaiela Arts!
Join Kaiela Arts today and become part of a vibrant community of First Nations creatives and cultural practitioners.
Membership is open to all First Nation artists and community members with Yorta Yorta family connections, as well as other mobs living in the Kaiela Dungala region.
As a member, you’ll enjoy access to studio facilities and art materials, 10% of any artwork or merchandise purchases in our shop, invitations to events and exhibitions, free artist skills workshops, and promotion through our website and social media channels.
Full Artist Memberships are $50 per year (Concession $40), while Junior Artist Memberships are $30 per year.
To join, applicants must be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and have Yorta Yorta family connections or reside in the Kaiela Dungala region. Applications are reviewed and approved by our Board.
To find out more or request a membership application form click the button below.
