Kaiela Arts offers a range of cultural workshops and experiences for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Our cultural workshops are unique opportunities to learn about local Aboriginal stories, culture and history through art making and yarning with our artists.
We can host groups of up to 20 people in our studio for workshops ranging from 1-2 hours on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Currently we can offer gallery tours, artist talks, ceramics, painting and weaving workshops with a range of Kaiela Arts artists.
Gallery and Artist Talks
Kaiela Arts has a dedicated and friendly team who invite you to look closely and feel deeply about the Aboriginal arts and crafts on display in the gallery.
During a Kaiela Arts Gallery Talk there is opportunity meet some of our staff and local artists behind the artworks, who share their cultural inspiration and creative processes behind the works. Our gallery features a range of artworks that carry important communication, stories and history, across various mediums such as message sticks, painting, weaving, ceramics and carvings.
Kaiela Arts Gallery Talks explore different types of stories from both traditional and contemporary perspectives, encouraging participants to value art as a method of storytelling and communication, and to explore their own interpretations and responses to artworks
Ceramic Turtles
The bayaderra (long neck turtle) is a common symbol used in Yorta Yorta art, as the species is the Yorta Yorta people’s totem. The Yorta Yorta people believe that bayaderra is our protector, provider and guide. Bayaderra is often used prominently in visual representations of our creation stories.
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Our ceramic turtle making workshops provide an opportunity to learn about why bayaderra is so important to Yorta Yorta people, through hands on making and yarning with one of our artists.
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We also sell take home clay turtle making kits.
Painting
Aboriginal Art is the oldest ongoing tradition of art in the world. It includes work made in many different ways including painting on leaves, wood carving, rock carving, sculpting, ceremonial clothing, body paint, ochre and sand painting. Traditionally, ochres were used to paint signs, symbols and icons on rocks to tell stories and this tradition of storytelling and transmitting knowledge continues to this day.Â
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Kaiela Arts painting sessions give participants opportunities to explore the use of art as a visual language for storytelling. Participants can work on individual art pieces that speak to their own personal stories, or create larger collaborative pieces that tell or map their collective story.
Weaving
Weaving is a way of life for Aboriginal people, an ancient knowledge and cultural practice that is continuous, and has been passed down from generation to generation. For Aboriginal people, weaving is about identity and kinship, serving as a tangible expression of connection to country, ancestors, and each other.Â
Kaiela Art’s weaving workshops use natural and hand dyed raffia connecting participants to Aboriginal culture and ways of being, through weaving and yarning, while also creating their own special artwork.
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We can teach techniques to create small baskets, coil keychains and bracelets.
