What they said…
A monthly post of thoughts, advice, and experiences on a wide range of creative issues and ideas from our Studio Co!Lab members. The latest post will always be at the top, older posts below.
May 2025
Who are you inspired by? Why?
It seems such a simple question to ask an artist. But the answer is sometimes far from simple. Responses range from an interest shown at a very young age to more academic responses shaped by education and time.
Being inspired to be creative has many benefits for us as individuals and as a society with flow-on benefits for health and wellbeing, education and learning, the economy and more. It therefore stands to reason that people to encourage, support and inspire creativity play an important role in our lives and communities—whether they are close to us or completely unaware of the impact they have on our lives.
We asked our Studio Co!Lab members who they are inspired by and why.
“I realised writing was something you did not just for yourself but could be shared with an audience, and that audience might read your work in an entirely different way.”
Jack Randell, Dubbo (image Kim V. Goldsmith)
Jack Randell, Dubbo—Visual Artist
The self-absorbed answer is an early personal experience. Scenario: I’m about 6-7 years old, sitting around a table, talking with other kids, unmindfully drawing and colouring-in a picture from a story just told. Looked at what I had done, and it seemed that this representation was of a magic not entirely of my making- an out-of-body experience that I later recognised in art. This I continue to chase, to use material means to find and communicate the sublime. Art is that which transcends its materiality.
Catherine Moffat (image: Andrew Glassop)
Catherine Moffat, Lake Munmorah—Writer
My first-class teacher, Miss Jacques, was an early inspiration. I wrote a composition including the line ‘My father is tall with grey hair where there is any.’ She thought it hilarious, and I realised writing was something you did not just for yourself but could be shared with an audience, and that audience might read your work in an entirely different way.
Margaret Atwood is a constant inspiration. I like her fearlessness in speaking out on social justice issues, her sense of humour and that she isn’t bound by form or genre but is happy to play and choose the medium that suits the piece and her message.
Rachel Moodie (image supplied)
Rachel Moodie, Mittagong—Visual Artist
Many people inspire me. Mostly they are strong women. Women who follow their instincts, make art, love fiercely and follow their dreams. It is women who dare to live differently who really stand out to me. I think it's because this is what I aspire to be like.
Sarah Dugan (image supplied)
Sarah Dugan, Walgett/Quirindi—Visual Artist
I'm inspired by so many visual artists. Hoda Afshar is one of my biggest inspirations at the moment because she really speaks to that photojournalistic part of me. She's quite an activist artist and does a lot of work with refugees and I just think her work installation is just incredible and very powerful. But inspiration for a lot of my work actually stems a lot from a lot of film.
COMING IN JUNE
Studio Co!Lab member video profile: Walgett/Quirindi visual artist, Sarah Dugan on her inspiration and what her regional grounding brings to her practice.
April 2025
How might artists define success in their practice?
Balancing the emotional, productive, and perhaps financial needs of our creative practices is a tightrope walk. Ask 100 artists what success means to them and you’ll no doubt get 100 different answers. So, how do you go about defining what success means to you?
The New York Foundation for the Arts put this question to some of the literary, performing, and visual artists in its network in 2022. Here’s a summary of what they had to say.
· …being able to enjoy making my work and sharing it, having opportunities to show my work, to travel, to participate in interesting discussions and meet interesting people in my field. —Coco Fusco
· I ask myself if what I’m making is honest and true to the vision I intended.—Kyle Abraham
· Our personal meter to judge an artist is her influence on other artists.—Eva and Franco Matts
· …success for me is the joy of the process—of collaborating with people I like and admire as we make something together that’s bigger than all of us.—J.T. Rogers
You can read the other responses HERE.
A couple of years ago, multi-disciplinary artist, Kim V. Goldsmith was asked in a magazine interview what she thought her legacy might be. Not having a ready response, she spent some time thinking about it after the interview, writing a statement that she now revisits from time to time. The short version says:
If I can create an opportunity through my art for someone—even just one person, to make deeper, more sensory connections to the natural world we’re all part of, and to maybe think, feel or act differently as a result, then I've done what I believe I'm here to do.
Orana Arts Executive Director, Alicia Leggett has worked with artists for decades, in Australia and the United States. She has some thoughts to share about what success might mean to artists, particularly in the early stages of developing a practice. She stresses that no matter what level of success you’re seeking, and whether you see it as legacy or impact, you need to be comfortable with your definition of success.
As the conversation in the Orana Arts office continued around this topic, performing artist and our Creative Producer, Camilla Ward said:
Success to me means sharing and creating with myself and those around me when I know I have connected with/to them on some level. Nothing is more fulfilling than the combined sharing of creativity to elevate us all in body mind and spirit.
***
Recommended reading for those still trying to work it out.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.
Note this book isn’t about productivity but how you might get more from the time you have on Earth doing things that are important to you.
COMING IN MAY
Who are you inspired by? Why?
March 2025
Where do you sit with the juggernaut of Artificial Intelligence?
This question was put to our Studio Co!Lab members in preparation for a talk with academic, arts critic, journalist and creative industries researcher, Dr Ben Eltham on 9 April. We last looked at the impact of generative Artificial Intelligence on the arts a year ago when we spoke with AI artist, writer and academic Dr Andrew Frost. In the past year, a lot has happened in this space and some creatives who have been early adopters and users of AI have become unsettled by developments on the generative AI front. Not all forms of AI are equal.
“For me, the benefits do not currently outweigh the negatives of it.”
Allison Reynolds, Coonabarabran—Visual Artist & Writer: I had been using AI as a tool but have since disabled it in all places where I can. My issues with it are many:
- AI uses a huge amount of energy to foist itself on people that don’t want or need it.
- AI is infecting the world with ignorance, mis and disinformation
- AI is racist, ableist, classist etc etc. White male attitudes abound (which of course it will be as it has learned from those that have the largest voice in everything it scraped to exist.
The good news is ai is not a profit maker and is unlikely to be one for years - which might kill it before it reaches maturity (world events currently might also have a hand).
Sharon Bonthuys, Narromine —Writer: I am using AI tools in my role as a journalist - not for writing stories but background things like talk-to-text tools for interview transcription, and in a limited capacity for info gathering across multiple sources (which need fact checking). Creatively I see some of this adding value to my work as a creative writer ie talk-to-text tools helping me dictate story ideas or stream of consciousness writing, and use of programs like Canva to assist with social media etc. I am disturbed at the rise of businesses encouraging people to use AI to ‘write best selling books in minutes’ and wonder how we combat it as it’s decimating the industry by flooding online publishing platforms with stuff not written by creative humans and likely to infringe copyright in some instances.
Sharon Bonthuys (Image supplied)
Kim V. Goldsmith, Dubbo—Audio Visual Artist & Writer: I’m torn about AI in its current form. I see it as a useful tool for data processing and automating tedious work, but in the generative form, the framework and regulations around its development and implementation are not stringent enough to protect creatives and our output. The generative AI horse has bolted and the only way we have a chance of reining it in is to put protections in place to limit the exploitation of artists and creatives. It should be opt-in not an opt-out (with consequences), as is currently the case. AI will change the world as we know it, along with climate change—and AI is a hungry energy beast. I have used it sparingly as a research tool in my practice for this reason. I’ve opted out of AI embedded tools where I can, but it’s sitting in the background of many platforms we use every day without thought. As an artist, I often think about what can create that AI can never imitate with any authenticity.
Kim V. Goldsmith listening to and recording the sound of soils, January 2024. (Image supplied)
COMING IN APRIL
What does success look or feel like to you as an artist?
February 2025
What advice would you give your younger creative self?
This question came about as we started thinking about our new youth arts development program and what it is we're trying to achieve with it. We have more than 90 artists and creatives within our Studio Co!Lab network, many with decades of experience. But we all have to start somewhere.
“Gosh, I wish I had someone share these insights when I was a young creative!”
VIDEO: Camilla Ward, Dubbo on managing creative energy and her advice to a younger creative self.
Val Clark, Dubbo-Writer: Embrace the unique you. Pursue and express your unique art bravely, boldly and with trembling courage.
Val at the launch of the VAMP project, enCounter. Val has been a champion of writers and writing in Regional NSW for many years. (Image: Orana Arts)
Allison Reynolds, Coonabarabran-Visual Artist, Writer: Art is a worthwhile pursuit and an important part of being human.
Allison is inspired and connected to her community in the Pilliga near Coonabarabran. She’s been a strong advocate for the arts as a right for all. She’s an adviser to Accessible Arts. (Image supplied)
Jen Cowley OAM, Dubbo—Writer: Just start. Whatever it is, that first little step is BY FAR the hardest. Back yourself in and JUST MAKE A START. I wasted soooo much of my creative youth by listening to my inner critic. I focused on what the end product would be instead of just making that first mark on the page. It’s one of the very few regrets I have. I still struggle with it to be deadly honest.
Annette Ferguson, Dubbo—Visual Artist: Shut the door on the people who doubt and misunderstand you, surround yourself with people who believe in you, even if that means standing alone.
Jason Richardson, Leeton—Audio Visual Artist, Writer: If you call it art, no one describes it as weird.
Isabelle Devos, Armidale—Visual Artist: Look at things. Experience things, trust yourself, and find people who help you grow. Learn from the failures, mistakes, and challenges. Listen to what others say. Celebrate the success of others.
Isabelle is an active and successful exhibiting visual artist. Here, she’s at work en plein air. (Image supplied)
COMING IN MARCH
Where do you sit with the juggernaut of Artificial Intelligence?
