In my role as Regional Arts Coordinator for Western Sydney, I managed the Art Across the Middle camps. I developed and implemented a unique drawing program using found materials, ink, sticks and handmade brushes from the native bushland in the vicinity of the camp site. My students had a set of mats cut by Garry, the outside frame of which was used as a window to frame a small section of the surrounding bushland from which the students could draw inspiration. These were placed or were hung in a variety of ways by the students and then they began.
The sticks the students used were graded into various sizes and I used the parallel of the HB pencil range to emphasise the difference in the marks that could be made by these bush pencils and brushes. We would often incorporate these mark makers into the works themselves. These drawings on the first morning informed all the work that was to follow over the three-day camp.
‘Nature’s Detritus’ was one of my demonstration artworks. One of my teachers wanted to keep this particular work, but for some reason, this one was special and I kept it for myself, having given countless pieces away prior to that day. This artwork became the inspiration for many of the works in the Chameleon exhibition in conjunction with my poem, ‘Terror in the Wallpaper’.
Jennifer Trezise ... Artist & Poet 