By Tyler Wright
Olinda-based artist Emma Jennings is collaborating with other local creatives to conduct a series of storm recovery workshops beginning in June.
To mark the second anniversary of the storm event – which saw 25,000 trees damaged across the Dandenong Ranges – ‘Stories of Giants’ workshop participants will be able to use salvaged wood to reflect on their own experiences.
“We’ve been working closely with David Ferrier from Treasuring Our Trees, and we have accessed some kiln dried blackwood that fell in the storm, June 2021, which has been milled and kiln dried and cut up into smaller pieces,” Ms Jennings said.
“We would like to invite everybody in our community who was impacted, which is pretty much everybody; we were all impacted in one way or another to come in, choose a workshop that suits you.”
The free trauma-informed workshops will begin with ‘Haiku with Lia Hills’ on Friday 9 June from 6pm to 8pm, with soup provided at 5.30pm.
Artist Jo Horswill will then hold a printmaking, mark making and collage workship from 9am to 11am on Saturday 10 June with morning tea provided and drop ins allowed during the day.
Ms Horswill will then hold another workshop on Wednesday 14 June from 10am to 12pm.
On Friday 16 June from 6pm to 8pm, Youth Leader Ren Cuttriss and Emma Jennings will lead a painting, drawing and writing workshop with soup provided at 5.30pm.
Residents can learn how to make ochre with the manager of Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum, John Patten, on Sunday 17 June from 9am to 11am.
Ms Jennings will conclude the month’s workshops on Wednesday 21 June with a painting, drawing and writing workshop from 10am to 12pm.
“The idea is that with permission of the community, the work will be on display throughout the gallery here in Olinda for the duration of the project,” Ms Jennings said.
“We’ll be able to watch it grow, and we’ll also upload progress photos and the images to the website and the Facebook page. There’s also the opportunity for people to do it at home if they feel more comfortable, they can come in and collect a piece of wood and take it home to do something with.
“We want to make sure everybody feels comfortable, and we understand that everybody’s experiences have been different with this event.”
All workshops will be held at the Emma Jennings Gallery at 3/540 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road in Olinda, and are supported by the Regional Community Recovery Committees Project with funding from Yarra Ranges Council and Emergency Recovery Victoria.
“We’ve worked closely with Yarra Ranges Council’s recovery team and trauma psychologists to firstly make sure that people involved in the project are feeling supported,” Ms Jennings said.
“There’s a lot of anxiety in the community when there’s bad weather, when it’s windy, so we’re acknowledging the grief and the reactions to how we feel about each other in the community, but there’s also the grief and loss we’re feeling because of the damage in the forest and these giant trees around us that we love, but also wanting to acknowledge the resilience and strengths that our community has shown by working together.
“We’d really like to invite the volunteers particularly who supported us, the emergency services volunteers who set up the relief centres and donated things, it’s important to welcome them back together so there’s a nice way to reconnect after all of the work that everybody contributed after the storm.”
For more information on the ‘Stories of Giants’ project, visit https://www.emmajennings.com.au/storiesofgiants or the Facebook page of the same name.
Workshops are set to continue throughout 2023 as part of the project.
