By JESSE GRAHAM
RESILIENCE in the hills has been studied and turned into art this month, with a visiting artist running workshops to turn stories into cloth-based art.
Tal Fitzpatrick, a multidisciplinary artist and community development worker, was the Artist in Residence at the Community House from 12-24 January, working on a project about community resilience.
She told the Mail that, as part of her PhD research through the Victoria College of Arts (VCA), she engaged with the hills community about resilience and made a special quilt as a result.
Ms Fitzpatrick said the people she spoke to had diverse ideas about what resilience meant, though many told her stories about the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983.
“The first day that I got here, two different people brought me the book about Ash Wednesday, Baked Apples on the Tree,” she said.
“Over the last week and a half, people have come and told me different stories about what being in this community means to them and what they think is important about resilience.
“Resilience is really diverse, in what gives us the strength to go on.”
One of the poignant images on her quilt is a person standing on the roof of the Cockatoo kindergarten, which was inspired by the story of 300 people sheltering inside while firefighters stoof on the roof, stopping ember attacks, and in particular, a woman standing on the roof to protest the building’s demolition years later.
The resilience of the natural environment, including that of the critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeaters, is also featured on the quilt.
In the lead up to April’s PAVE festival, Ms Fitzpatrick will be running workshops each Thursday starting on 5 February on making cloth art, to make final works to be exhibited at the festival.
The sessions will be run from 10am-2pm at the Emerald Community House, and will cost $40 for all eight sessions. Materials are not included.
For more information, call 5968 3881.
