M~M2014 Artists

Artists who participated in M~M2014.

Meme McDonald

Artistic Director M~M2014-16

Meme is an acclaimed Director who has been specialising in epic theatre in outdoor locations for over 30 years. She is best known as Artistic Director for the international event 'Waderbirds - Odyssey of the Wetlands' in New Zealand, Melbourne, Broome and Japan.

Meme has published 10 books, winning 7 national literary awards, and was the recipient of the prestigious 2012 Ros Bower Award from the Australia Council. She has been involved as Artistic Director of M~M since its inception in 2007 as part of the nationally celebrated Connecting Identities project. 
www.mememcdonald.com

Benjamin Gilbert

Principal Sculptor ‘Canoe’

Benjamin has combined a passion for sculptural form with a pragmatic rural sensibility throughout his 16-year international career producing civic sculptures in stainless steel, wood, stone and ice. As director of Agency of Sculpture, he consolidates a network of sculptors and craftspeople to harness natural forms into works of astounding beauty meeting the requirements of civic works of lasting significance. 
www.agencyofsculpture.com

Michelle Fifer Spooner

Lead Visual Artist

Michele has 30 years as a visual arts practitioner, and worked with Handspan Theatre for 20 years, adding her sculptural, performance and conceptual skills to the creative collective. She now freelances and is commissioned by numerous theatre companies to embellish their works.

Kathryn Williams

Flag Maker/Textile Artist

Primarily working with silk for over 30 years, Kathryn developed unique techniques by trial and error before teaching at RMIT for 20 years. Commissions include clothing, dyeing/colour matching, soft furnishings, and textile restoration/conservation of Magician’s silks.

Mahony Kiely

Mahony Maia Kiely has worked throughout Australia and overseas as a director, producer, choreographer, performer and facilitator of community performance. Trained at VCA she worked with: Melbourne based theatre collective Burning Sensations from 1996 -2003, celebratory theatre company Neil Cameron Productions, from 1989-2002 and from 2004 with the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. A multi modal artist she has staged sculptural installations exploring ‘relationship to land’ in Melbourne (August 2011), Italy (June 2012) and France (September 2010 and 2012).

Howard Hughes

Raft and Canoe Installation and Jetty Rig

Howard started his career in Queenscliff as a boat builder where he specialised in building timber boats. He then moved onto construction work in the commercial industry working on large scale developments and projects. Howard then made the transition to the domestic industry over 20 years ago where he now specialises in architectural homes around the coast.

Howard’s meticulous attention to detail and craftmanship which he developed whilst a boat builder is reflected in the homes that he builds and quality that he delivers in every project. Being a member of the Alternative Technology Association, Howard is up to date with the latest technology and environmental practices that support a sustainable future. 
www.howardhughes.com.au/howards-profile.html

Stuart Beekmeyer

Bouldering Installation feasibility study

Stuart runs Bouldergeist, a landscape architecture and design service with a specialty in the development of urban bouldering and climbable sculptures that provide opportunities to enjoy art and climbing in urban environments, allowing visual stories to unfold for climber and observer.
www.bouldergeist.com.au 

Glenn Romanis and Mark Trinham

Visual Artists

Since 1996 Mark Trinham and Glenn Romanis have worked together on a variety of public art projects. Working in sculpture and land art, Glenn and Mark create exciting and diverse public art. Their creations have strong ties to the local environment and Indigenous culture.
www.glennromanis.com 
www.marktrinham.com.au

Walking Circles

Station 1  

Sue Hartigan (District Co-ordinator)

Sue Hartigan works, both professionally and voluntarily, in community cultural development as a neighbourhood house manager and community arts practitioner. She has degrees in community cultural development and photography, is a member of Geelong Arts Alliance and loves Back to Back Theatre and the Noise Scavengers. 

Station 2  

Sue Hartigan (District Co-ordinator) with Mark Cuthbertson and Rita Halabarec.

Mark Cuthbertson is a visual artist and theatre designer exploring metaphors of colonisation and domestication. He experiments with a variety of constructed forms and large scale controlled inflated environments, using domestic and industrial materials, creating a sense of encounter and dialogue within the work.

Rita Halabarec is a Lara based artist connected to Karingallery. Rita was a founding member of Big Bag Band and the Back to Back Theatre ensemble. She has toured internationally with Back to Back. Rita creates artworks that explore contemporary popular culture icons, ranging from Michael Jackson to Tamworth's big guitar. 

Station 3  

Sue Hartigan (District Co-ordinator) with Mirjana Margetic

Mirjana Margetic explores in her artwork, the concept of human impact on the environment by redefining Australian landscape through assembling found objects to create sculptures. The notions and transformation of identity are intrinsically linked to Mirjana’s work through drawings, paintings and mixed media.

Station 4  

Esther Konnings-Oakes (District Co-ordinator)

Esther Konings-Oakes is a ceramic artist currently studying her Masters of Art in Public Spaces at RMIT University.  She has a deep love of her community, science and the environment and enjoys taking her Guide Dog puppies down to North Shore beach at Moorpanyal Park to fossick and explore. Esther has a long history of volunteering and making art that brings these passions together. 

Station 5  

Sue Hartigan (District Co-ordinator) with David Dellafiora and Glen Smith

David Dellafiora is a cultural worker, teacher  and conceptual artist whose practice encompasses public art, artistbooks, multiples, mail art and installation. He is coordinator of the neo-fluxus network, Field Study, and publisher of KART, Wipe, ReSite and the Journal of Field Study International.

Glen Smith is a contemporary artist working inside and outside the gallery system, often producing artworks under the nofrillsart nomenclature. Glen’s practice is influenced by street art and zine aesthetics and his work often references social and political issues. 
Follow him at nofrillsart.net.

Station 6  

Bron Lawson (District Co-ordinator) with Tanja Beer and Liz McGrath

Bron Lawson develops and manages arts projects that respond to community needs and galvanise collaboration amongst local organisations, businesses and individuals.  Her creative work has touched many organisations including Bluebird Foundation, Kids Plus, the Geelong Youth Choir and Noah's Ark. She is also an experienced and passionate practitioner, facilitating parent-child music groups in therapeutic and educational settings including the Young Parents Access Program at Northern Bay College and Let's Make Music!
bluebirdfoundationinc.org.au

Tanja Beer is a leader in ecological design practice and the originator of The Living Stage - an eco-scenographic concept that combines stage design, permaculture and community engagement to create a recyclable, biodegradable and edible performance space. She has more than 12 years professional experience, including creating over 50 designs for a variety of theatre companies and festivals in Australia(Sydney Opera House, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Queensland Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company). 
www.tanjabeer.com

Liz McGrath is a practicing illustrator and art teacher. Her hand drawn style combines media such as watercolours, gouache, pastels, pen and collage. A believer in positive community engagement and access to the arts, she has facilitated art projects with disengaged young people, young student-parents and their preschoolers and students with profound disabilities. 
www.lizmcgrath.com.au

Station 7  

Matt Crawley (District Co-ordinator) with Lucy Jones

Matt Crawley has worked in natural resource management and community group facilitation for 15 years.  These roles have been for government and non-government organsiations in the Mallee, North Central, and Corangamite regions of Victoria.  Community involvement in environmental and cultural areas are two of his passions.

Lucy Jones studied music theatre at WAAPA and has worked in theatre, on television and in community settings as a performer, writer, composer and director. She has also worked extensively in primary schools as a teaching artist for The Song Room, facilitating performing arts projects for students, and developing and delivering workshops for teachers. She is currently involved in singing for literacy programs, and is composing a suite of songs inspired by the indigenous plants and animals of the Bellarine Peninsula.

Station 8  

Matt Crawley (District Co-ordinator) with Victoria Edgar

Victoria Edgar is an award winning Australian artist and prolific maker of superbly crafted sterling silver and gold jewellery. Victoria specialises in bespoke, one off commissioned sculpture, jewellery and body sculpture (Bodiware) for weddings, formal occasions, films, theatre, haute couture, fashion parades and everyday wear - her designs are dramatic and show her distinctive flair for creating strong yet sensuous works of Art that come alive on the wearer.

Station 9  

Matt Crawley (District Co-ordinator) with Leanne Stein

Leanne Stein is Arts Officer with Borough of Queenscliffe supporting an environment in which arts activities can flourish, prosper and reach all aspects of community life.

Station 10  

Matt Crawley (District Co-ordinator) with Leanne Stein, Jacinta Leitch, Maddy Flynn and Tim Humphries

Jacinta Leitch found her passion for the arts very early and it outweighed other career choices, her only true ambition to become an artist. She studied Fine Art/Sculpture at RMIT for insight and technical skills and found inspiration in many facets of her life and surroundings, with the femininity and fluidity of her designs drawn particularly from her years as a dancer. Jacinta conducts workshops and private sculpting classes and her work is available through various galleries in the region. She enjoys the challenges of undertaking commission based projects both private and corporate.

Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphries' practice is concerned with the human experience of sound in space.Their work is commissioned and presented nationally and internationally, and in 2012 they were awarded the AMC-APRA National Award for Excellence in Experimental Music.

Station 11  

Victoria Strachan (District Co-ordinator) with Laine Hogarty

Victoria Strachan is President of the Barwon Heads Arts Council Inc. which promotes the importance of creative education through workshops and events. With a membership base of 300, the Arts Council promotes the arts throughout the Bellarine Peninsula and is seeking to develop an arts hub for the community and artists to come together.  

Laine Hogarty operates a cross-disciplinary visual art practice using installation, sculpture, drawing and digital design to create real and imagined spaces that examine pre-conceived assumptions. She maintains a passion for sustainability and the repurposing of consumer waste into ephemeral artworks that reflect upon the impermanency and unpredictability of human experience. Laine’s works often take the form of unexpected interventions to challenge the way we approach, experience and imagine space in the built environment and landscape. 
www.origindesign.com.au

Station 12  

Victoria Strachan (District Co-ordinator) with Julie Shaw , Natale Lewington and Kaz McGlynn

Julie Shaw is a potter works from a home studio making pots that can be handled and used. Her first love has been making hand built teapots. However in recent years has been making larger pieces not for use and enjoys working with kelp in trying to work out its shrinking vagaries. 

Natale Lewington 'retired' to Barwon Heads following twelve years working as a professional opera singer throughout Europe and the US. In her spare time she runs the Barwon Heads Chorale, a community choir with a membership of approximately 75 people. She is passionate about the many benefits of community singing and music-making.

Kaz McGlynn is a prolific artist and art educator in a variety of quirky sculptural and visual art methods. She has a passion for working collaboratively with community groups to produce Iconic Public Art that reflects their environment and stories.www.kazworks.com.au

Connecting Memory

Stephen Oakes

Story Collector/Curator

Stephen is a media artist based in the Geelong region whose film-making, sound-scapes and musical compositions focus on young, marginalised and people with a disability.

Stephen most recently was commissioned by the City Of Geelong to produce two new suites of stories for 'Memory Bank', exploring memories and place via audio stories and short films. Stephen Oakes has been assisted by Jessie Stephenson.

Codeacious

App Designer

Codeacious is a software design company based in Geelong, operated by Ian Priddle. Codeacious develop native mobile apps for Android and iOS platform, websites and cloud based systems.
www.codeacious.com

Geelong After Dark

Rose Bygrave

Singer/Songwriter

Once a singer-songwriter player with acclaimed Goanna Band, Rose has maintained a strong bond with Aboriginal people in areas of social justice and human rights. Has shared stages with artists, including James Taylor and Carlos Santana, and contributed “Carry Memory” for M2M. Performing at Geelong After Dark with Isaac Barter on Bass.
www.pearlmusic.com.au

Tiffany Eckhardt and Dave Steel

Singer/Songwriters

Tiffany Eckhardt, award winning singer/songwriter, has written and recorded seven successful independent releases. She has been adopted by the folk/roots, festival scene in Australia as a firm favourite, receiving rave reviews and radio airplay across the country. 

Dave Steel, Blues man, songwriter/producer and instrumentalist, has been writing songs and making albums for the past 20 years. He has also been an instrumentalist for many of Australia's best known artists including Weddings Parties Anything , Archie Roach, Kasey Chambers, and Kavisha Mazzella to name a few. He has earned himself a reputation of being one of our finest musicians.

2014 Album release: 'Big Big Sky'
Dynamic Trio of the Folk/blues/roots Australian music scene, this husband and wife team along with their bass player Sandy Brady, have recently released their brand new album 'Big Big Sky'. .... songs about life's journey, sometimes soulful and sentimental, sometimes just plain fun, along with their recently released ‘Best Of’ album, ‘Think About You’, featuring favourite songs and previously unreleased live tracks. For further information call Tiffany on 0409 896 877 or Dave on 0417 548 027.
www.tiffanyeckhardt.com

Stand Up! – Sisters and Brothers in Geelong

This is an exciting new project by Massive Hip Hop Choir and Barkley Arts.  Massive are a group of young urban artists from culturally diverse communities reinterpreting hip hop tracks for mass voices, combining original rap lyrics, beats, body percussion, dance and lush harmonies. They have a repertoire of diverse and fresh original tracks. Massive are working in Geelong with a range of adult, youth and multicultural choirs to create one huge sound!
www.standupgeelong.com.au

Trace Elements

Trace Elements is a diverse group of athletes, artists, performers and masters of movement. Leading practitioners in parkour, freerunning, L’art du Deplacement and professional stunts, Trace Elements has worked overseas and extensively in Australia in forms ranging from live performances and demonstrations, music video clips, performing as a street team, television commercials, corporate events and feature films.
www.trace-elements.com.au

Matt Bonner

Matt is a multimedia projection artist based in the Geelong region. He combines his passion and skills in film-making, photography, animation and music to create a visual delight of projection art in public spaces. Matt recently was commissioned by the Borough of Queenscliff to showcase his projection art on the Town Hall building in Queenscliff as part of their 150 years Celebration festival 2013. At this year’s Geelong After Dark event he will be showcasing his work at two different locations in Geelong’s CBD. He will use the theme of Fire and Water to project textures and moving images to create a visual blend of light, colour and some illusion.
www.facebook.com/amoebart