Words by Abi Wiese.
Reflections on creative courage, finding community, and some exciting new drawing workshops for November and December.
September and October have been two months of unexpected growth and adventure, surprising me in ways I hadn’t anticipated. If you had told me when I first immigrated to Australia that I would one day be putting together an exhibition at Roto House, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. I was deeply touched on the opening night of ‘Home, what we move towards and what we return to‘, watching the line of cars pulling into the car park and seeing the dining room gradually fill with familiar faces and strangers alike. I hadn’t quite realised how this act of creative courage would open up another dimension of community for me here in Port Macquarie. It reminded me that creative acts have a way of giving something back to us — a renewed sense of vitality, connection and belonging.
Another unexpected adventure was creating Linger, a collaborative performance piece with my husband, Cobus Wiese, and friend Chris Glennan, which we performed at the Glasshouse Gallery alongside Daniel O’Toole’s sound installation, Voices from the Void. This was a wonderfully playful and experimental collaboration. I explored sound through sustained vocal notes, Cobus developed a choreographic piece, and Chris created an acoustic guitar accompaniment. The performance was improvised, emerging from just two one-hour rehearsals. What I found particularly encouraging was the freedom of focusing on the act of creating rather than becoming preoccupied with what the finished work needed to look like. It was a joy to share my first performance piece here in Port Macquarie, and I hope there will be more opportunities to explore performance-based work in the future.
October also took me to Morocco and Portugal. The first part of my trip was spent in Morocco celebrating a dear friend’s 40th birthday. It had been a very long time since I’d travelled with a group of adults, and being immersed in the company of others for an extended period, in such a vibrant and stimulating part of the world, reminded me of how deeply nourishing and restorative shared experiences can be. I found myself reflecting on how much we gain from simply being together, exchanging stories, experiences and parts of ourselves. In many ways, this is also what draws me to facilitating creative workshops. While I deeply value the individual act of making, I am equally interested in what happens when we create alongside one another — the conversations, unexpected connections and exchanges that emerge when we share a creative space.
Walking through the streets of Marrakesh, Essaouria, the Atlas Mountains and Lisbon reminded me of how creatively stimulated I feel when I am outdoors, simply walking and taking in the world around me. For some time, I have wanted to bring together my love of walking and creative practice, and it was through these experiences that the idea for The Less Good Idea Collective began to take shape. Inspired by the drawing philosophy and studio practice of artist William Kentridge, The Less Good Idea is a collective drawing project that embraces uncertainty, experimentation and the unexpected. Kentridge approaches artistic practice as a pursuit of the ‘less good idea’, allowing mistakes, erasures, mishaps and false starts to become part of the creative process rather than something to correct or conceal. Instead of following a fixed plan, we allow the unexpected to lead us somewhere new. In this Drawing While Walking workshop, I invite you to explore this approach through a series of guided drawing exercises as we walk together. We’ll consider how drawing while moving might change the way we observe our surroundings, and how this shift in perspective opens up new ways of seeing, recording and relating to the world around us.
Dates: November 14 and 19, December 4
Time: 9:30–11am
Tickets: $20, book here.
Meeting point: 24 Alkina Avenue
Route: Along Leanda Street, across Pacific Drive, joining the coastal walk between Shelly Beach and Nobby’s Beach.
What to bring: A notebook and a mark-making tool of your choice (hat, sunblock, water and walking shoes).
Another workshop added to my offerings will be my Botanical Drawing Intensive Workshop. Building on my single study banksia workshop, this extended session invites you to explore the beauty and complexity of the banksia plant through a larger A3 composition. Using fine liners, we will explore the interplay of contrasting lines, shapes and textures found in banksia leaves, seed pods and flowers. Through careful observation and a series of guided exercises, you will develop your own original botanical composition. The extended workshop allows more time to experiment with layering, build depth and detail, and bring your drawing together into a resolved and expressive piece of fine liner artwork.
All of Abi Wiese’s other workshops for November and December are linked here.