Children’s Workshop: Embellished Ecosystems

Suitable for participants aged 5 and over, participants will create their own colourful wearable brooch in intricately patterned compositions using repurposed materials such as craft foam and reclaimed packaging. Students will be guided through different techniques to add texture to their pieces in accessible adaptations of the metal-smithing techniques of repoussé and chasing. Each brooch will become a miniature reef ecosystem, rich in its diversity, texture and form.

Developed and facilitated by multidisciplinary artist and arts educator Deborah Twining this workshop is running alongside ‘Chasing a Passion’; a solo exhibition by renowned jeweller and metalsmith Julie Blyfield. Inspired by a recent visit to the Great Barrier Reef and the marine collection of the South Australian Museum, the collection reflects on the fragility and preciousness of endangered ecosystems through handcrafted sculptural representations of the Australian landscape.

Students will be guided through the planning and composition of their pieces, with a strong emphasis on sustainability as a focus in both the making process, creative inspiration and concept development.