Take a Seat at Our Table

Creative Recycling Centre's inaugural fundraiser, Take a Seat at Our Table, was held on the 12th of November 2016 under the stars at the Tondoon Botanical Gardens.

The night featured fun, food, live music, entertainment, guest speakers, up-cycling challenges, and an auction of recycled art created by talented local artists.

$1656 was raised on the night and this money goes towards the Creative Recycling Centre Building Fund.

Guest Speakers

Dr John Stanisic

The Snail Whisperer

John retired as Curator and Biodiversity Scientist at the Queensland Museum in 2006 and was appointed Honorary Research Fellow. He is now also Honorary Research Associate of the Australian Museum, Sydney and Associate Biodiversity Scientist with Biodiversity Assessment and Management, a lead ecological consultancy firm located in Cleveland. John is Australia's foremost expert on land snails and has written a number of scientific papers and popular articles on Australian land snails and their association with rainforest and limestone habitats. His current research interests are the distribution and documentation of land snails in eastern Australia and their potential use as indicators in land management. His work has been applied to many biodiversity assessment projects in which he has also incorporated other invertebrate groups as key indicators of environmental health and integrity. John was lead author of ‘Australian Land Snails Volume 1. A field guide to eastern Australian species’ which won the 2011 Whitley Medal for best natural history publication. He is currently working on a second volume in the field guide series.

Sandra Tuszynska

PhD Biologist

Sandra Tuszynska (PhD) is a passionate biologist and science communicator. Her interests lie in the role of fungi in nutrient cycling, habitat communication and clean up of toxic pollutants. Sandra has a fascination with the inbuilt intelligence in all the creatures that our lives depend on; presenting science discoveries in a compelling and visually appealing way.

Auctioning Artists

JULIE MIERS
I enjoy the challenge, process and relaxation of creating all types of art. I have taught mosaics, painted and sculpted. The last 2 years I have been making candles and beach orientated pieces to sell through my business – CandleLIKE. I attend pottery classes, which is one of my latest passions.
I particularly love working with children, they have no inhibitions about what’s expected of them and most times feel free to be creative with no boundaries. I have been involved in numerous school and classroom projects over the past 15 yrs.

The ‘CREATIVE RECYCLE CENTRE’ has produced a very exciting wave of recycled art for me.. My love for creativity and working with children have been ignited being part of such a dynamic team.

LIZ FARREL
Art has been a passion of mine since my first memories and over the yearsI have experimented and embraced it in many forms, including installations, silversmithing, textile art, drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpture. I never tire of the creative process and love the way it takes over and re-invents itself. Art is a space in which I loose myself, the sense of time and find myself within my flow. I find recycling the most rewarding and challenging. There is nothing quite like up-cycling, rescuing an object or objects from becoming landfill and creating something altogether new, beautiful, expressive and treasured.

I have been involved in public art, a number of group exhibitions, won awards for my work and recently completed my Fine Arts Degree.

JANIE PETERSEN
I love expressing myself creatively and more importantly inspire others to do the same. Creating a piece of art allows me to enter a meditative space, which I find incredibly healing on
many levels. For this community event I have chosen to design a chair using mosaic tiles. Each tile represents one of the many beautiful souls that we are. On the surface we
appear to be separate and tiny at first and once you stand back you can see how we are all part of a bigger picture, perfectly where we are meant to be.

ROSEMARY ANDERSON
Rosemary has been painting and doing installation art since 1988. She has lived and travelled extensively in Australia and overseas, and learnt to sculpt in stone, wood and metal while living in Africa for three years.
Now living in Tannum Sands, Rosemary teaches stone sculpture and has conducted workshops in various media for the Sunfest programme, Mt Larcom Art Group, Gladstone Regional Gallery, and the Biloela Area Visual Arts Group, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, the Surat Development Association, and two workshops for the Sunshine Coast Council
Rosemary has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in painting and sculpture in Australia and overseas.
In 1994 and 2007 Rosemary had joint exhibitions in the Gladstone Regional Art Gallery.
In 2011 Rosemary had a solo exhibition at the Bundaberg Regional Gallery. Her painting entry into the 2011 Martin Hanson Art Award was acquired by the Gladstone Regional Art Gallery for their permanent collection.
In 2014 Rosemary had a solo exhibition in the Banana Shire Gallery and in 2015 Rosemary had a solo exhibition at the Gladstone Regional Art Gallery, from which two paintings were acquired for the gallery’s permanent collection

KIM COOKE
I am a photographer and designer who has a passion for art and design that comes from within. I love being behind the camera every day. This is where my inspiration starts, creating something different and unique that produces the final designed photograph.
Having a creative design background gives me an edge to giving life to a particular image. Making photos look like a hand painted artwork or just manipulating images to give them their own identity it what I love to see.
My beautiful home of Agnes Water/1770, gives me the opportunity to photography stunning landscapes, sunsets, sunrises, nature and wildlife, a huge canvas to work with every day. Exploring gives me something new to unveil and keep me creative and happy.
I also love to work with children, families & animals. The joy, the laughs, excitement and challenges are all part of my everyday work. I just love what I do.
With love, happiness and the support of my amazing husband, two incredibly beautiful daughters, partners and family I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Photography is my passion, creating is my reward.

KERRY EVANS AND IRENE DUDLEY
Irene and Kerry have been friends for almost 20 years, during which time they have shared a passion for Community, Creativity and Friendship.
They have enjoyed working collaboratively on this project,and being able to embrace and showcase their love for our environment. They are very grateful to have this opportunity to share, with the Gladstone Community, creative ideas for reducing, reusing and recycling.

JENNY FOUNIER
Originally from NZ, Jenny has lived in Gladstone for 20 years after buying a yacht in Cairns with her family and sailing it this far south, eventually becoming a ‘land-lubber.’
Jenny has always dabbled in art of some sort, including cartooning and illustrating in NZ and jewellery-making using polymer clay. An active member of Creative Gladstone since 2012, she also enjoys using acrylics, pastels and aerosol stencils, as well as sketching in weekly life drawing sessions at Crow Street Creative.
A lot of her artworks, including her jewellery and even the stencils for her aerosol paintings, utilise ‘treasures’ (mainly metal) found in op-shops, workshops and the back of drawers. Lately she has created metal sculptures, some that incorporate polymer clay, to form quirky characters including the articulated character ‘Frolic’ for Animating Spaces 2014 and three trophies for the 2015 Capricorn Film Festival. She also took part in the Gladstone Region Artists’ Windows displayed during Dec’15/Jan’16.
For the last 3 years she has tutored an after-school art programme for 6-12 year olds at Creative Gladstone as well as tutoring youth and children’s workshops.

HELEN CRANDELL
Artist Statement
Art has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I discovered clay 45 years ago and it continues to fascinate me as there are endless possibilities.
I worked as a production potter but now make mostly one off pieces. Each is an individual artwork as I tend to just make without a plan most of the time, just seeing what comes and allowing each to evolve.
My passion is to continue to create one off ceramic art works.

KAY LONGDEN
As a local Gladstone Resident and business owner, I believe in drawing from my environment as inspiration in my art designs and projects.
I am an avid recycler and believe in reducing and reusing our waste and throw away items – creating that something new from something old.
With this ethos in mind I design and create pieces of art from waste or pre-loved items such as furniture, fabric and metal materials, jewellery, broken or discarded décor items, our everyday waste, like coffee pods and old utensils. I feel each item has the potential to be used and even loved in a new format or design. I try to stay true to using as much recycled or discarded product as possible and enjoy the end result knowing I have reduced the waste even by a little bit.
I predominantly work with weaving and use recycled items to weave into personal items such as pendants, jewellery and house hold décor items. I also dabble in other mediums like paint and photography. I find I can lose myself in being creative and I enjoy working towards a result that is not only eco-friendly and pleasing to the eye but can also be enjoyed and understood by those who like my work.