Angela Abbott

Angela paints a wide variety of subjects in oils onsite at Montsalvat, both outdoors or in the studio she shares with artists Don James and Adam Frith.

Angela studied drawing at the National Gallery Victoria School with Ian Armstrong and painting under Shirley Bourne OAM, at the Victorian Artists Society. In the 1970's, Angela was one of the Eltham-based group: "7 Painters", exhibiting in Melbourne and Adelaide. Angela was awarded the Alice Bale Art Travelling Scholarship in 1983, engaged in tours studying Fine Art history in France, Germany, Italy and Russia, during her scholarship year based in London.

Angela is a Fellow of the Victorian Artists Society; former member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society; member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors and of Chelsea Arts Club, London. She has taught extensively, including at the Victorian Artists Society and Malvern Art Society.

Angela has had 16 solo exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney, including a Retrospective Exhibition at the Barn Gallery, Montsalvat, in 2021. Angela's work is held in private, civic and corporate collections in Australia and overseas. Her artworks are available directly from the artist's home studio.

As a studio artist since 1992, in the inspired setting of Montsalvat, she enjoys its vast array of subject-matter. Teaching informally in the lofty Art School Studio, Angela works alongside her students who select from the unique props available for still life and enjoy the captivating outdoor subjects on offer! 

Angela may be contacted at ianagraham@optusnet.com.au
Mobile: 0407 887596

Dr Jo Griggs (Canning)

Dr Jo Canning is the daughter of Australian artist John Canning and is currently a visual Artist in Residence at Montsalvat, Eltham.

Jo paints in her glorious studio daily, and takes in many students from Home Education to Easel Access where she is engaged in creating better career pathways for artists with disabilities. Unusually for an artist Jo has a PhD in research, genetics and behavioural neuroscience with extensive work in disability advocacy, including within UniMelb at the Royal Children’s Hospital.  Jo is a published researcher and her book "Miracle in Potential" - arts as early intervention, was launched by disability Minister – the Hon. Bill Shorten.  Jo’s professional background spans 45 years in all arts including as a dancer - Australian Ballet Co., an actor - MTC., Playbox and ABC and as a teacher Vic Arts Centre, Victoria State Ballet and National Theatre.

Jo is a consummate artist, and her visual art has been exhibited solo at Span Gallery Melb, Manyung, and and alongside her father at Canning Arts Yarrawonga. Most recently Jo has sold at Camberwell and been represented in the Omnia Art Prize. Jo created public works for Jellis Craig, The ANZ, Alfred Nuttal Kindy, and The Melbourne Aquarium (80sqm) - “The Sea and Me” incorporating 120 children’s expressions, and her murals, landscapes and portraits are in many private and public collections. 

Ryo Yamauchi

Ryo Yamauchi is a photographer and printmaker. She works with photogravure, a technique that combines photography and etching. Her practice evolves through the gesture of collecting and pressing - a primitive act of contemplating time, experience and knowledge.

Always returning to her original passion in semiotics and love for the natural world, she explores communication using images as a language to examine alternative perspectives, achieve further understanding of the whole and restore intuition through connecting with nature.

Having had extensive travel and photography experience in cold climates including Iceland, Norway and Alaska, she currently focuses on documenting landscapes in the High Country of Tasmania and Victoria; two of the most unique and diverse ecosystems in the world.

Ryo is also a student of building design and drafting with her future path set on earthwall and mudbrick building systems. She takes part in a state-supported building project as well as assists maintenance of buildings in Montsalvat.

Contact
www.ryoyamauchi.com
info@ryoyamauchi.com
@ryoyamauchi_

Rochelle Van Der Merwe

Eltham (Melbourne)-based artist, Rochelle van der Merwe, has been a fine art, intimate events and portrait photographer since 2013 and a contemporary collage artist since 2020.

Born and raised in a small Zululand town in South Africa in the mid-70’s, she found solace and beauty in books, and the surrounding wild beaches and bushveld, a constant whilst growing up in a political landscape she could really never make sense of.

Rochelle’s work creates a portal to a wondrous, fantastical world that celebrates the powerful healing nature of simple, mostly every-day pleasures, transcending external societal values, such as status, race and gender.

Apart from national South African newspaper, The Rapport, Rochelle’s portraiture photography has also recently been featuring in Australian media, such as The Age, The Weekend Australian Review and The Big Issue.

Rochelle’s been a two-time winner of Montsalvat’s Art Festival Photography competition (2015 & 2017).

ABOUT ME:

Rochelle Van Der Merwe is a multidisciplinary artist with a special interest in storytelling through the Written Word, Contemporary Collage and Fine Art Photography.

She creates original contemporary collage art pieces for exhibitions and sell limited- edition archival fine art prints

Rochelle believes that working with her hands is essential to connecting her back to a centre of calm. She offers workshops, term classes, private bookings and collaborations with learning institutions and other projects:

How Rochelle creates each contemporary collage piece - in her own words:

"For my contemporary collage pieces, I use my fine art photos in the middle, then cut pieces from vintage children’s storybooks, encyclopaedias, National Geographics, art magazines & books, almanacs, old greeting cards and all sorts of unique paper paraphernalia that resonate with a sense of otherworldly nostalgia and dreamscaping, resulting in a rich, visual story.

Contact
storyholding.com.au
rochellevdmerwe@gmail.com
@storyholding

Amanda Grant (Ixia)

Known predominantly for her work on the Blacksmiths' Tree in Strathewen and the Homefront Sculptures in Greensborough War Memorial Park, Amanda has worked for the past decade as a public sculpture designer and Creative Director managing complex art projects. She leads a team of highly skilled artisans including blacksmiths, wood carvers, glass artists, ceramicists and filmmakers in order to realise her designs. Placemaking and celebrating local stories are central to her design process.

Amanda has spoken at the IACD International Community Conference in Glasgow and the International Conference on the Arts in Society in London about her work and her unusual approach to creative collaboration.

Magic, symbols and folklore are subjects she returns to in her personal work, (created under the name of Ixia,) her paintings and sculptures, feature strange animals and furniture, Elizabethan collars and Tarot cards. Amanda's skills encompass sculpture design, placemaking, branding, book design, illustration, art strategy consultancy, creative recovery facilitation, metal fabrication and cheiromancy.

"The work of Ixia takes on a whimsical surrealism. She uses primeval dream material, literature and the natural world as subjects in her compositions. The familiar and modern are subverted by classical antiquity. Exotic birds, both real and imaginary and strange plant life feature prominently. Her sculptural creations also take on a playful and sometimes disquieting feel, drawing the viewer in to her enchanted world with its strange spectacle. She plays with humour, fairy tale and the macabre in equal measure." —Sven Sandrasagra Artist/Designer, Prague

You can visit Amanda's public artwork nearby in Greensborough, St Andrews and Strathewen:-

The Blacksmiths Tree

Peter Avola Pavilion, 160 Chadds Creek Road, Strathewen

The Blacksmiths' Tree stands as a memorial to the events of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires and as a symbol of courage and life beyond the fires. At 10m high and weighing 3 tonne, it is believed to be the largest and most intricate fully forged sculpture in the world, and is regarded as an artwork of State Significance.

The Blacksmiths' Tree is forged predominantly from stainless steel and copper, and carries over 3500 hand-forged metal leaves in its canopy, as well as bronze gumnuts and stainless steel bugs and dragonflies. It was created over five years by hundreds of blacksmiths across 28 countries, including heavy industrial blacksmiths working in Australia. Amanda, as Project Manager, worked closely with Blacksmiths Associations around the world on this project, most significantly with the Australian Blacksmiths Association (Victoria) of which she is a Lifetime Member.

The surrounding reflective space around the Blacksmiths' Tree is defined by indigenous planting and a series of forged sculptures and seating, the design of which is based on grass blades. The sculptural directional signage around the memorial precinct are inspired by drawings by students at Strathewen Primary School.

The best time to visit the Blacksmiths' Tree is on dusk; as night falls the Blacksmiths' Tree is lit from beneath, creating an ethereal aspect in the darkness of the bush.

The documentary film by local filmmaker Andrew Garton: Forged From Fire: The Making of the Blacksmiths' Tree follows the creation of the Blacksmiths' Tree and its impact on the local community. It was a finalist for Best Melbourne Documentary in the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival in 2019

Homefront Sculptures

Greensborough War Memorial Park, Henry Street, Greensborough

Homefront is a series of war memorial figures carved from cypress with forged steel detailing. The designs for these sculptures were based on stories gathered from writing workshops and conversations with local war veterans. Of significance is the Lighthorse sculpture which depicts an Aboriginal mounted soldier and illustrates a Wurundjeri legend of Waa the Crow. This piece was designed in consultation with Wurundjeri Elders.

These sculptures were designed to replace a previous series of sculptures by Leigh Conkie which had fallen into disrepair. Amanda worked closely with Leigh, chainsaw carver Hikaru Kodama and blacksmith Roland Dannenhauer to create this series.

Amanda also worked as Producer on the Mike Wilkins documentary Homefront: A New Kind of War Memorial which was a finalist in the 2019 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival and screened on SBS.

St Andrews Wayfinding Signs

St Andrews Market / St Andrews Church / Wadambuk Community Centre, Caledonia Street, St Andrews

The St Andrews Wayfinding signs are a celebration of the unique character of St Andrews. Using only St Andrews artists to create the signs, the design showcases their work in glass, ceramic and metal. The signs are designed as part of a larger series that will eventually create a walking trail through the township. Experimental techniques in metal surfacing and fusing images onto glass were explored in the creation of these sculptural signs. If you're in St Andrews, peek behind each of the signs to find a puzzle for children.

Adam Frith

Adam is a tonal oil painter, teacher and resident artist at Montsalvat. He is an avid follower of the works and methods of Max Meldrum and associates.

He studied with Don James at Montsalvat and at the studio of the late Alan Martin where he worked during the 1990’s.

He is also a Signatory Member of the Victorian Artists’ Society where he regularly exhibits.

Contact
0417 477 735
adamfrith@people.net.au
@adamfrith14

Don James

A tonal oil painter and teacher and resident artist at Montsalvat since 1992

Don has been practicing and teaching the principles of tonal realist painting for many years. Don learned his craft from Shirley Bourne O.A.M and Alan Martin.

A Fellow of the Victorian Artists’ Society, winning the Norman Kaye Medallion in 2003 and the Deputy Lord Mayor’s Award in 2000. He has exhibited widely both in solo and group exhibitions, including group exhibitions ‘Soundings’ and ‘Breadth’ at Montsalvat.

Beginners and advanced students are welcome and the studio classes at Montsalvat are designed to give the student the technical skills necessary to paint in a tonal realist manner. There is an emphasis on the use of materials and the ability to see as a painter sees. All subject matter is three-dimensional and the teaching concentrates mainly on still life.

Contact
donjamesart.com
james143@ozemail.com.au
@donjames7258