Being kind and creative together, but apart

EIGHT artists have been paired up and commissioned to combine their practices and produce creative responses to the COVID-19 climate in Ballarat.

Part of the City’s Be Kind – Be Creative campaign, the artists are working together online from afar, embracing the social distancing challenge while showing their own unique perspective on the societal situation.

Illustrator Dillon Naylor and Stan Woodhouse, a songwriter and lyricist, have been put together to collaborate, developing graphic novel pages and an accompanying piece of music.

“Over the following months, Dillon will illustrate the tale while I compose the music for it,” Woodhouse said.

“We’ll keep the channels of communication open so neither of us are creating in a vacuum and the separate works will have a chance to influence each other.

“The final song and the original pages will be exhibited together.”

Ceramicist, Neville French is working with visual artist, Rhonda Baum, and hip-hop artist, Sarah Barclay and indigenous artist, Donna Blackall are also collaborating.

Poet, Nathan Curnow and visual artist, Kim Anderson, were the first pair of the four to be commissioned, earlier in the pandemic.

Cr Daniel Moloney said the artists’ roles are also to document and report on the challenging time period.

“We fully anticipate the Ballarat community is going to appreciate looking back on these times through an artistic lens,” he said.

“We are really proud of how the Be Kind – Be Creative program embeds the Compassionate City and Creative City programs into the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst supporting our arts community through an important time.”

Art Gallery of Ballarat will present the works for in-person viewing next year.