A buzz of creativity on the Bellarine Arts Trail

Number 16 on this year’s Bellarine Arts Trail, The Hive Gallery in Ocean Grove, will truly live up to its name: it will come alive with the energy of 10 artists at work across the weekend.

Visitors are invited to step inside the creative process, watch demonstrations and meet the artists behind the artworks. It’s a rare opportunity to engage directly with makers, ask those burning questions, and discover the stories and ideas that shape their practice.

There is something deeply meaningful about collecting a work of art once you’ve glimpsed the way it was made. To see the brushstrokes build, clay transform beneath a maker’s hands, or sketch lines turn into vivid compositions, offers a new layer of connection.

For some visitors, it might be the chance to follow an artist’s ongoing journey, while for others it will be an inspiring introduction.

This year, The Hive Gallery will host a dynamic mix of artists across mediums.

Wayne Elliot will be working on several paintings inspired by his recent trip to the Buccaneer Archipelago, north of Broome in Western Australia. His process begins with sketches he fondly calls “mud maps”. Over the arts trail weekend, visitors will see these rough, immediate impressions evolve into richly layered canvases.

Jane Millington will bring the sea to life with an atmospheric oil painting. Known for her ability to capture the ever-shifting moods of the ocean, Jane will be completing a work in the gallery itself. Enjoy watching her painting unfold brushstroke by brushstroke.

Richard Weatherly will share his extraordinary gift for detail through depictions of birds in their natural habitat. His works are a celebration of both artistry and observation, offering viewers a reminder of the fragile beauty of the natural world.

Kirsty Manger, a ceramic artist whose work is inspired by the coastal landscape, will demonstrate how she transforms locally dug clay into sculptural forms. Her practice is rooted in texture, erosion and memory. Each piece carries the rhythms of the shoreline.

Chris Hawke will be shaping small pinch-form orbs with a focus on surface texture. Observe how simple, ancient techniques of hand-building can yield tactile, contemporary works of art.

Together, these artists, alongside painters William Linford, Phillip Butters, ceramicists Karen Steenbergen and Sophia Legoe, and fine furniture maker Jake Lunniss, will create a weekend of making, sharing, and connection; a weekend alive with materials, ideas, and conversations.

The Hive, as always, will be strongly curated, but the Bellarine Arts Trail has always been about more than viewing only finished works. It’s about celebrating the community of artists who live and work in this region, giving visitors a window into their creative worlds.

Tucked in the Industrial Estate, next door to Be My Keeper Ceramics Studio and Two Doors Down cafe (open both days), The Hive Gallery embodies this spirit, making it the perfect stop along the trail.

This Melbourne Cup long weekend, The Hive Gallery promises a rich, hands-on experience.

Stop in at 41 Smithton Grove, Ocean Grove.

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