When creativity & sustainability collide

Mount Gambier artist Chrissy Pudney and Caroline Hills winery owner Helen Strickland share a passion for being creative and the duo are joining forces for an exhibition at the Yahl winery, which is set to open on Sunday, March 31, at 5.30pm.

While their medium of choice is different, what they do share is a desire to create beautiful pieces with a focus on sustainability and District Council of Grant Mayor Kylie Boston is opening the joint showing, which is titled Rolling in the Deep.

Chrissy makes whimsical weavings to form vessels from found rope and twine. She has a strong affinity for the sea and rescues what many would see as rubbish to make her pieces.

Helen, who has worked extensively as a potter, has hosted previous exhibitions at the cellar door at Caroline Hills and supports local artists. She is currently reigniting her passion for high fired ceramics and is making pieces to fire in the large wood fired kiln on site at Caroline Hills.

“Whether it’s working with rope, twine, clay, plants or grapes, the process of creating something beautiful and unique is very satisfying,” Helen said.

For Chrissy, this latest exhibition is one of many she has been a part of since deciding to call Mount Gambier home – a decision she and her husband made back in 2000.

“This would be the best community I’ve been a part of in my life.,” she said.

The army wife spent her childhood in Queensland but since marrying moved from posting to posting until the move to Mount Gambier.

“This is where we have chosen to make our home – this is where we will be forever,” Chrissy said.

It is also the place where she finally took the plunge to pursue her dream of becoming an artist.

It was back in 1983 when she first tried her hand at basket weaving and three years later, she started working with clay at a Puckapunyal craft club, and so the pattern continued.

“It was my way of making friends and finding a social life each place we moved to,” Chrissy said. “I wasn’t a typical army wife, I had unusual interests. People used to say I was a square peg in a round hole. That I was born in the wrong century as I gravitated towards unusual interests. I was always seeking out the craft groups and things like that wherever we moved.”

But turning that way to make friends into a full time career only really kicked into gear with the move to Mount Gambier where in 2003, the textile and ceramic artist was enrolled at TAFE completing a Certificate IV in those disciplines.

“I enjoyed my time studying at TAFE but I do feel I’ve learned a lot more away from formal education,” Chrissy said. “Life experience and experimentation is what has improved my art.”

She also credits her time working in administration at Riddoch Art Gallery as a pivotal time in her development as an artist, putting her into contact with two people who significantly influenced her artistic career.

She worked alongside long serving gallery director Lucia Pichler and the two forged a strong friendship based in their love of the arts. “I am still friends with her today,” Chrissy said.

It was also through the Riddoch Art Gallery that Chrissy was exposed to the work of Portland artist Carmel Wallace. “I was spoiled to be surrounded by her work while I was working there,” Chrissy said. “I often wondered how she created her work and then one day it twigged and it’s the sort of work I’ve tried to do myself.”

She also immersed herself in the local artistic community through groups including the South East Art Society and Gallery 54 along the way.

“It is certainly the most vibrant and supportive arts community I have been involved with,” Chrissy said. “There are more opportunities, people put in more effort and it’s across all the arts – not just the visual arts but the performing arts as well.”

Chrissy’s focus is sustainable art practice and the use of debris from beaches and materials found in the natural world – she is basically committed to using recyclable material wherever possible in her creations.

“I’ve used things I find in my garden or the bush,” she said. “I am very passionate about the environment and I have really tried to focus on the debris on our beaches – it just shouldn’t be there.”

And it is that shared passion for the environment that further connects Chrissy and Helen.

“‘It’s a good fit to exhibit at Caroline Hills as we share excitement for the environment and for the arts,” she said.

Caroline Hills Cellar Door is at 489 Norman Road, Yahl, and the exhibition will be on show until Tuesday, April 30.