antonia aitken
2013 artsACT Artist-in-Schools Residency Program
The Artist-in-Schools Project that I delivered at Evatt Primary School in Canberra in 2013 was aimed at giving students and staff an opportunity to work with a practicing artist and to be introduced to new printmaking and drawing approaches. Over 9 weeks I worked with 14 primary and 2 pre-school classes (over 350 young people), through a series of day-long workshops.
These workshops explored their connection to the school environment, with each class taking a walk around the school grounds with me to collect plants and found objects that then became the inspiration for both the drawing and printmaking exercises back in the studio. The final artwork that I made for the school was a series of large-scale screenprinted fabric designs for the foyer space as a permanent artwork to clebrate the Schools 40th Anniversary. The designs were made using the young peoples ink drawings as the source material and guiding the colour and form.
2013 KaPOW! Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Artist-in-Schools Residency Program
My week spent as Artist-in-Residence at Eurongilly Primary School in April this year with 22 excited young people and their teachers was fantastic. The kids were asked to bring in a important object and tell the story of the object. Many of these stories were about life on a farm, significant family members and pets and fun family holidays. The stories were then translated into drawings and printed books over three days of workshops. The kids learnt monoprint and collograpah printmaking techniques - simple processes that can be used in the school beyond the project. Through this process we exchanged skills and knowledge, the kids getting to experience making guided by a practicing artist and me getting to learn about their community, environment and personal insights. I also had the privilege of being billeted by four of the families over the week, letting me experience the warmth and generosity of the Eurongilly community and allowing me to live on some of the farms in the area - a new and inspiring experience for this city artist. Feeding poddy lambs, patting piglets, sitting on the porch of Wantabadgery Station and watching 4-year old Eloise on her 4-wheel bike bringing in the cows were just some of the memorable moments.
*Words spoken at the exhibition opening at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, 2013
2010 Majura Women's Group Backyard Project
The Majura Women’s Group (MWG) is a self-run volunteer organisation providing opportunities for women in Canberra at home with young children to meet and participate in stimulating and creative activities. Melinda Smith, Caren Florence and myself worked with the women over three terms to create bound books bringing together writing, drawing and relief prints.
2009 M16 Artspace Crossing Boundaries Project
M16 Artspace's 2009 Crossing Boundaries Project was supported by a grant from the ACT Department of Disability Housing and Community Services. It brought together three community art programs housed at M16 Artspace (Hands On Studio, for people with disabilities; StudioMAP, for children and teenagers; and the Canberra Art Workshop, for anyone and everyone), in a joint workshop and exhibition project led by myself.
2009 Basil Hall Editions + Elcho Island Arts Printmaking Project
Basil Hall (Basil Hall Editions) and I worked with artists from Elcho Island Arts to create a suite of woodcuts. This was the beginning of a new wave of printmaking in the community. What they produced was spectacular.
2009 Kalkarindgi Safe House Mural Project
This project took place as a partnership between Megalo Print Studio and the Kalkarindgi community. The week-long mural project was designed and painted by women and children of Kalkarindgi community and facilitated by myself and artist Lyndy Delian.
2008 Hill Shadows Project, Hill End
As part of the Hill End residency and supported by a Regional Arts CASP Grant, Composer Timothy Hansen and I ran a two-day workshop with local school kids from Hill End, Sofala and Wattle Flat public schools. The workshops gave everyone an opportunity to tell their story about living in the region. Over the course of the workshop we improvised theatre scenes and created musical instruments and shadow puppets, which we performed with at the end.