Giving The Gift Of Attention

For Jervis Bay Weekend’s recent Christmas Gift Guide 2025 I chose hand-crafted items available in Artfulmind Gallery which is popping up for the first time next Sunday, 30 November, at Huskisson Artisans Market. Allow me to offer you a guide to another dimension of giving—the gift of attention. In addition to wonderful wares, Artfulmind Gallery also offers you an opportunity for arts-based mindfulness practice. Let me show you how.

Debra Garrett. Hand made ceramic stem vases $60 each. Photo: Natalie McDonagh

Choosing a well-suited gift for someone

Last Saturday, ceramicist Debra Garrett came to my studio to deliver a collection of her hand made stem vases, each one unique (shown above). She saw the full mock up of Artfulmind Gallery as it will be installed at Huskisson Artisans Market. She wanted to buy one of three large cards by Linda Balding—one-off, original artworks that could be framed.

Debra’s first pick was the one that appealed most to her, but the card was a gift for a friend and she was unsure of her choice. I cleared a space on a table. I invited Debra to take a moment; to bring her friend properly to mind; to pay attention. I slowly showed her the three cards, one at a time. She chose a different design—one she sensed was more apt for her friend.

You get the point.

In Artfulmind Gallery you will find more than 150 items gathered from more than a dozen makers, with prices ranging from $10 to $800: swathes of hand-dyed, hand-painted silk organza; sculpted paper bowls; sublime carved marble forms; garments with hand stitched embellishment; neckwear worthy of a tribal queen; beach-finds transformed into talismans; artworks in felt; wee woven vessels you might expect to be the nest of a tiny, magical creature; meditation malas, journals, thinking tools. The trove goes on—and on.

Here to help

If you visit Artfulmind Pop-up Gallery next Sunday in Huskisson, or the following three Saturdays in my Erowal Bay Studio (information below), I will be very happy to help you in person to mindfully choose a gift—be it for yourself, your home or for someone else.

Mary Preece. Three wee hand woven vessels. Found materials. $90 each. Photo: Natalie McDonagh

Making a mockery of ‘pop-up’

My recent article, Artfulmind Gallery: Making Space for Makers, covered the what / who / why of this initiative. Here, I’d like to tell you a bit about my making of the gallery itself—as much a hand-crafted affair as the works it contains—and the mindfulness it embodies.

The term pop-up—‘denoting a shop or other business that opens quickly in a temporary location’—is a convenient term for this endeavour but is a monumental misnomer. As Samantha Tannous commented to me last night, ‘pop-up makes it sound like a mushroom that appears overnight with no concept the fruit we are seeing comes from a vast acreage of mycelia active underground.’

The becoming of Artfulmind Gallery has been a long, slow, considered, mindful undertaking.

It has taken a year to develop the concept, drive around the region for studio visits with makers, select work and wares; figure out the logistics, establish terms and conditions; resolve the practicalities of displaying enormously varied items—ranging from featherlight silk pieces to carved marble sculptures weighing several kilos—and everything else a project like this involves.

For example, there was a month involved in sourcing cloth, designing and constructing coverings for display tables that don’t remind me of a serving table at a catered event—a process which even involved my clever mum in London, consulting in our weekly FaceTime catch-ups.

And, of course, this year of planning, design and development, implementation, can only happen thanks to experience and skills gained over the preceding decades.

Julie Paterson. Hand dyed and painted silk organza 3.2m $160. Photo: Natalie McDonagh

Meeting of Minds

My whole approach to making Artfulmind Gallery itself, to composing its space, to choosing and curating objects, is all grounded in an idea found in Zen philosophy and practice: the mind of the maker is embodied in what is made.

In encountering the made object, we may meet the maker’s mind, and what it is offering us.

In this approach, beyond whether an object is to my liking or not, there is an invitation to appreciate the extensive knowledge, skill, numberless hours of labour, research, thought, experimentation, creativity, resources, which are involved in bringing this thing into being. And to be enriched by this appreciation.

The invitation inherent in Artfulmind Gallery is to attune to this approach—to be present, pay attention to the space itself, the handiwork of the makers presented here, look beyond liking, welcome a meeting of minds.

I put it to you that, whether or not you are in a position to purchase a maker’s made object, coming to Artfulmind Gallery, paying close attention, looking beyond liking, is a valuable and worthy gift to the maker—one that will be felt.

Mindful placement of objects

My mindful placement of objects in Artfulmind Gallery is as much about listening as it is about looking. Listening to the conversations that the objects might have with each other; what that particular grouping collectively conveys. I invite you to take time, to linger, to listen to the silent conversations around you. You may be rewarded in unexpected ways.

You may be moved to purchase an object, become its care-taker, welcome the mind of the maker into your world as an enriching presence.