Find family-friendly fun at Huskisson Artisans Market, Sunday 30 August, in a special, hands-on edition of Artfulmind Pop-up Gallery. Put on your thinking cap, get assembling and discover what was involved for Liane Wilcher to design and produce her ‘My Flat Mate’ series of 3D dog heads, cleverly constructed from flat wooden pieces. Imagine you are Christine Myerscough’s studio assistant and design a piece of striking, colourful wearable art for her collection. Study a felted wool artwork by Samantha Tannous and use her templates to create your version of her cockatoo composition.
Artfulmind Pop-up Gallery at Huskisson Artisans Market on Sunday 30 August is celebrating the Arts Muster ethos, ‘Let’s make things together’. Gallery curator, Dr Natalie McDonagh, has devised a series of art + design activities based on selected items featured in the gallery. Come for a playful interlude, engage your own artful mind and dive into the thinking and methods used by skilled makers and artists featured in Artfulmind Gallery/Shop.
Make A Woof
Like some of their living furry relatives, these wonderful, wooden woofs are also looking for forever homes, waiting for a kind human to adopt them. The 10 breeds of dog and 3 species of birds—which are available exclusively through the Artfulmind Pop-up Gallery/Shop—are the last of their kind. Liane Wilcher is not making any more.
When you come to Huskisson Artisans Market and take some time to sit and assemble a French bulldog you will get some appreciation of the exacting, precise, inventive thinking involved in creating these sculptures: conceiving of them; analysing and capturing the essence of each breed or species; converting that into 2D slices to be laser-cut from timber; designing the instruction sheet, the calico bag packaging, the beautifully considered swing tags …
And then, when this pack of flat, numbered pieces is assembled correctly, lo and behold, a completely recognisable breed of dog miraculously appears, right down to the specifics of the tongue.
These objects are a true delight. Come and make a woof and perhaps adopt one.
You may like to read Natalie McDonagh’s article about the Joy of Art Adoptions and what happened when a real daschund met its wooden counterpart in an Artfulmind Gallery pop-up
Designer Liane Wilcher. My Flat Mate sculptures $90-$130. Constructed heads on display can be purchased ready assembled.
Design A Piece Of Wearable Art
Christine Myerscough’s creative practice spans art, sculpture, installation, photography and wearable objects.
Her range of joyful ‘Wearable Art’ pieces—worn around the neck or as brooches—are constructed from graphic shapes, precision cut from perspex, and composed into bold compositions of form and colour.
At the Artfulmind Gallery activity station you’ll find a bountiful choice of colourful, cardboard shapes taken from Christine’s hand made wearable art. Imagine you are Christine Myerscough’s studio assistant and she has asked you to design a piece of striking, colourful wearable art for her collection. Like Christine, play with colour and form, experiment with different compositions to find a design that fits the ‘Wearable Art’ range. Allow your artful mind free rein and make as many design options as you wish.
Each piece of Christine’s wearable art is beautifully packaged, in branded boxes each with its own cleaning cloth to keep the surface of the perspex free from finger prints.
Artist/Maker Christine Myerscough. Wearable Art: Neck pieces $95 / Brooches $55
Construct A Cockatoo
For her artwork, Flight of the Cockatoo—made from the complex process of felting wool and silk fibres into an image—Samantha Tannous first drew an outline of a black cockatoo. She then created paper cutouts of the key shapes, and experimented with selecting and composing different elements until she found the one that worked best artistically.
Samantha has generously loaned her original paper templates for one of the suite of artfulmind activities at Huskisson Artisans Market. Study the artwork up close, then experiment with your own cockatoo compositions to create a design for an artwork inspired by Samantha’s original.
Artist Samantha Tannous. Flight of the Cockatoo. Felted wool and silk. Framed 33x33x4.5cm $350
Artfulmind Gallery Pop-ups
The Artfulmind Gallery pop-up at Huskisson Artisans Market shows and sells a selection of works by 20+ established makers and artists from our region.
The full range of art and hand made objects can be seen when Artfulmind Pop-up Gallery/Shop is presented in the curator’s studio in Erowal Bay, on the three Saturdays following each Huskisson Artisans Market.
The quiet, intimate studio setting in Erowal Bay allows for more leisurely conversation and consultations about particular works, the maker, the processes involved, and to meet the makers, when they are in residence.
When & Where
Sunday 30 August 2026 / 10am-3pm at Huskisson Artisans Market held in the Community Centre, Dent Street, Huskisson
Saturdays 05 + 12 + 19 September / 11am-4pm. Meet the Makers 2-4pm each Saturday. See the full range of works of art and craft at Artfulmind Studio, Erowal Bay. For full address email the curator natalie@mcdonaghdesign.com
