THE White Gum Valley artist’s cooperative SHAC will banish the covid blues with its latest project Biodiversity ReVIVAL.
Since the Sustainable Housing for Artists and Creatives opened in 2017 it’s staged a number of successful community events that fuse arts and sustainability.
Their latest event features an art exhibition on the biodiverse wetlands and bush around Fremantle, a Sustainability Day, and a seed and plant swap.
Several veteran bush artists will be exhibiting, including Nalda Searles, Fiona Gavino, Holly Story, Robyn Varpins and Lynne Tinley.
Tinley is a painter and spent most of her life living in the bush in Africa and Australia, before recently moving to SHAC.
Using mostly mixed media, watercolour and inks, she now documents the flora and fauna in the bushland around Fremantle, Booyeembara Park, Clontarf Hill, and Manning Lake and Ridge.
“The two small works that I created for the biodiversity exhibition are mixed media portrayals of the Australasian Darter,” Tinley says.
“This is one of my favourite waterbirds. One visits the small lake at Booyeembara near to our SHAC buildings.
“The image that we used for the promotion of the exhibition and the Sustainability Day presentations is from one of my paintings.
“The two little honey possums pictured on the banksia flower occur only in WA and nowhere else in the world.
“They are a rare species and in danger of losing much of their habitat by clearing for development and by fires.”
The exhibition will also feature two poems about bees and honey possums by renowned bard Jan Napier.
On Sustainability Day (Saturday September 19) respected writers, activists and earth workers will give presentations in Sullivan Hall beside the SHAC buildings.
On the same day a seed and plant sweep will be held in the SHAC kitchen gardens, where you can swap seeds, seedlings or cuttings.
“Biodiversity ReVIVAL plans to inspire visions, ideas and dreams for new niches and improved habitats for plants and animals that used to live here in the past, animals such as bandicoot, bats, water rakali, yabby, and the tiny honey possum,” Tinley says.
“We hope too to stimulate creative ideas on how to help increase numbers of present residents such as bobtail lizards, native bees, frogs, waterbirds, owls and undergrowth plants such as ground orchids and sundews.”
All 12 apartments at SHAC are occupied by artists and creatives, with its studio space and gallery available to the public to hire.
The art exhibition is at SHAC’s Colab2 Gallery from September 19 – 30. For more details on Biodiversity ReVIVAL go to http://www.shacfreo.com
By STEPHEN POLLOCK