A creative message exchange sustains the artistic practice of Melanie Yazzie, left, and Susan Hall. By Laura Brearley
FOR many years Inverloch artist and printmaker Susan Hall has enjoyed a rich creative collaboration with Melanie Yazzie, a Navajo artist and Professor of Arts Practices at the University of Colorado. The two artists exchange creative messages – by post.
"Melanie and I make conversation pieces," Susan says. "Melanie sends work to me which includes her stories and I respond to that with what is happening in my life. Melanie and I are on the same wavelength."
Their visual conversations from afar now form part of Bass Coast’s ‘For Our Future’ eco arts project, of which Susan is a lead artist. Forty of their prints, and poetic text generated from their artworks, will be on exhibition at Wonthaggi ArtSpace in August and September.
FOR many years Inverloch artist and printmaker Susan Hall has enjoyed a rich creative collaboration with Melanie Yazzie, a Navajo artist and Professor of Arts Practices at the University of Colorado. The two artists exchange creative messages – by post.
"Melanie and I make conversation pieces," Susan says. "Melanie sends work to me which includes her stories and I respond to that with what is happening in my life. Melanie and I are on the same wavelength."
Their visual conversations from afar now form part of Bass Coast’s ‘For Our Future’ eco arts project, of which Susan is a lead artist. Forty of their prints, and poetic text generated from their artworks, will be on exhibition at Wonthaggi ArtSpace in August and September.
Asked to describe a creative message exchange, Susan says it is based on trust and generosity. “At the core of it is love. You just need a starting point, an opening message to begin the communication and connection.
“A creative message exchange shows what it’s like to make an offer and for someone else to respond. Underneath it is trust and generosity. At the core of it is love.” |
Melanie says the collaboration has revealed to her that she and Susan see the world in similar ways.
“She sees all the beauty that is in nature, and she brings that into her work. It is so easy to respond to her work with my imagery because she creates this layer of hope and beauty with her acknowledgement of the land. She has such a beautiful delicate way of bringing nature into the work. She takes me to the land and I feel her. Her work helps me feel the landscape. I feel the connection. There is magic in this work.
"Susan’s ways of thinking about colour, about time, about migration and honouring plants are things that I try and do within my work. When I am doing that in the landscape, it heals the part of me that is broken, and that is trying to live in this world that we are in. I feel that Susan and I are trying to bring beauty back into our souls, into our minds and into everything.
“Susan has a way of responding to my images with her colours and layering. It elevates the imagery to another level. It adds a sense of awe.”
“She sees all the beauty that is in nature, and she brings that into her work. It is so easy to respond to her work with my imagery because she creates this layer of hope and beauty with her acknowledgement of the land. She has such a beautiful delicate way of bringing nature into the work. She takes me to the land and I feel her. Her work helps me feel the landscape. I feel the connection. There is magic in this work.
"Susan’s ways of thinking about colour, about time, about migration and honouring plants are things that I try and do within my work. When I am doing that in the landscape, it heals the part of me that is broken, and that is trying to live in this world that we are in. I feel that Susan and I are trying to bring beauty back into our souls, into our minds and into everything.
“Susan has a way of responding to my images with her colours and layering. It elevates the imagery to another level. It adds a sense of awe.”
“The shapes are ambiguous. You don’t know if you’re looking at a waterway or a tree. It can be both. And anyone can come, anybody can come to the circle. I feel that is how Nature comes across in these pieces.” |
In a recent Zoom meeting with the three of us, Susan and Melanie described each of their forty collaborative prints and, with their permission, I distilled their words into poetic text.
Here’s a taste …
Here’s a taste …
This is the dawn and the circle of sun
From the leaves and grasses from my garden I send a prayer
A seagull flies over the landscape
And takes my prayer to the Ancestors
From down in the bushes
Up it goes
From the leaves and grasses from my garden I send a prayer
A seagull flies over the landscape
And takes my prayer to the Ancestors
From down in the bushes
Up it goes
Driftwood and trees
Seagulls flying in an afternoon sunset
Shearwaters on the clifftops of Cape Woolamai
Flying on the wind
Bringing stories from the other side of the world
Seagulls flying in an afternoon sunset
Shearwaters on the clifftops of Cape Woolamai
Flying on the wind
Bringing stories from the other side of the world
I feel the colours in these pieces
Marking the passing of time
Corn yellow shapes rise up
Animals interact with seedpods
That’s how things pollinate and grow
Everything has a role to play
There is beauty in that.
Marking the passing of time
Corn yellow shapes rise up
Animals interact with seedpods
That’s how things pollinate and grow
Everything has a role to play
There is beauty in that.
*****
Susan’s and Melanie’s distant collaboration has also inspired a creative message exchange between local children, artists, conservationists and First Nation Elders in Bass Coast (Boonwurrung/Bunurong Country) and Turtle Island (Canada/USA).
Their messages will also go on display at Wonthaggi ArtSpace in August, along with Susan's and Melanie's work, as well as in Bass Coast libraries and the new Cowes Cultural and Community Centre.
Dr Laura Brearley is project coordinator of For Our Future. The project is supported by the Bass Coast Shire Council and the Phillip Island Conservation Society.
Their messages will also go on display at Wonthaggi ArtSpace in August, along with Susan's and Melanie's work, as well as in Bass Coast libraries and the new Cowes Cultural and Community Centre.
Dr Laura Brearley is project coordinator of For Our Future. The project is supported by the Bass Coast Shire Council and the Phillip Island Conservation Society.