
By Laura Brearley
KARA Redmond, Sunny Lynch and Kate Harmon have all made unique contributions to the Bass Coast Adult Learning ’Exploring Art’ class. All three are strong visual artists and gifted wordsmiths.
Over the past term, students have been guided by guest artists as they make works of art and write poetry for local exhibitions and for sending overseas within a Creative Message Exchange taking place between artists, children and First Nation Elders.
The power and quality of the creative work that has been produced by all of the participants has been a privilege to witness. Their work is on display at BCAL over July and August.
KARA Redmond, Sunny Lynch and Kate Harmon have all made unique contributions to the Bass Coast Adult Learning ’Exploring Art’ class. All three are strong visual artists and gifted wordsmiths.
Over the past term, students have been guided by guest artists as they make works of art and write poetry for local exhibitions and for sending overseas within a Creative Message Exchange taking place between artists, children and First Nation Elders.
The power and quality of the creative work that has been produced by all of the participants has been a privilege to witness. Their work is on display at BCAL over July and August.
The participants are a living testament to what can occur when we apply Ken Wilbur’s idea of ‘setting individuals free to unfold their own deepest possibilities in a culture of encouragement’. Great potential can be released when we do that in the context of recognising ourselves as part of the Living World.
Before Laura, I thought poetry had to rhyme so it was too hard, I never tried. With Laura and the guest speakers we tried different things and made our own images.
- Kara Redmond
Kara is a highly skilled graphic artist who can draw animals, birds and flowers that reveal a sense of delight in the natural world. Her ‘Sunflower’ painting reflects the beauty of her own shining face. She has also captured this in her poetic text, which blossomed through the course of the term. The sense of joy and vitality evoked in Kara's poem says as much about her as it does about sunflowers.
*****
Sunny Lynch is another gifted artist in the ‘Exploring Art’ class who has a prolific output. Creativity simply pours out of him. There are intimations of Francis Bacon and Picasso in his visual art, but his powerful portraits are uniquely his. Some of his artworks are dark and some are humorous. Some are both. Sunny has a strong grasp of perspective and his artworks have an architectural quality about them. Some of his portraits sit alongside buildings and sometimes the buildings are interwoven with the portraits themselves. The faces he draws highlight different features. Sometimes there is a focus on the ears and sometimes on the nose or mouth. There is a tight sense of inter-relationship and what he highlights changes everything. Sunny’s series of portraits are engaging, disturbing at times and always compelling. Sunny is also a gifted wordsmith with a command of the surreal. His drawing of a man being reincarnated into a wooden chair reveals this … The man felt his soul exit upon his departure. It slipped through many worlds for an unknowable amount of time before slipping into unfamiliar wood. A chair of all things. He was being reincarnated as a chair! At first he was outraged as the chair was built bit by bit of himself slipping back into his unconscious mind. At first he was scared but eventually he was filled with a sense of peace ready to embrace his new purpose. Now there’s a fresh insight into our relationship with natural materials. |
*****
Kate Harmon is another artist who seamlessly weaves together visual art and poetic text.
She has undertaken a series of paintings about the Earth and the environmental crisis. She reveals both the beauty of the natural world and the pain of what is being lost. Kate’s understanding of the animate nature of the Earth and the interconnectedness of living things is reflected in both her painting and her poem ‘Earth is Watching’ …
She has undertaken a series of paintings about the Earth and the environmental crisis. She reveals both the beauty of the natural world and the pain of what is being lost. Kate’s understanding of the animate nature of the Earth and the interconnectedness of living things is reflected in both her painting and her poem ‘Earth is Watching’ …

Looking out over the Earth
There is Heart and Music
Colour, Movement and Depth
The Soul of the Earth
Soul of the people
Connected
Underneath it all
is the Earth
Earth is watching
Kate has shown her paintings and performed her poetic text at the Bass Coast Sustainability Festival and at a Deep Listening Circle held at the Wonthaggi Library. Her creative work and her courage in sharing it publicly has been a living embodiment of ‘heart, music, colour, movement and depth.’
Deep thanks to all of the ‘Exploring Art’ participants, the special guest artists, the supportive infrastructure of Bass Coast Adult Learning and the ‘For Our Future’ project.
Dr Laura Brearley is project co-ordinator of For Our Future. The project is supported by the Bass Coast Shire Council and the Phillip Island Conservation Society.
There is Heart and Music
Colour, Movement and Depth
The Soul of the Earth
Soul of the people
Connected
Underneath it all
is the Earth
Earth is watching
Kate has shown her paintings and performed her poetic text at the Bass Coast Sustainability Festival and at a Deep Listening Circle held at the Wonthaggi Library. Her creative work and her courage in sharing it publicly has been a living embodiment of ‘heart, music, colour, movement and depth.’
Deep thanks to all of the ‘Exploring Art’ participants, the special guest artists, the supportive infrastructure of Bass Coast Adult Learning and the ‘For Our Future’ project.
Dr Laura Brearley is project co-ordinator of For Our Future. The project is supported by the Bass Coast Shire Council and the Phillip Island Conservation Society.