ARTSNATIONAL Coffs Coast began its 2026 season with a Sunday afternoon presentation that included a lively discussion panel with four local creatives.
“It was a new style of event for ArtsNational and it worked well,” spokesperson Annie Talvé told News Of The Area.
Australian-based, British born arts educator, Gill Nicol, delivered a masterclass in “creativity in action”.
A visual artist, Ms Nicol has spent a lifetime working to make contemporary art accessible, relevant and “less scary”.
Previously head of audience engagement at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Ms Nicol shared insights into how art making can build confidence in kids, overcome isolation, and help people with dementia.
Creativity, she argued, is imagination put to work.
“We are all creative, but if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll struggle to be original,” she said.
Next up were four local creatives who discussed their respective journeys.
Visual artists Peggy Zephyr, Jane Sturrock Nash and Sarah Mufford, and designer Alison Page, all shared something in common: they were all encouraged by parents to be resourceful and make things.
“I was left to do my own thing,” said Jane Sturrock Nash, “it was a make do and mend atmosphere”.
Sarah Mufford and Alison Page, both having lifelong connections to Gumbaynggirr Country, discussed the role that Coffs Harbour and Bellingen high schools played in fostering art making.
All panelists talked about the compulsion to make art, a drive that overcomes the imposter syndrome many women creatives experience.
Summing up that contrast of emotions, Ms Mufford said, “You’re mad when you’re doing it, and mad when you’re not doing it.”
First Nations interior architect and designer and Professor of Practice at the University of Technology Sydney, Alison Page, talked about collaboration in design and how her many public projects are informed by Aboriginal culture and collective decision-making.
“In Aboriginal culture, knowledge is embedded in Songlines, and this sharing of knowledge means we are practicing art-making constantly,” she said.
“It’s the way our culture has evolved; our artistic language is about survival.”
Discussing the positive outcomes of democratising creativity, the panellists said that while the making of art can be a singular process, they all work with communities to demystify art making.
Peggy Zephyr works with isolated women from culturally diverse backgrounds to find common ground through artmaking.
Her Cost Of Living workshops for Arts Mid North Coast and Yarrila Arts and Museum (YAM) were cited as good examples of democratising creativity and developing creative confidence.
ArtsNational Coffs Coast’s next talk on Sunday 22 March will be The Brilliance of Brunei. For more information visit artsnationalcoffscoast.au.
By Andrea FERRARI
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