From hundreds of handmade clay pots telling the story of Ipswich to a massive multicultural celebration at Robelle Domain, community connection is taking centre stage in the local arts scene.
Speaking on West Bremer Radio’s Get Your Arts Into Gear, artist Jude shared the story behind her new Makers Project, while the Philippines-Australia Multicultural Association also revealed plans for its biggest Spring Fest yet.
Pinch pots tell the story of Ipswich
Jude recently held a community workshop at the Ipswich Workshop Gallery, inviting residents to help create an unusual collective artwork through the simple process of making pinch pots.
“The Makers Project is about making pinch pots for the Ipswich community, or with the Ipswich community,” Jude said.
“I want to understand what makes Ipswich Ipswich, what makes the community as special as it is.”
A pinch pot begins with a ball of clay which is shaped by hand, with participants gradually pinching and squeezing the clay until it forms a small vessel.
For Jude, however, the finished pots are only part of the project.
The tactile process of working with clay provides an opportunity to start conversations, with participants encouraged to talk about their lives and what Ipswich means to them while their hands are busy creating.
Around 25 people took part in the workshop, with Jude asking participants to nominate a single word they believed described Ipswich.
Some themes quickly began to emerge.
Words including family, friends and fun appeared repeatedly, while one young participant offered a particularly Ipswich-specific description — “noisy planes.”
The responses will help inform a broader artwork exploring community and people’s connection to place.
Community at the heart of Jude’s art
The Makers Project reflects a theme already running strongly through Jude’s artistic practice.
“My work is about community,” she said.
Her work often involves many individual pieces coming together to form a larger body, making the individual pinch pots an appropriate way of representing the people who collectively create a community.
Jude hopes the pots produced through the Ipswich workshop will eventually be brought together as an installation and exhibited at the Ipswich Community Gallery next year.
While she has previously undertaken significant community engagement through her art, Jude said the Makers Project was her first attempt at large-scale pinch pot making.
Although she is based in Brisbane, Jude’s relationship with Ipswich stretches back to an important moment early in her artistic career.
The first exhibition she participated in was the Ipswich Art Awards.
She recalled entering a large pot and becoming increasingly convinced while walking around the exhibition that her work wasn’t good enough — only to discover somebody had bought it.
That experience left Ipswich with a special place in her artistic journey.
Jude also praised the accessibility of Ipswich’s arts community, particularly for people beginning to exhibit their work.
“You’re very welcome. You feel inclusive. You don’t feel like, ‘My work’s not good enough,’” she said.
She described Ipswich as being large enough to sustain an active arts scene while still small enough for artists to feel part of the community.
Following the Ipswich project, Jude hopes to take the concept elsewhere, using community-created art to explore what makes other towns and communities distinctive.
Spring Fest celebrates five years
Community will also be at the heart of PAMA Spring Fest, which returns to Robelle Domain on Saturday, September 12, for its fifth anniversary.
Jomar from the Philippines-Australia Multicultural Association said the 2026 event had unexpectedly grown into the biggest Spring Fest the organisation had staged.
Running from 9am until 7pm with free entry, the festival will bring together food, music, dance, cultural performances, stalls and fireworks.
This year will also introduce the event’s first multicultural parade and a multicultural modern dance competition.
The competitive parade will feature 10 groups, with an $800 prize for the group attracting the largest number of participants and another $800 for the most colourful and festive entry.
A group successful in both categories could therefore take home $1,600.
The modern dance competition will also carry a cash prize.
Jomar said the competitions were intended to give people the experience of performing on a major stage while encouraging different cultures to work together.
Food, music and entertainment all day
Spring Fest has also experienced significant growth in the number of participating stallholders.
Around 38 non-food stalls are expected, compared with approximately 25 previously, while visitors can expect around 22 multicultural food offerings.
While Filipino cuisine will naturally have a strong presence, the food program will extend well beyond the Philippines.
Organisers have also reduced stallholder pricing in an effort to make participation more accessible.
Entertainment will begin in the morning with cultural performances involving everyone from young children to teenagers, alongside a Zumba session.
After lunch, the program will feature a Bollywood workshop, live bands and a Michael Jackson performer delivering a 10-minute non-stop dance performance.
The Ipswich Model Band will accompany the multicultural parade from 9am, while an RSL band will take to the stage during the afternoon.
The celebrations will continue into the evening before concluding with a fireworks display.
A place where everybody belongs
PAMA was established following COVID to deliver community events in Greater Springfield.
Although its Filipino heritage remains central to the organisation, Jomar said it was deliberately established as a multicultural rather than exclusively Filipino association.
The intention was to share Filipino values of hospitality while creating a place for people from many cultural backgrounds — particularly smaller migrant communities that may not have large established organisations of their own.
That philosophy remains at the heart of Spring Fest.
Jomar said the aim was for people to arrive at Robelle Domain and immediately feel that the celebration was for them, regardless of their cultural background.
“I belong here when I go to Spring Fest,” he said.
“Everybody’s welcome.”
With Jude’s Makers Project using individual pieces of clay to explore what brings Ipswich together and Spring Fest bringing cultures together through food, music and performance, both projects share a common theme — creating art and events that give people a sense of belonging.
0 Comments