On today’s episode of “Getting Our Arts Into Gear,” we’re back in full swing this Tuesday morning with some exciting news. Dj Sparky welcomes back Glenn Smith, who, despite being a bit under the weather recently, is ready to jump back into the action. The spotlight, however, is on their special guest, Maz Gibson from the Lockyer Valley Art Society Inc. (LASI).
Maz introduces the upcoming “Arts in the Valley Creative Weekend,” a vibrant event happening on June 7th, 8th, and 9th in the Lockyer Valley. This jam-packed weekend features over 20 workshops, ranging from rug making and resins to gel printing and acrylic painting. Designed for all skill levels, these workshops offer a fantastic opportunity to explore new creative outlets.
Listeners are reminded that this is a pre-booked event, with tickets available through the TRY booking platform. Prices for the workshops start at just $58, including materials, making it an affordable way to dive into new art forms.
Beyond the workshops, the event promises demonstrations, raffles, delicious food, and real barista coffee, creating a lively atmosphere for all attendees. Maz shares her inspiration for the event, emphasizing the importance of nurturing new artists and providing a space for creative growth.
Tune in to hear more about this exciting event, Maz’s journey as a mixed media artist, and the importance of supporting local arts and culture. Don’t miss out on the details—scroll down on the podcast page to find all the links and information you need to join the “Arts in the Valley Creative Weekend.”
00:00
Here we are, we’re getting our arts back into gear cause it’s another, what are we doing? Tuesday morning. I feel like I’ve done this before already today. You might need another coffee I think. That’s not all I need. Hey, guess who’s here? I’m back, I’m back mate. I might be worse for wear but I’m back. Yeah, that voice has got a lot to answer for my friend. I thought it was actually my sexy voice. You know, hello. John Laws. Yeah, well I was thinking more Barry White but that’s okay. Oh dear.
00:30
Can I just say before you introduce your guest, welcome back. We were all worried about you. Well, you can’t keep an old dog down as I said. Well, a couple of weeks ago we were talking about you being an old Shaged Lounge because you’re part of the furniture. I know, I know, it’s a bit like that. But look mate, I want to introduce my guest. It’s all about my guest today. We’ve got Maz Gibson from Lassie, which is the Lockyer Valley Art Society and Corporation. Fantastic. Now Maz, welcome to West Bremer Radio. Nice to have you back.
01:00
Thank you, thank you. Now you’ve got a big event coming up. I have, I have. So it’s a workshop weekend or two and a half days? It’s a creative weekend. Yeah, so tell us about it, what’s available and what’s happening? Okay, it’s called the Arts in the Valley Creative Weekend in the Lockyer Valley. It’s happening on the 7th, 8th and 9th of June. Yeah, which isn’t that far away people? No.
01:23
Bookings, it is a pre-booked event. Yes, now that’s very important. It’s pre-booked, no walk-ins, so you can’t just turn up. No, unfortunately not. But the good thing is you’ve got, oh, how many workshops on offer? Between 20 and 22, 23. Wow. Wow. So that’s across the two and a half days. And it goes from rug making to resins to gel printing to acrylic painting. To gel printing to copper foiling. Anything you want is there. Now, if I’m interested in one of these workshops to see what’s available,
01:53
we can go and check it out, like as on our website or? We have got everything on the TRI booking platform. Oh, yep. So.
02:02
there is an address that we can leave with you or do you want to say that now? Well, I’ll say it now. What’s here somewhere? Here it is. Oh no, we’ll put it on the podcast, Glenn. We’ll put it on the podcast. So much simpler. Watch the podcast. Yeah, wonderful. But it’s so exciting. Now, was this obviously an innovation of yourself to bring all this together? Yes. Was there anything that inspired you or prompted you to think, we need to do this, I want to do this or? Well, I’m a traveling artist as well. I used to live in Ipswich for a very long time until four years ago.
02:31
and then I moved a bit further west. And just from my own travels and traveling away to do creative weekends for other towns, I’ve never experienced anything like this in Ipswich, Toowoomba or the Lockheed Valley. There you go, this is the first people. So, because it is a saturated weekend just of workshops, creative workshops. So…
02:57
given that I live in the Lockie Valley now, unfortunately for Ipswich that I’m not here any longer. If you live in Ipswich, you can still go to this. Don’t feel like it’s just for Lockie Valley residents. No, that’s right. And we welcome all the surrounding communities. I mean, that’s fantastic. Yeah. Because, you know, OK, it’s not available here, but it’s not that far up the road to Lockie Valley. Where it’s being held is only 20 minutes from Black Soil. Ah, so just down the road. So it’s a very close drive. Yeah, now it’s um…
03:24
With the workshops and everything, it’s through the Lassie Group, which is the Lockyer Valley Art Society, which is quite exciting. It’s great to see this happening. Yes. But I think for me, when I look at the list of things, I’m like, wow, there’s so many things to do, but you don’t have to be experienced. These are for beginners at a beginner level. Absolutely. So don’t think it’s, I can’t do it because I’ve never done resin before. It’s for people
03:54
keep going with it, go further. Absolutely and the aim of the day is for people to try something they haven’t necessarily done before and you will take away finished items. So that’s really exciting too. Approximately what sort of cost all varies I guess. The cheapest workshop starts at $58 and keep in mind these are three to three and a half hour workshops, a lot of general ones are two
04:24
They include all the materials on the day as well. Well that’s really good. So $58 for a three hour workshop, materials included. That’s pretty dirt cheap. So that’s the starting point. And the dearest one that we’ve got, I think is sitting at 150, but that’s copper foiling, which is equal to your lead lighting. Yeah, copper’s expensive these days. That’s right. A little friend of mine just had all the copper, they have some.
04:48
came and stole all the copper wiring from the telephones. You know, that’s how copper’s idea. So these are fantastic and it’s really exciting. What are you going to sign up for, Glenn? I’m just interested. If I did, I see I love alcohol ink or jelly print.
05:04
So that’s a jelly print I want to get into. And it’s very versatile because you’ve probably got heaps and heaps of different textures, I would imagine, with all the arts that you’ve done over the years. Well I’m a bit of a mixed media artist so jelly print would fit in perfectly for what I do, but I’ve never done it so that would be something I’d be really interested in doing. But there’s just so much, the list is quite long, leather work, mosaic.
05:29
Mandela, okay, echo printing is another thing I really love. And can I also say we’ve got an awesome, one of your awesome Ipswich tutors coming out to tutor. Who have we got? Marty. Oh, Marty, oh, I love Marty, she’s wonderful. She’s doing the weaving, and she’s also doing the alpha-holic. So the last workshop I did, she was one of my…
05:53
I keep saying the word, victim. She came and did her work and she’s so lovely. And she’s so great at the weaving workshop. She does beautiful work. I’ve actually had friends who have done it. And the piece she get is really quite a stunning little piece. So the artworks you take away are worth more than anything you’ll pay for the workshop. So fantastic. Fantastic. You said you were a travelling artist. What type of arts were you involved in?
06:22
I’m a mixed media artist as well. So for me… You just won me, that’s my favourite. No, I’m a mixed media artist. I often say to my mother, I wish you… I was just…
06:34
an artist that did one thing, like just painted or embroidery or whatever. That’s boring. But no, it’s a million things and… Look, I don’t know how artists can just sit there and do the same thing over and over. So I’m a bit like you, I’ll do a bit of mixed media, then I might do a bit of painting. I make these crazy sculptures out of dead dolls and all that sort of thing. So yeah, it’s… And we probably need to talk, Lyn, about those dead dolls because that just brings me to one of the… Just derp.
07:04
It’s disturbing. Well, Rosemary. No, we can talk about it now. It’s okay. The psychiatrist said I’m okay. But one of the mediums that I’m actually doing as a tutor over this weekend is called Power Tex. Oh. And it’s a medium that you can’t buy in a shop anywhere in Australia. It’s only done through a tutor that has been trained in it. And it’s like a fabric sculpting medium. Oh, yes. And it’s a glue, a hardener.
07:33
And when we mix it with a pulp it becomes a clay. So it’s very versatile. Oh. But.
07:39
I could help you with your dead dolls. Well the funny thing is Rosewood Choeve actually asked me to be the guest artist this year and I was really stoked. I thought oh I’m gonna be a guest artist. But she said, oh no, we don’t want your paintings. We want all your dead, yeah, your crazy doll things. Because we want to know how you think. They’ll never get how you think. I think they’re gonna scare some kids though. They’re quite psycho. Don’t want to know what’s going on in that head. Exactly.
08:09
with using found objects and things like that. And yeah, so. That’s, and that’s the basis of PowerTex. We recycle and upcycle. Yeah, and I love that. And recycling, upcycling is two of my favorite things. And we need to do it in this world today. But look, we’re gonna give it a short break and stay with us. Don’t go away. I’d love to. And come back. All right, we’re gonna come back for part two of getting our arts into gear on this Tuesday morning. Back with more in a moment.
00:00
We are back getting our arts into gear Tuesday morning part two with Glenn Smith and Muds Thanks for coming in Time now to get some details. How can we do this? How can we go if you’re watching our podcast just scroll down scroll down and you’ll see all the details They were to contact but the main thing as I said before you
00:24
have to book, you just can’t turn up. But there’s so many choices, so go there and check it out. And I think you’re guaranteed to have a great day. And we’d love you to come because it’s not just about the workshops, Glenn. There’s demos on the day, there’s raffles, there’s food, there’s hot, real barista coffee, there’s a van on site. Oh, there you go. You’re one me at food. Mini pop-up store. Yeah, so there’s more than just the ground. Also, there’s more than just the workshops. So people can probably turn up if they’d like
00:54
it out but not actually do it. No it would be a bit hard only because the day is very structured. Okay yep. So if you want to be part of it you gotta go and again check out the website, get your bookings in and do it that way. Yep yep yep. I’m getting the finger there for you. Yeah it’s going down. It was down. Yeah yeah. Jeez I tell you it’s a hard fella. It’s gonna look like a Coles commercial soon. Watch out. It’s so fantastic.
01:24
But as a, yeah, and talking about that, have you done anything to do with the shows or anything like that? Do you ever enter into any of the shows or the students? That’s always been a goal. But doing my own art, the workshops have taken precedence in my life and I seem to be teaching now more than doing. More than anything. Well, as we just come off the Ipswich show last weekend. I did see the pictures. They looked amazing. It was amazing. I was so impressed with the standard of the work this year.
01:54
and um yeah it was people you reckon did we beat brookfield uh
01:58
Actually I think we did, you know. Oh good. So Brookfield were actually calling for more entries and I was saying, no, we got too many entries. So, and news, good news is, is next year, Brookfield have finally decided to do the weekend after the It’s Switch show. Oh good. So I thought, well. So you get in first. So yeah, we get in first. I was gonna do rude gestures, but I won’t. Yeah, good luck to you Brookfield. But you know, it was so good. It was so, we had over just under 300 paintings.
02:28
and I think 240 photos and Art and Barq had about 50, which is an interesting traditional artwork. And the number of people that come up during the show going, how do I be part of this next year? And I’m like, oh yeah, I won’t have to like make boran steel to get people to do it. Well, I know Lauren went through a little bit of a walk, our very own Loz went through a bit of a walk through. Yeah, look, it was just fantastic.
02:58
The show society staff were so helpful and wonderful. You know, so next year it’s going to be bigger and better. So yeah, who knows? Absolutely. The arts in Eapswich over the last 10 or 15 years has, it’s incredible. It’s grown incredibly. We’ve got such an amazing group of talented people in this city. The main thing is…
03:22
we need to nurture our new and beginning people and bring them up, give them stepping stones, with workshops, because how are they going to learn and feel what they can do and feel part of it? I think the difference between hip switching and a lot of the towns is you can join at a beginner’s level and feel part of the art scene, which is what I really like.
03:50
And we’ve got to keep that going. Yeah. Yeah, we’ve got to keep that going. The mayor is magnificent in supporting the arts and culture in Ipswich. And we do have a lot of new councillors now. So we’ve got to train them to understand how wonderful it is as well, which has always been a challenge. It is hard getting people to understand us creative sometimes. Especially when they’re not in themselves and they’re sports-orientated. They don’t understand the importance of art and culture and what it means to so many people.
04:20
and for the mind. The mind, social, therapy and everything like that. So yeah, so we got to work on these people and you get them in Brad, you should have a chat with them when they’re here. Oh, we do, trust me. That just once a week is enough, trust me. I think you’re keeping it quite nice, gee. Well, thank you Brad so much for having me. No, thank you. Thank you for coming in. Thanks for having me. And we’ll be back next week.
04:48
with Sparky and Crocky for more Getting Our Arts End of Gear. Good to see you again, mate.
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