Exhibition Archive

Exhibiting Artists: Betra Fraval, Erika Gofton, Ilona Nelson, Jacqui Stockdale, Sarah Tomasetti

The Anxiety Project brings together five Melbourne-based professional artists with an interest in how art practice interacts with a lived experience of anxiety. Initially displayed at The Art Room in Footscray, The Dax Centre is honored to present the second iteration of the exhibition to further explore how anxiety manifests and operates within the creative process. Within this exhibition, Fraval, Gofton, Nelson, Stockdale and Tomasetti illuminate the complexities of anxiety, from its unrecognized presence to its management and ongoing impact on artistic practice. The artists invite viewers to traverse the emotional landscape they've crafted, prompting reflection on the role of art in both healing and as a source of anxiety itself.   

The life of an artist is a constant uncertainty: from the blank canvas and creative blocks to unemployment and scrutiny. Art is not a choice; it is a calling. The connection with one’s practice is a personal, non-verbal dialogue with materiality. And, in essence, while anxiety creates hurdles to this path, it also serves as fertile ground. Despite the challenges of being an artist, art offers a profound healing power and can be a motivating force.   

Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health condition in Australia, with one in six Australians experiencing anxiety in their lifetime. Many people have found engaging in creative activities can be valuable in managing anxiety and improving mental wellbeing. This exhibition aims to create a lasting impact on how anxiety is understood, managed, and transcended within the creative community. 

Exhibiting Artists: Isabella Duncan, Jacqueline King, Carla Krijt, Emma Mcvoy, Rosa Niran, NEG, Renee Sutton and Elizabeth Turnbull 

In a world that can feel overwhelming at times there is a place that exists within us all that can offer respite, renewal, and hope. Creativity is a portal to the realm of the imagination, through it we can find solace, inspiration or be transported to faraway places. 

By engaging in a creative act, in whatever form that may take, we can access an inner world which allows us to connect with ourselves deeply and honestly, explore our potential, discover new and different ways to express ourselves and bring our dreams and ideas to life. Through creativity, as a viewer or maker, we can be transported to incredible places - places we have been, places we would like to go or places we can only imagine. Creativity can be a sanctuary, every brushstroke, note, word or movement can be a meditation and a celebration of our own creative potential. 

Featuring paintings, drawings and sculptures, Creative Sanctuary showcases eight artists from the Cunningham Dax Collection who have found solace and inspiration in their own creative sanctuaries. Their works invites us to step into their world and experience the power of creativity to transform, transport and heal.  

Exhibiting Artists: Tony Dowling and Leeann Preddy

Land and Seascapes brings together two artists, Leeann Preddy and Tony Dowling, from Arts Access Victoria’s SRS (Supported Residential Services) Studios.  

Leeann is a Melbourne-based artist who has been practising for many years. She draws inspiration from Australian Landscape images using references such as photographic books and Australian art history books.  She also uses memory and personal experiences to develop her work. Leeann grew up in the bush on rainforest properties and learned a lot about plants and wildlife as a child. There are so many different species of gumtrees and they are all unique in their own beautiful way. Through these works she hopes to capture the way they are…every tree is different, like every human is different. 

“I think it’s my therapy, it takes me out of my thoughts and into the zone of what I’m drawing.” 

For Tony, art is also therapeutic, an exercise involving learning and expression. He paints landscapes from reference books and pictures in magazines and is exploring adding fine detail into his paintings. He spent his early manhood surfing the West Coast of Victoria and his great love of the ocean is reflected in his works exploring the beauty of land, sea and sky. “I am really learning to appreciate my own art.” 

Land and Seascapes invites the viewer to travel through the trees, across the sea and allow their minds to meander through all the places in between. 

Exhibiting Artist: Aleshanee Faery

Aleshanee Faery The Artist invites the viewer to meditate upon this sea of Blue. Aleshanee’s creative process consists of designing a pattern then carving it into a triangular rubber block. She works across several artworks simultaneously, making aesthetic decisions as she prints. The technique of repetitive block printing results in unrepeatable unique works.

Through Aleshanee’s creative practice she seeks a state of flow to refocus awareness away from chronic pain. Surrounding herself with shades of blue helps to improve her wellbeing and reminds her of the sea and sky.

Exhibiting Artist: Alana Winter, Angelyka Nowak, Bronwyn Handfield, Callum Watson, Christele “Chrissy” Brunet, Dorotea Regner, J.B, Liam San Jose, Lianne Yearbury, Lynne Kells, Maggie Bell, Martin Weatherhead, Michela Cardamone, Poppy Egan, Romy Durrant, Samantha Martin and Steven Groves

Artists don't see themselves as finished after completing a project; they view their creative process as a continuous evolution which can include explorations, deviations, celebrations, challenges, and re-starts. It may include going back to the drawing board more than once, or perhaps throwing the board out altogether and drawing on the floor. Similarly, recovering from mental health issues is rarely a linear journey, and it's possible to experience relapses, forks in the road, obstacles, and setbacks. The creative experience of an artist parallels that of the experience of being human - we are all works in progress. 

WIP, or ‘work in progress’, is a group exhibition of artists from The Studio Dax program at The Dax Centre. This program was established to create a supportive environment for individuals with a lived experience of mental health issues to engage in artmaking, learning and sharing. Having operated for just over a year, the program has succeeded in providing a nurturing space for artists to flourish. The program and the artists are still in the process of learning and growing, with their potential leading them forward. The aim of this exhibition is not to showcase fully resolved works, where potential has been fully realised, but rather to capture a moment in time of the artists and the program. As a result, the exhibition represents people, artists, and a program, all of whom are works in progress on a journey towards what they can become. 

Exhibiting Artist: James Dickson, NEG, Patricia Stewart, Belle and Damian Michaels

Horror vacui is Latin phrase meaning ‘fear of empty space’. As an art term, it came to prominence during the Victorian era as criticism of the excessive use of ornament in design. In Physics, it has been linked to the ideas of Aristotle who stated that "nature abhors an empty space”. Dr. Cunningham Dax employed the term as a descriptor when interpreting works by artists with lived experience of mental health issues, attributing it as evidence of pathology.  

Today, Horror vacui is synonymous with how we live our lives. A constant stream of content at our fingertips, filling every moment with ‘something’, so ‘nothing’ recedes into the background. Using works from The Cunningham Dax Collection, this exhibition looks at how we perceive, use and interpret space. Space is both a temporal and physical phenomenon that everyone reacts to differently. Its emptiness can fill some with dread, while others see endless opportunity.