Getting your art in a gallery is one thing, getting it on a six-metre high banner in one of the most high-profile locations in Canberra is another.
Under the guidance of Alison Alder, former artistic director of the Megalo Print Studio, artists from the Hands on Studio, who all have varying disabilities, have seen their work unfurled on the walls of Reconciliation Place on Queen Elizabeth Terrace, across from the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin.
The Hit Print! installation will be officially launched on Saturday by ACT Arts Minister Tara Cheyne but the work - on 6.3-metre banners, to be exact - has been in place for a few days, thrilling the artists.
"I just wanted to see it and touch," one of the artists, Margaret McEvoy, said as she viewed the work in situ for the first time.
"It certainly dresses up the place," fellow artist Moira Nelson said, with a laugh.
The project was one of three commissions funded by ArtsACT and facilitated by Canberra art biennial contour556, which returns this October.
Contour556 curator Neil Hobbs said the festival wanted to collaborate with community organisations and the Hit Print! venture had been a great success.
"Oh, it's fantastic. Looks amazing," he said.
The project drew from the talent of the artists at the Hands on Studio, which is run by Catholic Care to give access to art to people with varying disabilities.
Alison Alder, former director of Megalo and retired head of print media and drawing at the ANU School of Art, came on board to offer her expertise and guide the project, which was funded through the creative recovery and resilience program.
The artwork was inspired by each artist's rumination on the COVID pandemic, but it often morphed into other areas of their life as they brainstormed ideas before the art was digitally enlarged and printed on to the banners.
Artists Moira Nelson and Ariel Kaufman both ended up including a tribute to a parent who had died recently. Ms Nelson found a copy of Gray's Anatomy, owned by her mother, a physiotherapist, and drew from that for her work. Mr Kaufman included his dad's walking stick in his print. His father was also an artist and he fulfilled his dad's ambition for Ariel to have his own artwork on display. And how.
The group of artists say they enjoy meeting each Wednesdays for three hours at the Hands on Studio, bouncing ideas off each other and socialising as well as producing artwork.
Alison Alder said she also gained new perspective from the process of working with other artists on the project.
"It was actually very liberating because my work is a bit prescribed, a bit tight and a bit anxious and to see how everyone worked on something and then we came together in this one artwork, it was very dynamic," she said.
"Each person had different skills, a different way of working and a different way of thinking so the challenge was how to put that all together in four banners and I think it was really successful."
The Hit Print! banners will be on display until August 16.
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