Why Comics Are Important to My Work

This is Tonya and Trent

At RESQ, a community cooperative in Cunnamulla, we work with children to grow, tend and harvest food. In this comic painting on a large masonite board, Tonya and Trent are showing the kids how to carefully pick the produce that they will use to have a great big cook-up.

Throughout the exhibition running at the Paroo Shire Information Centre Gallery, you will see a whole swag of images pertaining to this learning. The sunflowers with butterflies and bees that you see on various products that we have collected or made, all speak to the idea of cooperative learning. We are learning how to fertilise and care for plants, while we are learning about how nature capitalises on the habits of birds, bees and butterflies to fertilise and maintain mother nature and her harvests.

This canvas can hang on the wall or sit on the table. It is intended to capture the warmth and energy that comes with the growth of sunflowers, and the activity of the insects that are attracted to them. I surround myself with beauty so as to nurture my own energy. I draw on the warmth of the sun.

This coffee cup holder has been painted as an example for a project at school. It has eight spaces for coffee cups but would also make an attractive addition to a kitchen cupboard shelf. We are teaching students how to sell products so this painted artefact is available on the Bluethumb Gallery Website Practical in nature, this artwork keeps with the sunflower theme but this time there are bees. It is intended to capture the warmth and energy that comes with the growth of sunflowers and the activity of the insects that are attracted to them.