2025 Artist-in-Residence Recipients Announced
Craft + Design Canberra is thrilled to announce that Hannah McKellar and Michele Grimston have been selected as the 2025 Artists-in-Residence. This competitive program undergoes a rigorous review by a committee of Accredited Professional Members of Craft + Design Canberra, representing diverse craft and design mediums.
For 18 years, we have collaborated with the ACT Parks and Conservation Service to offer residencies that explore the intersection of craft and nature. The residency provides artists with solitude and space for creative reflection, culminating in an exhibition at Craft + Design Canberra.
In 2025, the research partner will be the National Zoo & Aquarium (NZA), offering a two-week research period focused on conservation, including a guided tour of the Bushland Aviary and behind-the-scenes experiences with Zookeepers. This partnership allows artists to explore the theme of "Rewilding," a progressive conservation approach aimed at restoring ecosystems through natural processes.
Following the research period, the artists will spend three weeks at Cinerea Cottage, surrounded by Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve’s natural beauty. Since 2006, artists have found this residency profoundly transformative, offering space to investigate, reflect, and generate new work.
Sydney based textile artist, Hannah McKellar will use the residence program for “documenting rewilding areas and species present. I will create botanical embroidery on a linen map of the area, transforming and ‘rewilding’ it. Additionally, I will develop small free-standing sculptural 'landscapes' reflecting the National Park's atmosphere, colours, flora, and fauna.” Hannah's hand-embroidered soft sculptures are influenced by cartography and mapping systems, often resembling topographic maps or landforms, or bodies of water.
Visual artist and community cultural development practitioner Michele Grimston will use this opportunity to “deepen the resonance of my relationship to the ecosystems that support me, and to further my explorations of my own place within them. I will do this by creating a new body of work which builds on my work Learning to Hold Sacred.” Michele is interested in the ritual of creating slowly and sustainably – exploring ways that investing our time, attention and care in things can create objects of great meaning and value. She also examines the role of these laborious creative processes in personal, spiritual and social wellbeing.
The residency will be followed by an Open Day at Cinerea Cottage in the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve on Saturday 5 April 2025, where the artists will host creative workshops. Stay tuned for more details so you don't miss this great opportunity to participate in the workshops!
In 2026, the artists will present their work in the annual Artist-in-Residence group exhibition at Craft + Design Canberra.
Congratulations to Hannah and Michele!
Follow the artists:
Hannah McKellar
Website: hannahmckellar.com
Instagram: @hannnahmckellar
Michele Grimston
Website: michelegrimston.com
Instagram: @michelegrimstonart
Follow our social media, news page, and newsletter to track the artists’ progress throughout the residency.
HANNAH MCKELLAR, PUDDLES, 2021. PHOTO BY LINDA WARLOND
