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| The World's Worst Wagga Guild at Gunyah, September 2026 From left: Fiona Waters, Owen Lewis, Lois Waters, Emma Louise Hayman |
~ Emma "... I arrived at Gunyah fresh off a plane after a stint of work in Mparntwe, and heavy with the grief of losing a close friend not long before. Worimi country was so beautifully welcoming and I was looking forward to a couple of days to slow down and reset before the rest of the crew arrived. It was cold and windy and I immediately started gathering kindling for the fire, looking forward to a cold night or two.
Down at the jetty the water was wild; boats bopped dramatically and the water splashed at my feet. At the end of the jetty I felt like I could be blown away, but back inside the house the sun was warm. I spent the first couple of mornings basking by the window, and nights by fire. Daytimes I was at the local op shops searching for art and craft supplies, and back home finding every possible nook that I could turn into a tiny studio. I quickly settled in to what would be another whole week of making art with friends. What a luxury to exist in this new, slow time and space, away from any demands of the real world.
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| Em's jetty studio |
Fi was next to arrive from Naarm, and with her came some beautiful warm weather. Over the next few days we took ourselves into town, ditching our maps and finding coffee, beaches, a farmers market, more op shops and a local art and craft store. At ‘home’ we were own art journeys, coming together for meals and to share what we’d been working on. Kites very quickly became a theme of our residency.
As the weather had cleared we were able to spend sunset at the jetty. I was visited by two fireflies, and I made it my mission to find where their friends were in the cove. (Other visitors during our stay included a tawny frogmouth, many water birds and a friendly echidna who hung out with us at the jetty for a good hour or so).
When Lois & Owen arrived we ventured out to visit the incredible time capsule of the Port Stephens Shell Museum and searched op shops for more creative supplies. Soon enough our routine had been set: Mornings we would head to the jetty to watch the sun rise and spot dolphins. During the day we created, cooked, ate, laughed, napped, swam, sang and in the evenings we’d be on the lookout for fireflies before dinner.
We spent the last few hours of our final day on the jetty flying the kites we had made - all of them flew and only one ended up in the water. We’re excited to expand on this kite project next time we’re able to come back together.
I left with a renewed energy for creating, and even though I fell straight back in to full time work I have been able to keep up with making something, big or small, every day. ..."
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| Kites in flight |
~ Fi "... This residency on Worimi Country at Gunyah was so special to have the time to connect with the other artists and make work side by side. Our group live interstate, on Gadigal and Bidjigal Land, Ngunnawal and Ngambri Land, and Wurundjeri Land so previously when we have been preparing for an exhibition, or collaborative artwork we have had to connect online and via post, and then only have the install and show time in the same place. Being able to have slow time together in the same place and house was a real shift in connecting with each other outside of an administration space of installing a show and coordinating travel.
I arrived when Emma had already settled in, and it was inspiring to be able to see all the nooks she had set up with different projects and cosy spaces. We had a day of going around the local area, and stopping at all the op shops to gather supplies for our own projects, but also for making kites together. After this day Emma and I locked in and worked on our separate projects for 10 hours straight, only stopping to come together and eat and talk about what we were excited about. This continued when Lois and Owen arrived. Having four of us working on independent projects all around the Gunyah house, and down on the jetty and in the rockpools, and then meeting up for dinner and swims is such a unique experience that it is hard to make time for in regular life, and harder to make time for when you live far from each other.
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| Fi and her fish |
Over the time, I noticed that I was drawn to fish motifs. I saw so many tiny ones from the jetty, found a rubber fish ice mould at the op shop, and started to make lots of beaded fish shapes to attach to my quilt and I liked that the environment could let me lean into the repetition of this imagery. Across this residency I made two full patchwork quilt fronts, something that can often take me months to do when I consider how long it takes me to drop into that creative head space, and also have the physical space to spread out and leave all the fabrics I want to use out and visible for days on end.
I am very grateful for the slowness, creativity and ways to connect provided by Gunyah, and looking forward to future collaborations with Emma, Lois and Owen, and when Ruby and other artists can join us in making kites and other textile creations! ..."
~ Lois "... I started the residency with a loose idea of playing with and introducing colour into my work. I usually work with a restricted colour palette, which I think comes from working in printmaking where you generally start with a black key plate. I spent the week doing loose sketches in watercolour, but dedicated much more time to looking than actively drawing.
It was lovely to slow down and notice how much things are moving even when it feels like you're somewhere very still. This feeling translated into some gentle but energetic drawings playing with colour, line, layering and movement. I've developed a new way of drawing that I don't think would have emerged outside of this context.
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| Lois and her kite |
I loved seeing the fireflies at dusk, flickering and zipping around in a strange and surprisingly awkward way. On the first night we arrived, we went for a walk hoping to find them, but were a little deflated to only see one or two. On our way back, Fi spotted a swarm of them above a giant mulch pile directly opposite the house. I quickly settled into a new routine, getting up early in the morning and walking down to the pier in the hope of seeing dolphins. We saw them a few times very close, but most of the time was spent looking intently at the water trying to make out whether shapes in the distance were fins or waves. Both of these things turned up in my drawings, as broken lines and shapes that are hard to make out.
Over the course of the residency it felt like we all initially took times settling back into our own practice before we came together in the second last day to make kites. As with our previous collaborations, we all approached kite making in different ways. I made a painted kozo paper kite, took it down to the pier for a test flight, then immediately let go of the string and sent it straight into the water. In the spirit of making do, this quick dip (and a few small punctures from the stick I used to retrieve it from the water) made it more stable in the wind when we flew our kites together on the last day. ..."
Lois Waters
~ Owen "... The restful week at Gunyah was a welcome retreat from the everydayness of life. I spent the time in deliberate slowness, slow cooking, slow thinking, slow reading, slow making. It made my time there stretch out to the horizon, and allowed ideas and conversations to grow and spark and subside on their own time. Sharing it with friends felt all the more special.
I came home feeling a calm certainty about my practice and path as an artist. Gunyah felt like a genuine luxury, time and space to exist with your thoughts and great company to discuss them with. ..."
Owen Lewis
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| Owen's window studio |
