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HEATHERMATTHEW

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Unlock My Heart 2025 - handmade paper collage

Conceal and Reveal

July 20, 2025 in Creativity, Paper

Art has a way of revealing larger truths. I’ve been using a technique of conceal and reveal on some new artworks which has led me to think about how this reflects the state of world matters; political, environmental and humanitarian. I’ve become an excavator, discovering what stands out amongst the busy-ness of visual stimulation.

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Tags: handmade paper, collage

Beginnings: adding some paper collage to my argyrotype print made in Scotland, 2022

Beginnings and Endings

July 13, 2025 in Collage

Where to begin and how will your creative story progress? I’ve found it easier to start new artworks from the ‘seed activators’ of works you have already made and liked. It’s similar to following a story structure, the ‘once upon a time’ that ushers in a magical engagement with the imagination.

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Tags: collage, trust the process

Occupy 2012 - my artist books using posters from the 2011 democracy protest posters sourced in Athens, Greece and manifestos of the ‘Occupy, movement.

Acts of Resistance

July 06, 2025 in Resilience, Artist Books

Artist books sit outside conventional artwork definitions. They can be 3D or 2D artworks, they can have a traditional book structure or look like a strange sculpture made from a variety of materials including melting ice. One thing they have in common is that they are acts of resistance.

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Tags: artist books, create through crisis
Black and sepia toned watercolour picture of a British Alpine goat

Fern the Goat - watercolour c2006

Of Goats and Visions

June 29, 2025 in Art, Creativity

How do you birth the future you want to see? For me it started with painting goats. Not any old goats, but my British Alpine goats we had in Victoria. They were my ticket to change my world from where I was then to where I am now. Becoming an architect of your world starts with a vision and builds from there.

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Tags: inspiration, future

Joyful Connections - detail of work in progress

Navigating Overwhelm

June 22, 2025 in Resilience, Paper

What to do when you are feeling overwhelmed? When your art (and life) are feeling stalled by the chaos of the world and you can’t find your way into creating joyfully. It’s times like this that I reach into my store of visual memories, like the image of bunting strung between the houses in a Mexican village. Colour and movement can provide the spark to keep hope alive.

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Tags: environment, create through crisis

Handmade paper torn into circles, the start of a thematic idea of paper and water

Start Somewhere

June 15, 2025 in Creativity, Paper

Beginning a new project can feel daunting. Where to start? For me it’s what I call creative chaos time, where ideas tumble around until I can find a single thread to follow. It’s a time of experimentation, trying out materials and methods until the project begins to fall into some kind of cohesive state.

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Tags: creativity, handmade paper

All hands on deck to sew toxic salmon effigies at the Bob Brown Foundation HQ.

Tribe

June 08, 2025 in Art, Australia

When you are part of a movement for social change it feels like you are in a large family tribe, all working towards a common goal. Art can be a powerful way to open people’s hearts and expand their thinking. Tribes grow as entities while growing their members. Art + activism = change.

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Tags: art exhibitions, Tasmania

Marking Time 2025 - mini artist book - cyanotype & ink on paper

Marking Time

June 01, 2025 in Artist Books, Time

I often get stuck when I’m trying to title my artworks. Sometimes you have to wait for the title to present itself, with often surprising results. Marking Time is a mini artist book which needed to take its own time to reveal its title and what it really is about.

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Tags: time, artist books

Landslide (detail) 2025 - artist book in wooden box

Uncertain Change

May 25, 2025 in Stones, Artist Books

How do we respond to accelerated change?. Everywhere we look the world is in a state of flux. This can bring on great anxiety or it can be seen as a time for new possibilities to emerge. As artists we can search for the seeds of renewal within the chaos all around. What we think is fixed and immobile is often only one state of being. Even the stones on mountains and the trees themselves move.

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Tags: artist books, change

High Seas, Rough Weather. 2025 10 x 10cm collage on canvas board.

Weathering the Storms

May 18, 2025 in Resilience, Collage

Creating art can be a tumultuous activity. Often things don’t turn out the way you hoped, or you can get stuck on an idea that doesn’t work. What to do to whether those rough creative seas? Collage is my go-to activity when ‘in-between’ projects.

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Tags: collage, create through crisis
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