A Strange Garden grows at RACV Goldfields Resort

From December 17 to February 26, ArtHouse at RACV Goldfields Resort will host an exhibition and series of school holiday workshops by Castlemaine based artist Eliza-Jane Gilchrist.

Strange Garden is an exhibition of cardboard sculptures that will create abstract ‘gardens’, drawing attention to the repetitive patterns that build life and complexity in the natural world.

During the life of the exhibition, visitors are invited to respond by producing their own drawings of the animals or imaginary creatures that live within this garden wonderland.

From January 16 to 24, Eliza-Jane will also facilitate school holiday workshops inspired by the exhibition.

During the free workshops, children aged 7 to 13 will make a 3-D cardboard plant to start their own Strange Garden at home. Accompanying adults are also welcome to try their hand at creating their own cardboard plant.

RACV Goldfields Resort Manager, Bowen Kress, believes the resort’s natural beauty will inspire the Strange Garden workshops.

“ArtHouse is a multipurpose building for exhibitions, workshops, and artist residencies. It supports artists, local communities and guests to have exceptional art experiences and promotes tourism in regional Victoria,” Mr Kress said.

“Eliza-Jane’s exhibition and school holiday workshops will draw inspiration from the natural environment surrounding the resort and the wildlife that calls it home.”

Artist Eliza-Jane Gilchrist has designed the school holiday workshops to teach young artists about sustainability and their relationship with nature.

“I work with cardboard to investigate our relationship with nature and to question what we value,” Ms Gilchrist said.

“I build these sculptures in cardboard because it is manufactured, it is ubiquitous, not inherently beautiful and is considered 'rubbish'. Cardboard is what we turn trees into; it is dead organic matter.

“I draw onto the surface to transform the cardboard further, lavishing detail onto the bland, flat brown. These sculptures are memorials to plants that once were.”

To book a place at the Strange Garden workshops visit https://bit.ly/strangegardens Places are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. Children are welcome to attend with or without an accompanying adult.