Online Come Make with Us #1

This pre-recorded workshop features artists Julia Robinson and Luke Thurgate. Both presenters will suggest ways of thinking through art making and the importance of practice and experimentation. A hands-on practical component is included during the session so make sure you have your materials ready.

Materials list

Please source and print three or more images of artworks (multiples printouts at varying scales may be fun). Ideally one should be a contemporary work and the others from a range of historical periods.These will form the basis of a collage exercise. Consider having something figurative/representational and something spacial/formal.
Tip: Source your images from either AGSA's Online Collection or The Met
Additional collage material (other found images)
A4 sheet of paper, scissors, glue stick
Basic drawing materials (graphite, charcoal, eraser, drawing paper) A few sheets of white paper, newsprint or butchers’ paper (A3 or larger)
Masking tape
Pencil and pen or permanent marker
A selection of small objects to choose from. Suggested scale and complexity of a coffee mug, shoe, water bottle, small ornament, vase, lamp base, camera, teapot etc.
Optional: Sheets or rolls of patterned paper (e.g. leftover wrapping paper)
Optional: piece of calico or cotton fabric (patterned or plain, approx. 1/2 square metre to a square metre) and pins

Julia Robinson's Presentation

Luke Thurgate's Presentation

Julia Robinson

Julia Robinson (b. 1981) is based in Adelaide, the city in which she was born and raised. Her works of art explore universal themes of growth and decay but through the particular lens of European folklore. Robinson is fascinated by curious social behaviours surrounding morality and mortality, such as superstition, ceremonial rituals and the customs of cautionary tales.

Robinson’s sculptures and installations reflect these interests in a material sense too. She frequently borrows from European historical costuming and Elizabethan-era sewing and pattern-making techniques to create her sculptures. The results are highly detailed, fastidious and labour-intensive installations that combine elements from ceremonial costumes with references to animals and plants or abstracted forms that allude to the human body.

Julia Robinson Instagram

Julia Robinson Website

Luke Thurgate

Luke Thurgate is an artist and educator based in Sydney. He studied at the University of Newcastle, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art in 2007. He is currently completing a Master of Fine Art at the National Art School where he also teaches drawing. Before moving to Sydney, Luke was a lecturer and public programs manager at Adelaide Central School of Art. He has held exhibition and education programming roles at the Art Gallery of South Australia and Newcastle Art Gallery.

Luke’s practice re-appropriates cultural signifiers used in the construction and deconstruction of identity. He is interested in a range of tensions that exist in contemporary figurative art making and explores these through sculptures, paintings and drawings. His work references masculinity, violence, romance and death.

Luke has exhibited extensively in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. He was the inaugural artist in residence at Burra Regional Art Gallery and has also done residences at Seymour College and Art Lab Australia. He has been a finalist in numerous art prizes including the 2020 Tom Bass Figurative Sculpture Prize, the 2019 Dobell Drawing Prize and the 2017 Whyalla Art Prize. Luke is represented in NSW by .M Contemporary.

Luke Thurgate Website

Luke Thurgate Instagram