Art Exhibition 2022: Connection

At the beginning of this year Bayley House artists were able to gather and connect in person for the first time in many months. Together, they took part in a vote to decide on a theme that could steer this year’s art exhibition. After experiencing the many challenges that COVID-19 brought to us all, the theme of ‘Connection’ resonated with many and became a focus for their creative process. As a result, this exhibition is a space to make visible our questions, thoughts, and conversations about how we connect.

Before creating these artworks, we walked, explored movement, shared stories and special objects, visited personally significant places, had conversations, and journaled, using these activities as catalysts for deeper reflection.

Through creating these artworks, we have come to know more about how we feel connected in the world and each other. As we connected through creativity, some dominant themes emerged. These included connection to our community, nature, special relationships, places we live and sharing food. While themes did emerge, it is significant to note that many of the artworks hold deeply personal stories. In making the artworks, our artists experimented with a variety of different mediums. This included collage, watercolour, dyeing, stitching and textiles work, acrylic and oil painting.

Our aim is for these artworks to come together and create a feeling, raise new questions and honour feeling connected.

In ode to the many themes and experiences Bayley House artists explored this year, we share with you a list of words we identified to describe connection:

Family, friends, cake, recipes, café, tea-time, coffee, nature, flowers, neighbourhood, community, sea-side, animals, pets, love, cake, library, street, feelings, farm, culture, football, music, home, romance, travel, bowling, dog, cooking, buildings city, swimming, laughter, markets, fairs, feeling safe, local, teamwork, movies and TV shows, memories, shops, farm, AFL, bus, hearts, hands, beach, trust, valued, joyful, group…

Our celebration evening is this Friday 2 December at Bayside Council. This is also our evening to celebrate International day of People with Disability, which is this Saturday 3 December – please RSVP here.

You can also view our online gallery here.