'Renew Newcastle'...in Australia

Here at F6.Studios, we are lucky enough to be situated in the heart of what has been described by the Washington Post as 'the North's culture capital', with its historic bridges, beautiful architecture and numerous galleries and studios littered across the city. Commercial Union House, home of F6.Studios, has six floors of sheer talent and creativity, ranging from performing arts and games design to a variety of designer-makers at F6. 

Interestingly, on the other side of the world in Newcastle, Australia, there is an ongoing project (Renew Newcastle) which 'aims to find artists, cultural projects and community groups' to occupy disused buildings until they are 'commercially viable or redeveloped'. The project injects some much-needed excitement and vibrancy to Newcastle's decaying or vacant buildings, filling them with colour, creativity and inspiration. 'Renew Newcastle' is unique in that the project includes not only studio space, but various events and creative talks, skills workshops and gallery space, covering pretty much every aspect of the creative industry.

Their most recent exhibition which carries the theme of owls, birds, beauty queens and killer bees, named 'Winged Things' (at the Emporium Galleria), features recent works by local artists Sarah Louisa, Lu Quade and Jo Dyer shown below.

Sarah Louisa

Sarah Louisa's brand 'Paper Kitschen' demonstrates a fondness of paper and how it can be adapted into sculpture, collage and installations through the technique of hand-cutting, a tradition she has recently stumbled across. Her work shows an influence of pop-art with elements of Richard Hamilton or James Rosenquist with an appealing combination of imagery which gives a dreamlike effect to her art. Sarah sells both original and reproduction works online, at markets and also through local hand-made shops in Newcastle, Australia and Melbourne.

photo credit  Shana Dennis & Sarah Lousia

photo credit Sarah-Louisa

photo credit Sarah-Louisa

To see more of Paper Kitschen: http://www.paperkitschen.com


Lu Quade (Luke Wade)

Lu Quade is a local artist whose work is very much focussed on illustrative owls with quirky personalities. Unlike the standard patch-work style owls which have recently exhausted the high-street, Lu Quade's inspired characters include 'Mexican wrestler batowlman', butterfly owl and 'Blues owl' (as seen below). The motivation behind his illustrations was prompted following the birth of his daughter, so he could 'kick a video gaming habit' and 'engage in a more creative activity' with her. Since he has drawn hundreds of owls in a beautiful and distinctive fashion, with bold, intricate detail and selectively placed colour. His work can be viewed around the city pasted on walls, as stickers and even magnets.

all photo credits Luke Wade

Luke's illustrations can be seen on his Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LuQuArt


Jo Dyer

Jo's work combines drawing and painting for a delicate, multi-layered and romantic appearance, and she says of her own work "I've come to appreciate that my creativity can be a timid and unpredictable creature". The soft, smudgy rainbow colours compliment the fine linear illustrations, and the expressionist style of overlaid mark-making gives her work it's wonderfully playful quality. The thoughts behind Jo's work is the 'freedom from the every day complexities of human existence', which is often explored symbolically using birds. The past few years have seen Jo being very involved in 'Renew Newcastle' projects, including becoming co-founder of company 'Little Paper Cup'.

all photo credits Jo Dyer

To see more of Jo's work, check out her blog at: http://happilyeverafternoon.blogspot.co.uk

The information on this blogpost is just the tip of the inspiring iceberg that is 'Renew Newcastle'. If you are interested in finding out more about their projects and artists in residence, the website is http://renewnewcastle.org. Go take a look as there is plenty of exciting things to look at on the website, and there are even ways to get involved with the project.

Image credits to; Marni Jackson, Renew Newcastle, Luke Wade, Sarah Louisa, Jo Dyer