Easter Walking Art Retreat at Johanna Manor, Otway Forest, Victoria
31 March - 4 April 2024
The Easter Walking Art Retreat at Johanna Manor in the Otways, Gadubanud Country, was a wonderful time of walking, making, talking, eating delicious food, and more walking and making. A big thank you to Amy Tsilemanis and Julian Potter welcoming us to their beautiful property. They are the 'hosts with the most!' And a special thank you to Amy and Julian’s hardworking team of friends for their efforts to help create this special gathering.
Twelve of us stayed at the beautiful Johanna Manor where we met, walked with and learned from Richard Collopy, a local artist, Elder and Custodian of Gadubanud Country. We walked a section of the Great Ocean Walk in rain and lighting. Tiffany Titshall and Philomena Manifold gave artist's talks about their walks and artworks. Sharon Turley led a workshop in Breath & Breathing and Emma Hall read from her current performance work. We had a long walk on the Bennett Track to Wait Awhile Creek. Leonie Andrews led an Eco Printing workshop, Leo Lazarus led a Sensorial Writing workshop, and Kim made a brief appearance via video link to say hi. I led a walkshop called 'Rename the Place' and Amy made a beautiful Soundscape and played it as we walked the property in farewell. It was a special time of fun, creative inspiration, and friendship.
The Easter Retreat was a first-time event/experiment for the owners of Johanna Manor and for the Australian Walking Artists. Amy and I met in Prespe, at the Walking Art conference and both of us wanted to recreate a similar walking art experience (on a much smaller scale) of informal and formal discussion, presentation, walking, making, eating in Australia. As some of you may have seen on Instagram, the experiment was a great success. Everyone left Johanna Manor asking if we could do this again next year.
Explorations and creative responses of Australian Walking Artists Easter gathering in the Otways, regional Victoria.
Features: Gadubanud Traditional Custodian and Artist Richard Collopy. Hosts Amy Tsilemanis (audio storytelling, cross-artform) and Julian Potter (sociologist and Johanna farm manager). Other participants and contributors: Sharon Turley (singing) Tiffany Titshall (visual arts) Emma Mary Hall (theatre) Leonie Andrews (visual arts and textiles) Steve Lee (drawing) Min Manifold (geology, cross-artform) Leo Lazarus (poetry) Bruce Mowson (sound) The sheep! and all the other beautiful animals, trees and nature.