Elysha Rei is a Japanese-Australian visual artist and arts manager based in Brisbane, with a passion for providing opportunities and professional development for artists and communities. Since completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts, Rei has exhibited work, curated exhibitions and managed cultural spaces across Queensland as well as Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin, New Zealand Thailand and the US.

Rei’s experiences as an artist extend to independent exhibitions, art commissions and projects for clients such as Museum of Brisbane, Onespace Gallery, Brisbane City Council, Artisan, Redland City Council, QIC, Engage Arts, First Coat International Street Art Festival and Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery. She has also held roles as founder and Co-Director of the artist-run initiative Made Creative Space Toowoomba (2011-13), Director of the regional art gallery Dogwood Crossing in Miles (2012-13), and founder and Director of the international artist residency Sam Rit Residency, in Thailand (2013-17). She now holds a Master’s in Business Administration and is currently working to develop the first Education and Public Program at the Queensland State Archives. 

Elysha Rei is a Japanese-Australian visual artist and arts manager based in Brisbane, with a passion for providing opportunities and professional development for artists and communities. Since completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts, Rei has exhibited work, curated exhibitions and managed cultural spaces across Queensland as well as Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin, New Zealand Thailand and the US.

Rei’s experiences as an artist extend to independent exhibitions, art commissions and projects for clients such as Museum of Brisbane, Onespace Gallery, Brisbane City Council, Artisan, Redland City Council, QIC, Engage Arts, First Coat International Street Art Festival and Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery. She has also held roles as founder and Co-Director of the artist-run initiative Made Creative Space Toowoomba (2011-13), Director of the regional art gallery Dogwood Crossing in Miles (2012-13), and founder and Director of the international artist residency Sam Rit Residency, in Thailand (2013-17). She now holds a Master’s in Business Administration and is currently working to develop the first Education and Public Program at the Queensland State Archives. 

Brian Tucker

John Armstrong has served in a range of roles where he has been responsible for major initiatives in policy and industry development and export as well as large projects with an emphasis on business, sustainability, culture and community accountability and participation. John has maintained a critically engaged visual arts practice for over 40 years with 36 solo exhibitions, 10 shared exhibitions and 26 group exhibitions and has been selected for inclusion in 50 curated exhibitions. He was the first Australian artist to receive a First Prize in a major international exhibition, the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1973. His artwork has been selected to represent Australia in four major international exhibitions, including the Biennale de Paris. John’s artwork is represented in 16 major public and teaching collections throughout Australia including the Australian National Gallery and most State Galleries. He has recently been appointed as a Peer Assessor with Arts Queensland. After many years operating Harbinger Consultants, a cultural and economic development consultancy that has worked extensively in Queensland’s diverse regions, communities and cultural sectors, he has recently accepted the position of Art Centre Manager on Mornington Island.

Jaala Alex is a practicing artist working in photography, live performance and its documentation. As a commercial photographer her clients have ranged from Virgin Mobile Australia to Bianca Mavrick Jewellery. Jaala has worked in the Marketing and Communication departments in the arts sector for both not-for-profit organisations and large-scale institutions. Her professional focus is engaging digital audiences through social media.

To Be Advised

Dr. Rhi Johnson is a Toowoomba based artist and lecturer who works primarily in the fields of Printmaking, Artist’s Books and Mixed Media art.  She is interested in the formation of everyday narratives, and how these can be disrupted or subverted visually.  Rhi investigates visual cues that  can punctuate an environment, object or space of perceived meaning, and in doing so, may allude to subconscious methods of processing information.  She explores these through smaller scale book, paper and canvas works, through to large-scale mural works.

Karri McPherson was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to Australia soon after. She is a contemporary painter and muralist living in Toowoomba, Queensland and is undertaking a Bachelor of Creative Art at the University of Southern Queensland. Throughout 2017, she undertook a month-long residency learning how to translate her work onto a large scale, ultimately leading to her participation in the First Coat Festival. Her practice explores geometric art in relation to contemporary spatial confinements and through her hard-edge forms she seeks to break down the boundaries of perception. By actualising hard-edge forms within a public setting, McPherson seeks to understand the power that geometric street art has to infuse communities with the simplistic beauty of shape, form and colour.

Dr. Rhi Johnson is a Toowoomba based artist and lecturer who works primarily in the fields of Printmaking, Artist’s Books and Mixed Media art.  She is interested in the formation of everyday narratives, and how these can be disrupted or subverted visually.  Rhi investigates visual cues that  can punctuate an environment, object or space of perceived meaning, and in doing so, may allude to subconscious methods of processing information.  She explores these through smaller scale book, paper and canvas works, through to large-scale mural works.

Karri McPherson was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to Australia soon after. She is a contemporary painter and muralist living in Toowoomba, Queensland and is undertaking a Bachelor of Creative Art at the University of Southern Queensland. Throughout 2017, she undertook a month-long residency learning how to translate her work onto a large scale, ultimately leading to her participation in the First Coat Festival. Her practice explores geometric art in relation to contemporary spatial confinements and through her hard-edge forms she seeks to break down the boundaries of perception. By actualising hard-edge forms within a public setting, McPherson seeks to understand the power that geometric street art has to infuse communities with the simplistic beauty of shape, form and colour.

Adam Busby is an American born, Brisbane based Illustrator, Designer, Mural Artist and Design Lecturer. Constantly evolving and progressing, his work is graphic, bold and always pushing the line between design and illustration. Adam’s background is in fine art and design, which continues to influence his work in a very unique and profound way. Whether editorial, large scale murals, animation or products, Adam’s unique style cuts through the noise every time.

Leighann Ness Wilson is a designer and educator who has over 10 years’ experience in the design industry both locally and internationally, specialising in corporate interior design. As the inaugural STEAM Education Officer at QUT The Cube, Leighann was responsible for designing and delivering workshops to middle years students.  This interdisciplinary approach to pedagogy has remained central to Leighann’s practice as an education consultant who works across the primary and middle school sector directly with students and their educators.  

Mary Barron likes to employ traditional craft techniques in unusual ways often working with recycled materials particularly household waste materials. She developed and ran a Community Art Project in Logan City for which she received a RADF Grant. In 2016, Mary undertook an artist residency in Thailand working with ladies in the regional village of Sam Rit for two months to develop products made from local recycled materials and then taught the ladies the skills required to make them. Mary believes that when making art from recycled materials the work retains a memory of the materials’ original function, adding another layer of meaning to the work.

Leighann Ness Wilson is a designer and educator who has over 10 years’ experience in the design industry both locally and internationally, specialising in corporate interior design. As the inaugural STEAM Education Officer at QUT The Cube, Leighann was responsible for designing and delivering workshops to middle years students.  This interdisciplinary approach to pedagogy has remained central to Leighann’s practice as an education consultant who works across the primary and middle school sector directly with students and their educators.  

Born from the Oklahoma flatlands of farmers and spring thunderstorms, Jason Nelson stumbled into creating awkward and wondrous digital poems and net-artworks of odd lives, building confounding art games and all manner of curious digital creatures. Currently he professes Net Art and Electronic Literature at Australia’s Queensland College of Art within Griffith University in Brisbane.

Carl Steffan is a multi-disciplinary artist from Brisbane. Focussed on aerosol art, design, illustration and music production he has been honing his skills since 2001. Carl now works as one half of the marketing department at Ironlak, Australia’s biggest aerosol art company.