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Registered Mental Health Nurse, Artist and Art Therapist
RN, MA AThR
Lesley is a clinician with more than 25 years experience working with vulnerable adults and children. Initially trained as a children’s nurse she then moved into psychiatry working both within a large psychiatric hospital and a community mental health team, assessing and facilitating treatment for individuals and families in crisis as well as offering case management for people living with mental illness.

Lesley then returned to studies and received a masters degree in Art Psychotherapy. Since then she has been working in an Expressive Therapy Centre for children who have experienced trauma. Within this role she has worked alongside music, drama, dance and play therapists to provide a therapeutic group experience for children age 4-14. This role included centre based group work as well as outreach groups offered within the school setting.

Lesley is passionate about facilitating people to reach their full potential and to learn ways to cope with stress and adverse experiences. Her combination of 25 years of psychiatric nursing and 10 years experience in conducting group therapy make her well equipped to provide experienced psychological treatment with a warm and creative approach that encourages self-healing and empowerment.

email lesley.arttherapy@gmail.com

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Antonia Mrljak. Tutor of Willoughby Arts Centre

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I have been a watercolour artist for over 30 years and love to share my passion for watercolour painting through teaching. If you want ask me about art lessons, purchasing my artworks, where I teach... or absolutely anything at all!! - please visit my website. I would love to hear from you.

"I teach a loose approach to painting. Very much ‘less is more’. I like to have fun in my lessons and do not hold back when someone is not doing the right thing... In the nicest possible way of course! I certainly give lots of praise too. I try to give students confidence in their ability and believe that you only need basic drawing skills with watercolour. If the paint is properly applied, you will end up with a lovely painting."

website www.susiemurphie.com
Instagram @susiemurphiewatercolours

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Idris Murphy, one time head of Drawing at the National Arts School is a highly respected teacher. Murphy’s paintings dance along a line between figuration and abstraction while depicting a wholly unique vision of the Australian landscape. His works are represented in a distinguished group of National and International collections.

website idrismurphy.com
Facebook @idrismurphy

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Richard Newton. Tutor of Willoughby Arts Centre

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A Visual Artist for over 20 years, Yaeli Ohana has exhibited in commercial galleries in Sydney, Melbourne and Internationally. She has held numerous solo exhibitions, and holds a Master of Fine Art in Painting (Minoring in Art History) with Distinction, from the Pratt Institute, New York City.

Known as a highly imaginative and enthusiastic professional Visual Arts Educator, Yaeli has taught Painting and Drawing for over 20 years. She has worked as an Academic at the College of Fine Arts (UNSW), University of Technology Sydney and Nepean Tafe.

For over 13 years she has been an Artist Educator at the Brett Whiteley Studio and Art Gallery of New South Wales.

I always strive to develop comprehensive programs consistent with my knowledge of Contemporary, Experimental and Traditional Art Practice.

email ysohana@gmail.com
instagram @yaeli_ohana_artist


Q & A with Yaeli Ohana (August 2016)

1. What do you know about the Workshop Arts Centre?
I feel thrilled to be invited as a Visiting Artist, as I used to come to the centre many years ago as a child. My mother recognised my enormous appetite for art making and brought me to classes here, where I discovered new ways to draw, paint and work with clay. So the centre has a nice history for me.

2. What can people expect when they attend your workshop?
Participants of my abstract painting workshop can expect to come away using new techniques and feeling more confident handling paint. They will be encouraged to trust their instincts and explore their own unique visual voice. I will assist them in whatever they need to reach these goals. They can expect to have fun in the process too, I hope!

3. What currently inspires your work?
The horizon between ocean and sky inspires my latest body of work. The horizon, an ethereal meeting point, is where possibility lies. It’s the place where I can dream, wish, hope and be thankful for all I have. Here I find peace, presence, solitude, connection, mystery, and vast expanse. I connect here with nature and inner human experience, and the minute grains of sand I relate to the cells in our body. This simple experience of connection makes such a difference.

4. Have you any mentors or teachers that have influenced your practice?
I have had many mentors along the way to becoming an artist. Immediately coming to mind is Laura Murray-Cree, former Editor of Art and Australia, Artist and Teacher Glenn Sujo, and photographer and friend Colin Beard. I have also learnt much about art and presenting work in my friendship with Wendy Whiteley. And meeting Brett Whiteley at a young age made me aware that being an artist could be a career choice.

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Philip, currently living in Willoughby, has had what is euphemistically called a portfolio career. That is, no career just a list of jobs ranging from fisherman in the Med, showman in London, freelance journalist, business man and high school and University teacher. He has recently completed his MA in creative writing at the University of Sydney.

He has been published in: Eucalypt (Australia), Blue Collar Review (USA), TheZenSite, Poetry Atlas, Swamp, Meniscus, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and Contrappaso. His poem, “Carthusian Silence” was put to music by composer Owen Salome and performed as part of Chronology Arts' Lyrebird project. As a follow-up to his stint as “poet in residence” under the aegis of Australian Poetry, Philip organises Poetry Nights under the banner of the North Shore Poetry Project at Rubino’s Italian Restaurant, featuring established and up and coming poets. He recently co-edited “A Patch of Sun, Café Poets Anthology” bringing together the poetry and poets of these evenings.

phone 0404 006 009
email philippi@optusnet.com.au


Q & A with Philip Porter (February 2017)

1. What do you know about the Workshop Arts Centre?
I’ve lived 100 metres from the WAC for almost 30 years and seen it’s excellent work at very close quarters. We are very lucky to have it in the community.

2. What can people expect when they attend your workshop?
Support for their ideas and development of the craft of poetry.

3. What currently inspires your work?
All aspects of life and the work of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.

4. Have you any mentors or teachers that have influenced your practice?
The poet and academic Judith Beveridge.

5. Are there any exhibitions that you would encourage people to visit?
The North Shore Poetry Project will have its next Poetry Night on Wednesday 8 March with Anna Kerdijk Nicholson as the Guest Poet. Please see details on our website www.northshorepoetryproject.com

6. What is the one tool/supply that you can’t leave home without?
My mind, very useful and very under utilised.

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Sallie Portnoy. Tutor of Willoughby Arts Centre

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My art practice deals with memory, place and the human gesture, and expression or interpretation of the imperfections that are intrinsic within each.

Having begun my creative life in fashion design, I moved in to visual art, working with painting and photography. In a departure from my painting practice, my recent and current projects involve narrative and memory-based themes with reclaimed materials, textiles, installation and photography. This reflects a fascination with the processes of making, which extends from my early work within the garment industry. Underpinned by a curiosity with the personal relative to object, action and space, my work investigates the relentless processes of aging and evolution imposed by time.

website www.rhondapryor.com
Instagram @rhondapryor10
Facebook @rhondapryorartist

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Adrienne Richards is an artist and educator. Graduating from Canberra School of Art, ANU in 1982, she has had seven solo exhibitions and been included in over 30 group exhibitions at both private and public galleries. Adrienne has made many trips into the Australian landscape, including the Flinders Ranges SA, Larapinta NT, Cradle Mountain, Tas, Western QLD and Coastal NSW, as well as the Blue Mountains near her home, to paint en plein air, using ink, watercolour and gouache to record and collect information for her studio-based paintings and ceramics.

She also has over 20 years experience in the museum and gallery sector (including the Australian Museum, the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney University Museums, the State Library of NSW and Hawkesbury Regional Gallery and Museum), in exhibition design, public programs and education and has developed and delivered many art workshops for both adults and children.

phone 0403 313 608