The Dwelling Newsletter
Before we move onto the next section of issue five, I wanted to play around with how my newsletter might pan out. I’m going to spitball my thoughts and ideas ahead.
The newsletter is going to be more like a bulletin board, showcasing upcoming events and Dwelling related information, paired with a pretty artwork on the other side for people to keep and use as a poster.
I am hoping to leave these newsletters in public spaces, at local cafes and small art galleries.
Upcoming clubs and workshops
The biggest thing about Dwelling is cultivating community, and sharing what other local creatives are doing in the region. I know there are lots of small clubs happening around town, and I know that getting numbers up for workshops can be difficult without advertisement. I think this newsletter will be the perfect place to share them.
This includes events like the Creator’s Catch Up! (summer season to soon be announced)
Speaking of, Donna Caffrey will be hosting a Collage Club next Saturday from 10:30am, the 14th of December at the Albury LibraryMuseum. It’s a free, social club to play with collage and meet other artists. This has been a monthly pop-up, and I will keep you updated on the upcoming dates when I can.
Exhibitions and reviews
There are a few art galleries and museums in the Albury-Wodonga region, and exhibitions are changing all the time. I’d love to highlight a specific exhibition in the newsletter each month. This is important to me because there are lots of ideas and artworks circulating, and spending time within an exhibition is inspiring. Being exposed to art is great for our brains, and thankfully most exhibitions are free to view here in Albury. I hope you take advantage of the art where you live, go see it again, take friends, talk to the staff about the artworks or the theme of the exhibition!
Working at a museum myself, it is my duty to have these conversations with visitors, and I think that it’s exciting hearing their perspective of an exhibition. I’d love to write a small panel in the newsletter reviewing an exhibition, grasping the idea of the themes the exhibition is tackling, and hopefully getting people’s attention, inspiring them to go see the exhibition.
Gateway Gallery at the Causeway of Wodonga are holding a few exhibitions over the month of December, including On the Radar, the works of Albury TAFE’s Diploma students, followed by a food based exhibition by the gallery members called Art of Food, and the next exhibition Little Treasures will open on 20th December, and the call for entries is open until the 12th. Get your applications in to exhibit your tiny artworks!
Submitted poetry and illustrations
Of course it wouldn’t be a Dwelling project without art and writing submissions for each newsletter. I highly encourage artists and writers to submit any of their artworks or poems they’re working on, and I will share it here, on my Instagram and in the newsletter. I’m glad to have been able to start this through the magazine, and I hope that it continues on in new forms such as the newsletter.
Here is a poetry submission to issue five of the magazine:
A portal to the moon is what I would create.
A space in space
To unleash the aliens.
Rewild and relish
in exquisite stillness, and the most tranquil shades of blue.
All accessible from my laundry door.
I want people to spend time with the moon.
To lounge lazily in waxy orbs.
I want to hold the stars in my palm. Feel the warmth.
Become the twinkle.
By Milly Kearney
Business highlights
I know that a lot of hard work and creativity goes into small businesses, and I believe in supporting local businesses, because the people’s hearts are in the right place, and it is better for the environment (which comes from my own personal beliefs, but I think it is an underlying tone of Dwelling’s ethics). Highlighting a local business will work similarly to the ideas above, but it expands the network of a like-minded community, and sometimes you don’t know what’s out there until you come across it in places like newsletters, or visiting new places.
I came across a local business, Booktique (featured in issue five), because they opened up in the lane way on my walk to work. Their bright green walls took my eye, and I was curious as to what the shop was going to become. It didn’t take long, but they soon opened, and it was a bookstore run by a local couple, with their first store in Wangaratta only a 45-minute drive from Albury, and this new space was opened after a much needed small bookstore in the heart of Albury.
I had a lovely chat with the owner, and she confidently shared her story, and the desire to give Albury a bookshop. They can be found on page 19 of Dwelling magazine!
Dwelling related events
This will be a great place to share projects and events run by Dwelling, including the magazine, zines, and anything else I hope to do through Dwelling. Maybe even a zine festival if I can get the funding for it (that would be fun)!
It will have upcoming release dates for zines or art books I’m making with other artists, I will shamelessly advertise issue five until I have exhausted each and every page, any products that may arise, and I will share the option to subscribe to this blog, too.
I think it will be a fun project, and even if it doesn’t grab anyone’s attention, I hope it’s a joy to make. It will certainly be easier than creating a whole magazine once every two years all on my own! :P
Thanks for letting me blab on about my ideas and taking the time to read it!
Thanks for being here 💛
Danielle J. France
artist, writer, editor
