Meet the Artists...

MUSIC

Beachniks
The Beachniks have travelled and played the length of the Surf Coast, avoiding Melbourne (which they deem to be evil).  Their jazz-pop-reggae grooves built them a truly loyal following.  There have been wild parties and jumping nights from deep in the Otways all the way to Queenscliff.

Hot Club Swing
Hot Club Swing performs a rarely-heard and challenging style of music that could be best described as French Gypsy Jazz, in the tradition of the virtuosic Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, who originated this all-string, acoustic music in 1930's Paris.

Michelle Benjamin
Michelle is a popular Geelong-based jazz singer and songwriter, whose work explores love, sex, feminism, fashion and faith, drawing inspiration from her own life, and those with whom she does life. 

Red Whyte
Photographer, Painter, Musician - Red Whyte doesn't fit neatly in to any one category.  Red is probably best known for his music, but the Torquay-based artist has also received much acclaim for his love of painting and photography.

Rory Ellis
Rory is one of those quintessential Australian singer-songwriters with buckets of talent, heaps of stories to tell, and impossible to pigeonhole.  He's got blues man in him, some "soul-belter, red-dirt country and home-grown folkie",
to quote Jeff Glorfeld of The Age.

Sons of Korah
Sons of Korah have drawn a large and diverse audience of all ages from across the world.  Their music is organic, dynamic and refreshingly honest.   With an acoustic, multi-ethnic sound, and lyrics grounded in the drama of the Biblical psalter, they express a spirituality that is accessible, timeless and genuine.
 
Wendy Grose
Wendy Grose, actor and musician, has spent many years working in Europe as an opera singer and actor.  A glorious vocal talent and a sparkling personality, she teaches singing and regularly conducts workshops in voice production, music and drama for people of all ages and abilities nationally and internationally.

THEATRE

Back to Back Theatre
Back to Back is one of Australia's leading creative voices, focusing on moral, philosophical and political questions about the value of individual lives.  The company has nurtured a unique artistic voice, placing the ensemble at the centre of social and cultural dialogue.

Skipjack Theatre
Operated by Vicki Phillipp and Robyn Martinez, Skipjack Theatre is a highly interactive, tale-telling troupe inspired by fringe theatre, popular culture and the order of chaos.  Relevant, entertaining and provocative, this is truly theatre with a sting in the tail.  

Theatre of Speed
Theatre of Speed Back are a group of dynamic young performers perceived to have an intellectual disability.  Their work is characterised by bold, honest, controversial and passionate content.  They like the wrestling, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Britney Spears.  They like Japan, loud music and muscles.  They are poetic and they believe in extremes.

VISUAL ARTS AND CRAFTS

Damien Elderfield
Stainless steel sculptor Damien Elderfield can usually be found in his studio at the river end of Pakington street, surrounded by blow-torches, metal filings...and arts awards.

Julie Shaw
Julie Shaw is a potter working from her home studio in Barwon Heads.  She likes to make ceramic pieces that can be used and her first love is hand built teapots.

Lianne Gough
Capturing character is more than a passion for Lianne Gough - it's a gift.  Whether it is a friend, a commission or a well known identity that she is painting, her unique and striking portraits reveal the subject's attitude to life by the look in their eyes, the way they stand, or their place on the canvas.

Richard Szymczuk
Richard Szymczuk's work tells of a rapidly disappearing era in the Australian landscape.  His photographic images are influenced by the barren, abandoned and fringe locations of American road movies such as Paris Texas, Vanishing Point and Blue Velvet.

Robert Avitabile
Artist and Director of Little Malop Gallery, Robert has been pursuing and supporting the arts for twenty-six years in the Geelong Otway Region.

Robert Ditterich
Robert Ditterich's work as a luthier - a maker of stringed instruments, such as violins and viola - takes us back in time to a different age where people had a much more intimate and sophisticated relationship with the objects they crafted.

Tania Virgona
Tania Virgona's artwork talks about the natural environment and its relevance to our modern lives.  Her quest as an artist is to come to an understanding of the link between this ancient Australian land, its features, and her own inner states of consciousness.

Victoria Edgar
Victoria has built a reputation over 20 years as both a designer and maker of exquisite jewellery and sculptural bodiware.  She has sold, exhibited and won awards for her magnificent jewellery and torso pieces all around Australia and overseas.

WRITING

David McCooey
Award-winning poet, critic, and academic, David organises the Geelong meetings of the Deakin Literary Society, is a member of Geelong Writers Inc, has authoring two books, was also associate editor of Space: New Writing, a literary journal that brought together local and national writers.

Maria Takolander
Writer, Poet and Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies at Deakin University, Maria Takolander has published poetry in numorous Australian and international journals.  She was shortlisted for the inaugural Australian Book Review Poetry Prize in 2005 and featured in an ABC TV program about the competition.

Ross Mueller
Since writing his first play in 1991, Geelong-based playwright Ross Mueller has steadily churned out a stream of exciting and challenging new works that have been celebrated locally, nationally and internationally.


Contact:
If you would like to join our collection of Artists in Profile please email Duncan Esler in the Cultural Development Unit at desler@geelongcity.vic.gov.au or phone (03) 5227 0773.