Studio 8 Currumbin | 11am-1pm
Join artists Meli Axford and Trish Tait for a relaxed and inspiring two-hour collage workshop held as part of the AFTERGLOW exhibition program at Studio 8 Currumbin.
Designed for all experience levels, this playful and intuitive workshop invites participants to explore colour, composition, texture and storytelling through collage. Using a curated selection of papers, magazines, painted materials and mixed media elements, you’ll create your own unique artwork in a supportive and creative studio environment.
The workshop is an opportunity to slow down, experiment freely and reconnect with creativity without pressure or expectation. Meli and Trish will guide participants through simple techniques and creative prompts designed to unlock ideas and encourage personal expression.
All materials are provided & lunch— just bring yourself and a willingness to play.
Whether you’re a practicing creative or simply curious to try something new, this workshop offers a beautiful way to immerse yourself in colour, conversation and making.
Spaces are limited.
What to Expect-
This workshop has been designed to make creativity feel accessible, playful and achievable for everyone. Through a series of guided collage exercises, participants will explore colour, layering, composition and visual storytelling in an intuitive and low-pressure way. The focus is on experimentation rather than perfection, allowing ideas to unfold naturally through making.
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Working alongside others in a shared studio environment creates a vibrant and inspiring atmosphere. Expect conversation, connection and the energising experience of creating within a group of curious and open-minded people. The workshop is designed to feel social, welcoming and creatively expansive.
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Artists Meli Axford and Trish Tait will guide participants throughout the session, sharing creative prompts, practical techniques and insights into their own artistic processes. The workshop is suitable for all levels — whether you’re completely new to collage or already have an established creative practice.
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Studio 8 Currumbin provides a beautiful setting to slow down and reconnect with creativity. All collage materials will be provided, including curated papers, magazines, textures and mixed media elements. A light lunch will also be included, giving everyone time to relax, connect and enjoy the experience together.
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Participants will leave not only with finished collage works, but with ideas and techniques that can continue beyond the session. The workshop encourages an ongoing creative practice rooted in play, experimentation and personal expression.
meet your instructors
Meli Axford
Meli Axford is a Northern NSW-based contemporary oil painter whose work explores colour, space and the emotional environments we create for ourselves and those we love. Her paintings often centre on her daughters within vivid poolside landscapes that balance realism with flattened fields of colour and architectural calm.
Drawing on themes of belonging, visibility and contemporary femininity, Meli’s work constructs imagined spaces where connection, freedom and care are embedded into the environment itself. Her practice combines cinematic colour palettes with intimate figurative moments, creating works that feel both deeply personal and culturally resonant.
Meli has exhibited throughout Australia and internationally, and was a finalist in the Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Wollumbin Art Award and Byron Art Prize.
Trish Tait
Trish Tait is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice moves fluidly between clay and watercolour, exploring the quiet relationship between object, surface and image. Her hand-built ceramic vessels are treated as three-dimensional canvases, painted with underglaze so that form and decoration evolve together through an intuitive and tactile process.
Alongside these sculptural works, Trish creates intimate watercolour still lifes inspired by the completed vessels, allowing quiet visual conversations to emerge between object and painting. Her work is grounded in observation, materiality and the subtle poetry of everyday forms, celebrating the beauty found in slow making and thoughtful arrangement.
Through both ceramics and painting, Trish’s practice invites contemplation, softness and connection, creating works that feel personal, tactile and quietly expressive.