Art in Bark at Koonung Cottage
Community connections often played an important part in the history of Koonung Cottage. The Art in Bark Association was no exception. Robyn Gibson participated in a babysitting club and one of her friends there also came to Koonung Cottage. So in 1983 when Robyn decided to start a bark art group, she went to Koonung Cottage.
Robyn’s mother was a member of the Art in Bark Association in Brisbane. The Brisbane group gave Robyn permission to use their name, logo and constitution for a Victorian branch. It also sent bark pictures to display. The Nunawading Gazette ran a story with photos and twenty or thirty people came to an information day that Robyn held at the Cottage.
Robyn’s mother was a member of the Art in Bark Association in Brisbane. The Brisbane group gave Robyn permission to use their name, logo and constitution for a Victorian branch. It also sent bark pictures to display. The Nunawading Gazette ran a story with photos and twenty or thirty people came to an information day that Robyn held at the Cottage.
Weekly classes commenced. The knitting group came to learn a new skill for one term. In the early days students were packed into a tiny room and worked at a kindergarten table. The group taught beginners and advanced classes for a number of years. When the main room was extended in 1994 the group combined into one class.
Members came from Blackburn, Camberwell, Croydon, Glen Waverley and Ringwood. They exhibited at craft shows to increase public awareness of their art form. Robyn encouraged everyone to enter work in the Melbourne Show. In the first year they entered, members won every prize except one.
It was an outlet for me. I never thought I would be able to do it but, to my amazement, I ended up taking quite a few prizes at the Melbourne Show.
Bark artists can be passionate about different types of bark, even braving spiders to obtain a desired colour. The group sometimes held field trips. On one occasion members received permission to harvest bark from Maranoa Gardens in Balwyn, where the park ranger and a large huntsman spider supervised their activities.
Over the years the number of members dwindled and there were competing demands to use the room. So the bark art changed from weekly classes to monthly workshops. Eventually most of the committee members were in their eighties and could not keep going. The Victorian branch of the Art in Bark Association wound up in December 2013. As at 2015 Robyn Gibson continues to work as a Fair Liaison Officer in Victoria, under a grant from the organization in Brisbane.
Over the years the number of members dwindled and there were competing demands to use the room. So the bark art changed from weekly classes to monthly workshops. Eventually most of the committee members were in their eighties and could not keep going. The Victorian branch of the Art in Bark Association wound up in December 2013. As at 2015 Robyn Gibson continues to work as a Fair Liaison Officer in Victoria, under a grant from the organization in Brisbane.
Source:
- History recollection meeting at Koonung Cottage, 16 March 2015.
