Friends of the Drill Hall Gallery Day trip: visiting the studios of Zoe Brand, Dionisia Salas and Dean Cross

Please join us for a day trip to Braidwood, NSW where we will visit the studios of three practicing artists. 

Zoe Brand
Born in Brisbane, Australia in 1984. Zoe Brand completed an Advanced Diploma in Jewellery and Object Design at Design Centre, Enmore, TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute. In 2014 Brand completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts majoring in Gold and Silversmithing at the Australian National University. 2015 She finished her Bachelor of Visual Arts with First Class Honours at the same university. Brand has exhibited in many group shows in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Germany, France and Estonia and her work is held in a number of significant private collections. Brand was also recently the Director of the Personal Space Project, a gallery located in her bedroom.

Dionisia Salas

Born in Darwin in 1982, Dionisia spent her early life living in Alice Springs, Dubbo, Botswana and Newcastle before arriving in Canberra to study at the ANU School of Art and Design, graduating in 2007. She has since lived and practiced in Canberra, Melbourne and Berlin.

Dionisia has been the finalist in awards including the 2023 Sir John Sulman Art Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney and the Goulburn Regional Gallery Art Award in 2022. She received an ArtsACT project grant in 2017 and the Torres Spanish Travel Scholarship for Young Australian Artists in 2008. She has participated in residencies including the Art Vault, Mildura in 2017, Glint a collaboration between the Canberra Glassworks and Megalo Print Studio in 2013 and a Basso Kreuzberg residency in Berlin in 2011. Recent exhibitions include at Pavillion am Milchoff in Berlin, Watters Gallery in Sydney and Sutton Gallery in Melbourne as well as exhibitions in Canberra including at the Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra Contemporary Art Space Gorman House, the ANU School of Art and Design Gallery and ANCA Bus Project.

Dean Cross

Dean Cross is a First Nations trans-disciplinary artist. He has been formally trained in both Contemporary Dance and Sculpture, and works across the sculptural and pictorial fields. Through this he attempts to re-evaluate and re-construct what it means to be Australian in the 21st Century, and how that fits within our globalised world. He has been involved in numerous exhibitions and prizes including Tarnanthi at The Art Gallery of South Australia (2017), The Churchie Emerging Art Prize (2016), and The Redlands Konica Minolta Art prize (2015). Dean is also on the Board of Directors of QL2 Dance, Australia's premier youth dance company.

Dean was born and raised on Ngunnawal country, however his ancestral roots lie within the Worimi Nation.

Itinerary: 

10:30 am group to meet at the studio of Zoe Brand 

20 min drive

12 pm Meet in town at The Albion Cafe for lunch

1:30 pm – Meet at the studio of Dionisia Salas

10 min drive

2:30 pm – Meet at the studio of Dean Cross 

Attendees are to organise their own transport for the day. Email lucy.chetcuti@anu.edu.au for carpooling options. The full itinerary with addresses will be provided to attendees prior to the event.