THE ANXIETY PROJECT: Creative Workshop

Create A Pocket Zine with artist Jacqui Stockdale!

Join us at The Dax Centre to learn about lived experience with anxiety and how using creativity can help our mental wellbeing.

In conjunction with The Anxiety Project, The Dax Centre is excited to announce Jacqui Stockdale will be leading a pocket zine workshop, here in the gallery!

With the surrounding exhibition to inspire creativity and encourage reflection on anxiety and mental wellbeing, the workshop will involve making a pocket zine out of paper materials. Following a tour of The Anxiety Project exhibition, workshop participants will be led by Jacqui and the Dax team in drawing, painting and writing on their pocket zines. The aim of the workshop is to create a 'pocket-sized' paper book (pocket zine), for participants to keep or give as a gift, that can be used in moments of anxiety or stress.

The pocket zine may help with mindfulness, practicing gratitude, grounding or simply be a comforting tangible object to fiddle with!

What is a pocket zine?

A zine is a small booklet or ‘mini magazine’ - they are created with collage, drawing and writing.

Why make a pocket zine?

In moments of stress or anxiety, it can be useful to have a tangible object to focus on to help ground you. In this workshop, you’ll create a zine for yourself or to gift someone, inspired by The Anxiety Project artworks. The small zine can be kept in your pocket and pulled out whenever needed!

About Jacqui Stockdale

Jacqui Stockdale is an Australian contemporary artist renowned for her theatrical exploration of the human condition through portraiture, folklore, mortality and Australian histories. Her multidisciplinary practice spanning over thirty years crosses between painting, photography, drawing, collage and live performance.

Stockdale graduated from Victorian College of the Arts, painting in 1990 and Hobart Centre for the Arts, video in 1993. She has exhibited widely throughout Australia and internationally and her works are held in major collections around the world including the National Gallery of Australia and the Watermill Collection, USA.

Her recent chapel-like installation, Angel at my Table was awarded Best of the Melbourne Art Fair, 2024.

Stockdale's artworks exploring her lived experience with anxiety, including oil paintings, watercolors and an embroidered piece featuring original poetry are on display at The Dax Centre as a part of The Anxiety Project.

DATE:

Saturday, 9th November, 2024, 11AM-1PM

LOCATION:

The Dax Centre, Kenneth Myer Building, 30 Royal Parade, Parkville.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to our team if you have accessibility requirements.

TICKETS: $20 + GST + BOOKING FEE

Your ticket includes a gallery tour of The Anxiety Project, and all the materials needed to create the zine. As we are a small non-profit mental health organization, please also consider donating to The Dax Centre upon purchasing your ticket.

ABOUT THE ANXIETY PROJECT

The Anxiety Project features artworks by Jacqui Stockdale, Betra Fraval, Erika Gofton, Ilona Nelson and Sarah Tomasetti.

The exhibition will run September - December 2024.

The Anxiety Project brings together five Melbourne-based professional artists with an interest in how art practice interacts with a lived experience of anxiety. Initially displayed at The Art Room in Footscray, The Dax Centre is honored to present the second iteration of the exhibition to further explore how anxiety manifests and operates within the creative process.

Within this exhibition, Fraval, Gofton, Nelson, Stockdale and Tomasetti illuminate the complexities of anxiety, from its unrecognized presence to its management and ongoing impact on artistic practice.

The artists invite viewers to traverse the emotional landscape they've crafted, prompting reflection on the role of art in both healing and as a source of anxiety itself. The life of an artist is a constant uncertainty: from the blank canvas and creative blocks to unemployment and scrutiny. Art is not a choice; it is a calling. The connection with one’s practice is a personal, non-verbal dialogue with materiality. And, in essence, while anxiety creates hurdles to this path, it also serves as fertile ground. Despite the challenges of being an artist, art offers a profound healing power and can be a motivating force. Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health condition in Australia, with one in six Australians experiencing anxiety in their lifetime. Many people have found engaging in creative activities can be valuable in managing anxiety and improving mental wellbeing. This exhibition aims to create a lasting impact on how anxiety is understood, managed, and transcended within the creative community.

Disclaimer:
Please note that this workshop requires us to reach a minimum attendance number to proceed. If we do not reach this number, the workshop will be cancelled, and your ticket will be refunded. You will be notified by the 28th October 2024 if the workshop is to be cancelled.

In buying a ticket you agree to be photographed during the event. Please let us know if you would like to discuss this with our team.

Please email info@daxcentre.org with any questions, or please call 9349 2538.

Banner Photo Credit:

Right: Apples, Jacqui Stockdale, Watercolour on paper Dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist.

Left: Image of Jacqui Stockdale at Opening Night of The Anxiety Project, courtesy of The Dax Centre.

Zine Example Image: Rhiannon James, "My First Zine Was A Flop," June 21, 2022, LINK HERE.