LAURA LABRIN
GRANT WINNER USING RETRO MATERIAL TO CREATE CONTEMPORARY ART
Eco-artist Laura Labrin is the inaugural winner of the SandraBardas studio Grant, which gave her the opportunity to create her innovative designs using video tape as a new material.
An avid recycler, Laura originally became involved in sustainable art when she entered a garment made out of video tape into a local fashion competition. Over the past five years, Laura developed an interest in stretching and weaving video tape to create environmentally friendly art forms.
“It’s actually quite strong, sturdy material; and it’s plastic so I can mould it. I can apply heat to it and create different shapes,” she says.
After developing this fascination with videotape and weaving, Laura started studying textiles, and completed a Diploma of Arts at RMIT.
Laura draws on inspiration from nature, translucency and craft, and finds most of her materials in the hard rubbish collection or wandering through local op shops.
“The crafty tradition is really coming back. I think people are trying to discover the new craftsmanship. People appreciate well made things. Even just going into op shops and finding little doilies - you get really inspired,” she says.
After only a few months at the Sandra Bardas Studio, one of the 16 art rooms at Appleton Street Studios, Laura says the experience has already opened the doors to a myriad of opportunities and allowed her to create networks with people in the industry who may not have seen her work otherwise.
“The best part about having a studio in this environment is that someone else is always there and you can chat about each other’s work and exhibitions,” she says.
Laura is keen to learn more about textiles with the future aspiration of traveling to India or South America to collaborate with fellow designers to create unique handmade products.
The Sandra Bardas Studio grant is open to young emerging to young emerging artists looking to establish themselves and gain recognition and access to a professional studio environment.
The Grant provides one artist under thirty with access to the late Sandra Bardas’ studio, located within Appleton Street Studios in Richmond, for twelve months as well as $5,000 worth of art materials. The Grant will commence in January 2011.
Applications for 2011 are open from June 1 to August 1
