Cr Geoff Paine
Chair
Cr Peter Perkins
Alternate Chair
Cr Natalie Duffy
Alternate Chair
Yu Fang Chi
Yu Fang Chi is a Taiwan-born Australian artist working within textile, silversmithing, photography, installation, and public art. In her practice, Chi explores the processes of weaving and the position of human body. Grappling with contemporary issues such as environment, emotional cognition, time’s flowing passage and explorations on gender and culture, Chi’s work uses processes of repetition, ephemerality, and the interplay of light and shadow to open discussions around contemporary society's pressing topics.
Chi gained a doctorate from RMIT University and received Diana Morgan Gold & Silversmithing Prize in 2018. She has exhibited extensively, since 2008 her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at the International Handwerksmesse Munich, The Museum of Arts and Crafts ITAMI Japan, The Gallery of Art Legnica in Poland, Beijing International Jewelry Art Biennial and so on. Yu Fang Chi’s work is held in the collections of Gold Museum in Taiwan, Korea Cheongju International Craft Biennale, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France.
Cassie May
Cassie May is a freelance curator and collection management specialist. She has worked with a broad range of art and cultural organisations from local Councils and community groups to commercial art galleries, public and private collections.
She managed Neospace, a contemporary art gallery in Collingwood (2012 - 2019), is a former Museum Accreditation Manager (AMAGA) and has curated exhibitions including Coming Home (2014); a survey of the history of Bundoora Homestead, City of Darebin, as a Mental Repatriation Hospital (1920 - 1993) for returned servicemen from the First and Second World Wars and later conflicts.
Cassie is also an arts writer and has contributed to publications including Provenance, Journal for Public Record Office of Victoria, INSITE (Museums Australia Victoria), Museums Australia Magazine, UN magazine and Trouble magazine. She has a Masters of Creative Arts and a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Hons.).
Sandi Miller
Sandi Miller is the Editor of the Warrandyte Diary and Manningham & Nillumbik Bulletin and has loved being part of her community for twenty-five years.
After completing her Journalism degree, she took the reins of Warrandyte Diary, along with her partner James, after stepping out from behind the television camera. Prior to that, she had spent more than twenty years at the ABC, where she worked on a range diverse programs: from Natural History Documentaries to Current Affairs, News, Arts, Drama and Comedy. Being the editor of the Diary and more recently the Manningham and Nillumbik Bulletin has also afforded her an opportunity to become part of the fabric of the local community, getting to know anyone and everyone with a story to tell.
Sandi also produces documentaries and other video content with, and for, the local community, including a recent series on the Nillumbik Artists Open Studios program, and profiles of Montsalvat exhibitions including Bryan Dawe and the NPCA.
Sammaneh Pourshafighi
Sammaneh Pourshafighi is a Queer genderfluid Muslim who arrived in Australia as a refugee after the Iranian Revolution and grew up on the problematic paradise of the Gold Coast. Her ancestral tribes originate from Isfahan, Gilan, and Kurdistan. Her work frequently examines identity politics, mental health, diasporic tensions, ethno-futurism, and the complex relationships between bodies and environments through an intersectional feminist lens.
As part of a trans-disciplinary practice, Pourshafighi’s work encompasses film, performance art, digital art, poetry, collage, painting and photography often with an emphasis on colour, surprising contrasts and humour. Her works have been exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, UCLA, United States as well as being published in British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain Volume 5. Pourshafighi is currently co-creating a performance based work Over The Borderline with feminist arts collective APHIDS as part of the Arts House Culture Lab.
Simone Thompson
Simone Thomson is a Melbourne based Fine Art Artist, Muralist and Creative and is a Woi-wurrung Wurundjeri and Yorta-Yorta Traditional Owner through her mother. She draws inspiration for her art through her spiritual connection to Country and the rich colours and textures of earth and sky.
Simone’s artistic practice stems from her deep spiritual connection to Culture and Country, and a creative urge to produce evocative works which connect people of all walks of life and cultural backgrounds to Aboriginal storytelling. This is demonstrated through her culturally safe holistic art practice which includes traditional Smoking and Welcome Ceremonies conducted by her mother, herself and sister, along with regularly delivered Cultural Presentations.