2027 Australian Art Creativity Studio Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival Design Prize Submission

The foundationary stylisation for the studio so far has been all about colour, texture and abstract. I'm sure in the course of time it will go through different phases.

This year, for the Penola Coonawarra Arts Design Prize, instead of one design like last year's submission, it was three that came to being, there was room for a fourth in the committee's opportunity, but it didn't eventuate for the submission round from the studio. There was no inspiration for a fourth so the three were accepted to be what it would be and delivered today to Stillwater Studio.

For about three years the art journey for the studio has been quite digital and desktop publishing themed for the expressive medium. As most know, desktop publisher is being phased out with Microsoft so all the manual construction, tweaking, Wacom detailing etc that publisher encourages and permits, is being switched to AI with programs like Canva taking away most of that autonomy, so the studio is naturally shifting to the more traditional creative art expressive modalities once again in that transition. AI takes out all the fun and design that human creativity affords and so the design is likely the last time a digital design will be submitted as a project for future arts festival submissions.

With the first design, it took a long time to get all the elements right and then have them detailed with the impasto effect. Unlike last years submission, the studio decided to avoid the 'sleek modern poster effect' and went for minimal banner and just let the colour and design speak for itself with all the metaphorical embellishments it incorporates.

The brief was about the heart in art. So for the first design, the heart in art for us lies in the bold colour and symbols that aid in being a visual language. Impasto stylisation allows dimensional effect of tone and perspective which is likely why this particular design is the studio favourite for all three.

Next is a watercolour effect where there is an explosion of symbols and elements that encapsulates an lifestyle perspective of what heart in art can be defined by.

With the explosive representation of colour and identity coming from a centre of white, leads one to maybe contemplate a lifestyle in that from 'nothing' comes 'something'... that a love for things can explode forth in exuberance... that a identity of various backgrounds can all still come forth from one common source and be a beautiful expression of unity, connection and potential with a certain graceful softness.

This design has gone against the typical in recent years, but watercolour has always been a favourite modality since my younger years. It incorporates a lot of the nature that symbolises the land which the district adores, and combines gestures of stars for the cosmos above us, and the bubbles of the light heartedness which a good vintage celebrates.

The next design, the third and final part of this year's submissions took on a more literal interpretive concept.

The grapes of the harvest being in the shape of hearts, the flutter of scattered pages exploring creative autonomy in the breeze, with sparkles of delight adding fresh crispness alongside the subtle music notes that encapsulate the headiness of mellowing atmosphere.

This particular design reminds me of the sparkling muscato vintages, a more soulful piece of savouring rather than the attention seeking impact of the first design.

Again, like last year, the submissions were for a fun challenge and a celebratory participation project by the studio to express support for its community.

Soon there will be an exhibition display of all the designs submitted to the committee, which I will be looking forward to go for a visit to see. With a genuine interest in the creativity of others, seeing the work of other people is a truly exciting experience. Particularly with a brief like this year's, offering a new perspective to reflect, muse and expressively expand upon.

Jody Simone Arnold,

Artist, founder of Australian Art Creativity Studio, Penola