KU ARTS STUDIO

Tartanya, Kaurna Yarta

June - December 2025

Studio Update: What we’ve been up to at the Mill

Our open-access studio at The Mill continues to be a vibrant place of creation and collaboration for First Nations artists. The studio offers a space for supported learning, experimentation and a chance to connect with a broader arts community every Friday from 10 am - 3 pm.  Over the last few months the studio has been buzzing with new work, fresh ideas and collective energy!

Artist Melanie Koolmatrie has been working hard on a new body of work that will launch at Water Stories at St Peters Gallery on 28 November. The show will feature Mel’s work alongside collaborative works from Arts Ceduna including artists Janine Gray, Collette Gray, Josephine Lennon, Sherrie Jones, and Beaver Lennon. This exhibition will show dynamic works including paintings and sculpture made from marine debris, which reflect water’s vital role in our environment, its beauty, strength, and fragility. The two bodies of work exhibited side by side seek to invoke a dialogue about environmental sustainability and the need to protect our rivers, oceans and waterways.

Mel’s time at the Ku Arts studio has enabled focussed artistic development. Refining colour palettes, testing new techniques and approaches to painting, and engaging in peer-studio dialogue. Meanwhile, artists Belinda, Kathy and Verna Koolmatrie have also been in the studio, playing with colour, form and technique. Their studio practice has been marked by a spirit of experimentation and play. 

Ku Arts studio continues to support regional and remote South Australian artists access to arts materials bundling up paints and canvas to pop in the post.