What's On
Check out the artists, workshops, talks and more that are happening at Inspire Festival on Saturday 6 September, from 10am - 2pm.
Inspire Main Tipi - Special Guests
LISH FEJER
Join FixItChicks Lish on the Main stage for home improvement tips!
Lish runs FixItChick with Jen, Green it yourself and has worked in the field of science communication as a presenter, speaker, writer and exhibition developer.
Lish was co-host of ABC TV's eco-home-reno show Carbon Cops.
TIME: 10am - 10:45am
INDIRA NAIDOO
Indira Naidoo is one of Australia’s most popular broadcasters and authors.
During her 30-year award-winning journalistic career, she has hosted and reported for some of the country’s most distinguished news and current affair programs, including ABC’s LATE EDITION and SBS TV’s WORLD NEWS and the host of ABC Radio's Weekend Nightlife. Indira is currently the host of Compass on ABC TV.
A passionate advocate for environmental and food sustainability issues she is the author of the best-selling The Edible Balcony and The Edible City, has designed award-winning gardens and helps community groups build their own food gardens.
Indira’s latest book is The Space Between the Stars on love, loss and the magical power of nature to heal.
The Space Between The Stars was short- listed for the 2023 ABIA Non-Fiction book of the year.
*AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING AFTER EVENT
TIME: 11am - 12pm
DR KARL
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM has been spreading the good word of science in print, on TV and radio, and online for more than thirty years. The author of 48 books (and counting) Dr Karl is a lifetime student with degrees in physics and mathematics, biomedical engineering, medicine and surgery.
He has worked as a physicist, labourer, roadie for bands, car mechanic, filmmaker, biomedical engineer, taxi driver, TV weatherman, and medical doctor at the Children’s Hospital in Sydney. Since 1995, Dr Karl has been the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at the University of Sydney.
In 2019 he was awarded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science, of which previous recipients include Margaret Mead, David Attenborough, Bertrand Russell and David Suzuki. He has also been honoured with a slew of Academic Awards but one of his most coveted prizes is his TikTok High Quality Content Creator Award in 2024.
Dr Karl's new television show "How Things Work" can be viewed on ABC TV and iView lifts the lid on how some of Australia's best loved products are made, stepping behind factory lines to uncover the intricate workings of some of our most productive manufacturing plants.
Dr Karl is the 2025 NSW Senior Australian of the Year.
TIME: 12pm - 1pm
GINA CHICK
Gina Chick is a rewilding facilitator, adventurer, writer and speaker.
Gina was one of ten participants in the first series of Alone Australia, made by iTV and screened on SBS Television in 2023. After 67 days of unforgettable moments of searing vulnerability, Gina was the last person standing, and the second woman to win an Alone solo challenge. Her determination, passion, and love of the natural world endeared her to more than 5.5 million people around Australia.
Gina's nature connection programmes weave ancestral hunter-gatherer technologies into modern life. She runs Rewild Your Child camps eight weeks a year, where 200 people come together to create a village in the wilderness, focusing on nature connection.
Gina taps into universal chords of human experience, drawing from her experience and adventures worldwide to offer pathways through the wilderness within and without.
Her stories of challenges, redemption and inspiration sing with warmth, depth and humour and offer resolution to questions of belonging and connection that most humans struggle with.
An hour with Gina is a journey through a vastly textured landscape, an adventure likely to leave you feeling inspired and connected and ready to embrace the wild in all its forms, possibly even without shoes!
TIME: 1pm - 2pm
Home and Life Tipi - Workshops
Introduction to composting
In this session we’ll cover the basics of composting and worm farming, answer participant questions, and troubleshoot common compost problems participants might have.
This session is aimed at busting composting myths and making it as easy as possible for getting started composting.
Participants will take home a Canberra Environment Centre Compost poster.
Hosted by the Canberra Environment Centre.
TIME: 10:00am - 10:45am
Sustainable Decluttering
Join Steph Maguire, owner of Sort it out Sustainably, and learn about the initiatives you can take to declutter all the stuff that isn't serving you.
Steph helps you create a more intentional home and sustainably sort out the clutter that takes up too much space in your home, time, mind and eventually landfill.
Hosted by Steph Maguire.
TIME: 10:50am - 11:10am
Mindful meal planning to reduce food waste
Learn how to reduce the amount of food your family throws away. Organise healthy meals, shop smarter, store food properly, and use everything you buy.
Food waste reduction is all about planning; when you get that right, you reduce waste and save money.
Hosted by Valerie Pearson.
TIME: 11:15am - 12pm
Sustainable Decluttering
Join Steph Maguire, owner of Sort it out Sustainably, and learn about the initiatives you can take to declutter all the stuff that isn't serving you.
Steph helps you create a more intentional home and sustainably sort out the clutter that takes up too much space in your home, time, mind and eventually landfill.
Hosted by Steph Maguire
TIME: 12:05pm - 12:25pm
Make your own toxic-free cleaning products
Discover how easy it is to make your own dishwashing powder, bar soap, liquid soap, laundry powder, cream cleaner and mould treatment.
Watch a demonstration, then take home easy-to-use recipes and some DIY samples.
Hosted by Valerie Pearson.
Start your Spring edible garden - what to plant when!
In this session we’ll cover Canberra specific tips and strategies to get started in the garden this spring. We’ll cover planting times for spring and summer crops, tips to feed soil and participants will pot up seeds to take home.
Participants will take home a Canberra Gardeners’ planting calender and potted seeds to add to their spring garden.
Hosted by the Canberra Environment Centre.
TIME: 1:15pm - 2pm
Woolshed Gallery
Small Sculpture Prize
Strathnairn Arts Association, in partnership with Ginninderry and artsACT, is thrilled to announce the launch of the inaugural Strathnairn Arts Small Sculpture Prize (SASS).
The Strathnairn Arts Small Sculpture Prize 2025, Highly Commended and Emerging Artist prize will be announced at 2pm on 6 September, 2025 Woolshed Gallery.
Woolshed Stage - Music
Ariana
Ariana is an acoustic pop artist and a Ranger for the Ginninderry Conservation Trust and an Educator. She combines her love for music, children and the outdoors to create a set for all to enjoy.
TIME: 10am - 10:30am
Jayde Mitchell
My name is Jayde Mitchell and I am a proud young Barkindji Woman from a small town in Central West NSW called Lake Cargelligo.
Being raised on my father’s Country and having a very creative family of musicians and artists, I have always had a deep connection with my Culture and Community. I love to express myself through playing guitar and singing and also art.
I hope to inspire other young people, especially young Aboriginal peoples, to embrace their Culture and follow their passions.
Madeline Proud
Talented local Canberra artist Madeline Proud takes to the Woolshed Stage.
HARRY CARMAN
Australian singer-songwriter and musician, Harry Carman exhibits the best of a storyteller through considered lyrics and soulful vocals. Expressing universal stories, Harry Carman composes raw and intimate portraits of life and love, spanning indie-rock, folk, and ballads to capture the heart and mind of every listener.
Taking inspiration from masters of narrative, Noah Kahn and Zach Bryan, Harry Carman forged his musical journey with the release of his debut EP ‘Paths’ in 2017, featuring stand-out single ‘Love Is Love’ which garnered support from audiences and industry alike, on Spotify’s viral 50 playlist. Harry quickly followed up with sophomore EP ‘A State Of Sedation’ in 2018 in collaboration with esteemed Australian-Japanese producer Taka Perry.
TIME: 12:15pm - 1:15pm
FERAUDE
Sit back and enjoy the atmosphere and the afternoon with DJ Feraude
TIME: 1:15pm - 2pm
Garden Tipi
Hapa Zome
Hapa Zome (pronounced ‘hah-pah zoh-may’) is a form of eco-printing or natural dyeing where coloured pigments from plant materials are transferred onto fabric or paper by pounding with a hammer. It comes from Japan and can be translated to ‘leaf dyeing’.
Participants will have the opportunity to make their own Hapa Zome postcard to take home.
DROP IN SESSIONS
Time: 10am - 12pm
Potting Up
Join us all day for various activities in the Garden Tipi and pot up plants and seeds that you can take home.
This is an all day activity that you can drop in on during the festival.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Make your own seed tape
A practical workshop where you can make and take home their own lettuce and carrot seed tape to use in their garden.
DROP IN SESSIONS
Time: 12pm - 2pm
Discovery Trail
Venture and discover the Inspire site and join in on activities for the kids and family! Take the time to wander the market stalls and uncover hidden activities you can join in...
Curious Kids
Find a bug – this is where Children get a checklist and borrow a magnifying glass and we go on a hunt.
Create a bookmark and story time – colour and/or decorate your bookmark with nature based themes after enjoying a nature inspired book about the environment
Colouring in – There are Rocky and Insect specific sheets with facts that children can learn about Blue Tongued Lizards and Stick insects, while they colour…. All while insects and lizards are on the table in front of them to watch and interact with!
Potting Up
Join us all day for various activities in the Garden Tipi and pot up plants and seeds that you can take home.
This is an all day activity that you can drop in on during the festival.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Make your own seed tape
A practical workshop where you can make and take home their own lettuce and carrot seed tape to use in their garden.
DROP IN SESSIONS
Time: 12pm - 2pm
Facepainting
Join the team from Mollycoddle parties for free face painting all day.
Traditional Weaving
Join us all day and learn the art of traditional weaving with Ronnie Jordan from Culture on the Move. This artform has been shared for many thousands of years. Learning how to coil weave and making rope.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Hapa Zome
Hapa Zome (pronounced ‘hah-pah zoh-may’) is a form of eco-printing or natural dyeing where coloured pigments from plant materials are transferred onto fabric or paper by pounding with a hammer. It comes from Japan and can be translated to ‘leaf dyeing’.
Participants will have the opportunity to make their own Hapa Zome postcard to take home.
Time: 12pm - 2pm
Reptile Zoo
The Canberra Reptile Zoo will be joining us to bring awareness of our Australian native fauna and promoting conservation through education, in a fun and interactive way.
Come and say hello, and learn, see and touch some native reptiles, which may include Bearded Dragons, Shinglebacks, turtles and if you're feeling brave a python or crocodile!
DROP IN
Time: 10:30am - 1:30pm
Mojo Cycle Repairs
Mojo Cycle Repairs is a trusted local Canberra bicycle repair workshop. Mojo Cycles is a mobile bike repair shop created by two local mechanics: Chris and Kieran, who have been working in the local bike community for the last 5 years.
Bring along your bicycle to Inspire and visit the guys at Mojo Cycles, who will be providing a free drop in cycle repair workshop, offering Inspire patrons repair to bicycle parts/consumables with a facilitator.
DROP IN
Time: 10:30am - 1:30pm
ACT for Bees
Join ACT for Bees to learn about the vital role bees and other pollinators play in our ecosystem.
ACT for Bees will be running two Native Bee Magic Workshops at 11am and 12:45pm in the Secret Garden.
Native Bee Magic
Time: 11am-11:30am & 12:45-1:15pm
Make your very own Bee Hotel, learn the importance of having a bee hotel in your garden, and assemble and decorate your own bee hotel. Spaces are very limited, please use the link below to sign up!
Bee Hotel Workshop
Time: 12pm-1pm
Open Studios
The following Strathnairn Arts artists will be opening their studio doors during Inspire 2025, pop in and say hello to the wonderful artists that will be showcasing their art and talent throughout the day.
Kathleen Potts
Kathleen is a New Zealand born Australian Artist based in Canberra.
With an emphasis on painting and drawing Kathleen has recently returned to the arts and is steadily focused on building her professional practice.
Kathleen holds a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts from the Whanganui Quay School of the Arts in New Zealand. Having studied painting and printmaking she applies gestural mark-making and bold colour play to construct real and imagined scenes exploring themes of impermanency and memory of place.
Currently working mostly in acrylics and ink, spontaneity and chance are crucial to her process. She enjoys the curiosity and freshness that these mediums and elements bring to her work.
Drawing on the world around her Kathleen investigates how personal narrative is influenced by the subjective memory of place, setting up scenes which invite the imagination of the viewer to step directly into them with the goal of eliciting a personal and emotional response.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Sally Black
Sally Black is a visual artist in Canberra, producing works on paper with water-based mediums such as watercolour and ink. She create landscapes in monotype printmaking techniques with watercolour inks that push towards abstraction. She is also known for her pen and watercolour sketches detail everyday scenes with unusual perspectives and distortions which she teaches at galleries around Canberra and surrounding areas.
Sally’s work has been shown in a number of group exhibitions in Canberra and she is currently working on a series of landscapes of Canberra and surrounding regions. Sally has an interest in exploring the deep connections to the landscape both from her perspective as an artist to the connections landholders have to their properties.
Sally’s studio is open by appointment and you can stay in touch with her on her social media
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Julie Colbran
Julie Colbran is a painter whose practice is inspired by the natural grandeur of the Australian landscape, particularly the ancient geomorphology of the ACT region. Working primarily in oil and watercolour, her paintings explore geological formations, rock outcrops, and the enduring presence of the bush.
Largely self-taught, Julie has pursued a lifelong interest in the arts, with early studies in fashion design and arts appreciation, and later formal study at Mitchell College of Advanced Education (now Charles Sturt University). Since the late 1990s, she has focused on visual arts, developing a slow and thoughtful approach to painting shaped by time spent walking and camping in the landscape.
Julie is a member of Strathnairn Arts Association and the Queanbeyan Art Society.
Time: 10am - 2pm
Elena Bozhko Marshall
Elena Bozhko Marshall is a ceramic and mixed media artist who graduated from the ANU School of Art and Design in 2001, following a degree in teaching and a Diploma in Visual Art and Craft from the Canberra Institute of Technology.
Elena has been based in Canberra for the past 23 years, regularly exhibiting her work at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Tuggeranong Arts Centre, ANCA, Multicultural Centre and Civic Library as well as taking part in community projects and workshops for children, seniors and people with special needs. Her involvement with the community and children has helped shape her thinking and style.
Elena’s education, diverse cultural background and extensive travel to more than 25 countries, gives her a good, solid understanding of life and inspiration for her art works.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Tom O'Hara
Tom O’Hara is a Canberra based artist working with wood to create works that explore the complex relationship humans have with nature. At the core of Tom’s practice is the notion that wood both connects us to and separates us from the natural world. He explores this duality by creating sculptural works that blur the line between human-altered material and organic structure. Through his unique process of construction and destruction, Tom transforms recycled Australian hardwoods into mysterious, ambiguous objects that invite reflection on where nature ends and the artificial begins.
Tom’s creative journey began as an apprentice electrician where he developed a passion for haptic learning and material exploration. This sparked an artistic journey that led him to a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) at RMIT University, completed in the Jewellery and Object workshop in 2014. He then returned to his hometown of Canberra to undertake a PhD at the ANU School of Art and Design. Completing his Doctorate in 2024, Tom researched the complexity of wood using rule-based systems and intuitive methods to create objects that intersect the human and natural worlds.
Tom’s work has been exhibited across Australia and internationally. He has been the recipient of multiple awards and residencies, has work in the W.E. McMillan Collection, Melbourne and was finalist in the International Graduate Show 2015, Gallery Marzee, Netherlands, Victorian Craft Award 2015, Craft VIC and the Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award, 2015. Having now established his studio at Strathnairn Arts, he continues to expand and refine his process, creating works that bridge the human and natural worlds through material exploration and sculptural innovation.
Time: 10am - 2pm
Lisa Lokki
Lisa Lokki is a ceramic artist based in Canberra, whose practice is rooted in finding joy in the everyday and reconnecting with creativity through clay. Her work encompasses both wheel-thrown and hand-built forms, often inspired by natural elements and domestic ritual. She produces a range of functional vessels—cups, bowls, beakers, scoops, and vases—that invite touch, use, and quiet appreciation.
Lisa began working with clay in 2010, initially at the Canberra Potters Society, where a shared interest with her son sparked a deep and lasting engagement with ceramics. She has since studied at the ANU School of Art’s Continuing Education program and Clay Studio Canberra, where she now teaches introductory wheel-throwing
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Emina Adriaans
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Ashley Eriksmoen
Time: 10am - 2pm
Solomon Karmel-Shann
Solomon Karmel-Shann is a figurative painter who aims to create open narratives through his depictions of people and objects. He is interested in encouraging viewers to engage with his work by giving them hints of a story but not spelling it out to them. Solomon grew up in Canberra and started creating art in 2014 at the age of 17. He has had no formal training but was mentored by artist Paddy Plasto.
Solomon has been selected as a finalist in several prizes including the Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Award in Brisbane (2021), the Camberwell Art Show in Melbourne (2021) and, most recently, the National Capital Art Prize in Canberra (2021). He has also exhibited several paintings at Strathnairn Arts Association (2020-2021). In 2017, he was one of five emerging artists invited to exhibit work at the Big Fat Smile Art Gallery in Wollongong. He has illustrated three books (2018-2020) published by the National Library of Australia.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Karen Cromwell
Karen Cromwell is a ceramic artist living and working on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country (ACT). Her hand-built vessels, created using traditional coiling and pinching methods, explore the historic and symbolic language of the vessel while incorporating sculptural elements. Cromwell’s textured surfaces—shaped through slips, oxides, resist, and water erosion—evoke weathered natural forms, resulting in works that appear both ancient and deeply personal.
Working in groups, Cromwell’s vessels often suggest familial or relational dynamics, their arrangements shifting between balance and tension. Each piece carries its own layered history, but together they speak to collective memory, presence, and transformation.
Karen holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Drawing) from the Victorian College of the Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Art Education from the University of Melbourne. Alongside her artistic practice, she is an experienced arts educator, having delivered programs for schools, museums, galleries, and festivals.
Her career highlights include a residency at Ninuku Arts Centre on the APY Lands (SA) supported by an Arts ACT grant, and participation in the 2022 ‘Evolve’ mentorship program with ceramicist Amy Kennedy. Karen has exhibited widely across Australia and has been a finalist in major awards such as the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award and the Libris Awards. Her work is held in public and private collections, including the Tweed Regional Gallery and Canberra Museum and Gallery.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm
Nathan Nhan
Time: 10am - 2pm
Janet DeBoos
Janet DeBoos is an esteemed ceramic artist, writer, and educator based in Canberra. With a career spanning over five decades, she has significantly influenced Australian ceramic practice through her teaching, research, and studio work. She served as Head of Ceramics at the Australian National University School of Art & Design from 1998 to 2015 and is currently an Honorary Senior Lecturer.
Janet’s practice bridges functional and conceptual ceramics, with work held in major public collections across Australia, the UK, USA, Canada, China, and beyond. Her extensive exhibition history includes presentations in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australasia.
She is the author of several foundational texts on glazes and ceramic techniques, including Glazes for Australian Potters, and has published widely on ceramic art and education. Janet has conducted workshops, delivered lectures, and presented at conferences internationally, including NCECA and numerous Australian Ceramic Triennales.
A former Council Member of the International Academy of Ceramics (2012–2020), she is also a Professional Accredited Member of the ACT Craft Association, an exhibiting member of The Australian Ceramics Association, and an artist member of NAVA.
ALL DAY
Time: 10am - 2pm