The Artists

John Doe & Lachlan McGuinness
John Doe is a builder and artist. His paintings reference street art culture and his style is graphically bold. He regularly combines his visual and construction work to marry conceptual work with a street aesthetic. John is a team member and key artist for the innovative Sydney visual performance group, Sketch the Rhyme.  He has contributed to many festivals including, Underbelly Public Arts Festival, Playground Weekender, Art and About, The Peats Ridge Festival, High and Dry Festival . He has been commissioned to work for commercial clients such as The Ivy and Oxford Art Factory.

Lachlan McGuinness is a creative with a strong sense of building, electrics and robotics. As a tradesman for over 6 years he has been able to apply this experience to his art making, creating structural works that engage the eye. He has curates and manages a regular multi-arts event, Things and Stuff, which began in 2006. Lachlan has worked on two previous Token Imagination projects: Light Works, Art and About 2009 and Scavenger X, High and Dry Festival 2009. Lachlan currently teaches guitar to primary and high school students whilst he works as Project Manager on renovations for a new creative studio in Sydney.

James Harney
James Harney is a Sydney based artist working at the intersection of installation, painting, video and design. He has completed an Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design from Enmore Design Centre in 2008 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Print Media, at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW in 2005. James has mounted a number of successful national and international solo and group exhibitions.  Some of these include: Firstdraft Gallery, Parramatta Artist Studios, Black & Blue Gallery, DOWNTOWN as part of the Laneways Festival 2009 in Sydney, Kings ARI Gallery in Melbourne and Artist Space in New York. Most recently James has been awarded a Firstdraft artist residency, which he commenced in August 2010.

Garth Knight
Garth Knight works in a variety of medium including photography, digital sculpture, installation and performance. His installation pieces involve weaving elaborate web like structures out of rope and capturing and suspending object within them – wood, rocks and people. He photographs these installations and turns them into large scale photo montages of intricate, almost impossible detail. MCA Staff Show Gaffa Gallery ( 2010), Window to the Divine Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (2010), Jewelled Creatures Depot II Gallery, Danks Street, Sydney (2009), Pieces of Eight Gaffa Gallery, Sydney (2008), Life Death Rebirth Depot II Gallery, Sydney (2006).

Jonathan James
Jonathan’s artwork explores various methods of building narratives, methods that rely on imaginative collaborations with the viewer. He is particularly interested in the shift an art object can make between subjective and objective viewpoints, as each new person views the work, activating and reactivating the object. As a queer artist who has lived, studied and worked in Australia, the UK and the USA, the extension of the relational aspect of his work is an exploration of failed and fool proof relationships, including cross cultural relations and those straddling the gender / sexuality divides.  Jonathan holds a BVA (Hons1) from University of Sydney and University of California, Los Angeles and a Masters of Visual Arts from University of Sydney. He is currently completing  a Bachelor of Teaching at UTS, and is an art educator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Sydney and for various other art education programs. He exhibits regularly in Sydney and Los Angeles.

Lucia Scurrah
Lucia Scurrah has been exploring the versatile world of textile sculptures. Driven by twin passions for textiles and environments, and having trained within a functionalist design discipline, her work explores the relationships between human forms, interaction and space. It can be quirky, colourful, ironic and performative. Lucia lives and works in Sydney, though some folky Latina influences come from a childhood spent in Peru.

Tealia Scott
Tealia is a prolific Wearable Artist, with over 15 years fashion and arts industry experience, she is re-known for use and re-use of unconventional materials in costume making, infamous for The Goon Suit, The Shade Cloth Collection, Electrical Conduit Negligee, The Burning Paper Ball Gown and The Dreadlock Corset. Her artworks have been displayed in The National Gallery of Australia, The Art Gallery of NSW and The Powerhouse Museum. Tealia has studied at University of NSW, East Sydney College and Ultimo Trade School. She is an extremely versatile, accomplished Costume Maker and Designer. A fourth generation Costumier, her skills as a Tailoress have been meticulously crafted from the early age of eight. Tealia is a pioneer of Interactive Costume Performance in Australia. Forever pushing the boundaries of convention, she has masterfully fused High Drama and High Fashion as Concept Designer for the innovative on-site Theatrical Wardrobe Department, Kamikaze Couture.

Andy Uprock – Unfortunately Andy was unable to install his work.
Andy Uprock is a street artist who’s been creating pieces using plastic cups stuck in chain link fence. He often uses 2,000+ cups in his installations which later he recycles. The idea of using cups came to him from his childhood. His friends always used to stuff drink bottles into the fence while they were playing soccer. It was a chat with a fellow artist and friend about doing art on fences that sparked the memory.  Andy’s been circling the globe recently creating work in Barcelona, London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. His work has a signature style that is recognized on an international level, yet he is very much a Sydney sider. Andy has rocked many workshops involving people of all ages. A recent series created large scale Braille fence sculptures that were pretty patterns in a visual sense but strong poetic messages for the visually impaired. Andy Uprock is a motivated by opportunities to make public art, as it nullifies the perception of ‘first in first served’.

Skye Wagner & Melissah Chalker
Skye Wagner practices across multiple mediums and disciplines. She has participated in numerous large scale installations including Underbelly Carriageworks 2007/2008, Children’s Festival Carriageworks 2008. She has also exhibited at Peats Ridge festival sculpture garden 2007-2008 and Chalk the Walk 2007. In addition she has created both photographic and interactive works exhibited in numerous locations across Sydney. With a background in film, theatre and participatory photography, Skye has over seven years in teaching/facilitating creative arts workshops in community and school settings in both London and Sydney. BMA (Bachelor of Media Arts Macquarie University), recipient of travel scholarship for Film Studies William Patterson USA. She is currently completing BFA at the National Art School and was the recipient of the 2009 NAS photographic award.

Melissah Chalker completed her BFA at the National Art School in 2009 and was the recipient of the graduating printmaking prize 2009. She is currently studying Honours at NAS, and specialises in screen printing and life drawing. Melissah has exhibited and participated in the Peats Ridge Festival 2008, TINA (this is not art festival) as M.E.A.T collective, Back to Back Gallery 2008 and Newcastle Art Space 2009, Fold Stairwell Gallery National Art School and the Printmaking RMIT exchange show in both 2008-9. Her work features in both public and private collections statewide.