To celebrate International Day of people with disability on Wednesday 3rd Dec, artists from Little Orange are staging an exhibition and interactive event at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Little Orange is a Campbelltown Arts Centre working studio for artists who live with a disability or are d/Deaf or hard of hearing. Since 2014, the studio has fostered creative practice by providing artists with materials, mentorships and access to industry professionals.

Currently at the AGNSW, Mike Hewson has taken over the tank space with a playground of interactive sculptures and activities. Little Orange will be exhibiting within the playground at Bobby’s Container. 

Monday Daily’s Eva G, spoke to artist Adam Jones from Little Orange, about this Art after Hours event.

Image by Nancy Trieu for Campbelltown Arts Centre

TRANSCRIPTION OF AUDIO:

Eva: This Wednesday is the International Day of People with Disability. To celebrate this, you are going to want to head to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, as there will be an exhibition by Little Orange Artists in Bobby’s Container, an open use container space with Mike Hewson’s sculptural installation in the underground tank. Little Orange is a Campbelltown art center working studio for artists who live with disability or are deaf or hard of hearing. Since 2014, the studio has fostered creative practice by providing artists with the b- materials, mentorships, and access to industry professionals. I’m joined now by Adam Jones from Little Orange. Adam, welcome. Thanks for joining me on the line.

Adam: Hi. Thanks for having me. (laughs)

E: No, you’re welcome. Thank you. Little Orange has been around since 2014. How long have you been a part of this studio, and how has Campbelltown Arts Centre supported you in your practice?

A: Well, it’s actually been quite a long time. I’m one of the original three participants. Myself, Adam Jones, Joel Beers, and Jessica Phezich are one of the original three. We’ve been around for 10 years.

E:Wow, that’s amazing. And how has Campbelltown Arts Centre, supported you over these past 10 years?

A: Oh, there’s been, there’s been so many opportunities that we were so lucky to have. We had, standalone exhibitions such as the Little Orange Goes Big exhibition, I think it was around 2020 or 2021. We’ve had multiple, working opportunities where, my colleagues have, contributed to public art around Campbelltown, around Ingleburn and other regions. We’ve worked with quite a few notable artists as well. So- Yeah. Wonderful. … yeah. (laughs)

E: And you have an exhibition on this Wednesday at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. How will Little Orange artists be using that space and sort of inviting the community to join them?

A: With Mike Hewson’s installation a lot of us have created some artwork to go around that underground parkland that he’s designed out of recycled building materials. It’s a very lovely community space and some of us will actually be doing artist talks, some will  be doing live artwork, and I myself will be doing a tarot card reading performance where I could read people’s fortunes for them.

E: Oh my goodness. I had my first tarot reading the other day and it was really insightful, so that’s awesome. I can’t wait to attend. Now alongside the show, as you’ve sort of mentioned, there will be other things to immerse yourself in. There’s going to be a milkshake station, which is awesome, a sketching session, and then obviously the tarot cards reading. What else can visitors sort of expect, and how do people get involved in these separate activities?

A: Well, prepare to be surprised because once you actually enter the space, you’re going to be completely mystified of how wonderful and strange it is. (laughs) And as for a lot of the activations that Little Orange are doing, like, we invite you to just come straight up, get involved.

E: Yeah. Awesome. And as an artist yourself, specialising in ceramics, performance, special effects makeup, how would you like to see accessibility improve for the arts? Especially for those who are living with disability.

A: Well, I would say there’s always room for more funding I would imagine, but yeah more grant opportunities for research and development, because a lot of us have some very big ideas that we would like to pursue. So who knows, more grant opportunities for research and development wouldn’t… Yeah, you get what I mean.

E: And where can people find out more information about this upcoming event on Wednesday night?

A: Where indeed? Well local Campbelltown Arts Centre would have information. I would imagine Campbelltown Arts Centre has a website for the Little Orange group, which is linked in that, um, Campbelltown Arts Centre website and a lot of media related to the New South Wales Art Gallery should have more information. Yeah.

E: Perfect. You can catch this engaging event and the exhibition on Wednesday the 3rd from 5:30 to 8:30 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. You can find your information on the Art Gallery of New South Wales website. Thank you so much Adam Jones for sharing your art practice with us and chatting to me today.

A: Thank you very much. It was, it was lovely.