Site 4A. Bella Donoghue + Bella Tobin
Co-created
Fibre, clay, pearls and found materials

︎bellascollaborate

Bella Donoghue graduated with a Bachelor of Art History from the University of Melbourne in 2020. She is currently completing an ecology based collaborative project and is planning to study Art Therapy in the coming years. She volunteers at Gertrude Contemporary in Preston. Her art practice includes sculpting, painting, collage, drawing and weaving, creating a space for experimentation and contemplation.

Bella Tobin is currently studying Communication Design at RMIT with a focus on printmaking and artist books. Her practice works across weaving, screen printing, bookmaking, sculpting and painting. Through her practice, she explores the intersection between art and design, and a love of craft making. She has completed volunteer work at Melbourne Art Library and currently works as an Assistant Curator at UAP (Urban Art Projects).


Co-created celebrates the bringing-togetherness of craft.

Through our practice which focuses primarily on handbuilding with natural materials, we intuitively sculpt and build tangible objects which not only serve us in their practicality. By carving out time to indulge in this meditative practice, we surrender ourselves to our hands as well as our emotions. During the long span of lockdown last year (a crisis in which we are still facing head on), we found ourselves turning to these freeing exercises as a way of giving our emotions a place to surface and breathe.

When sitting down together, in a space we made to imbue serenity and non-judgement, we would uncover a new appreciation for one another, as well as ourselves, and create as if we were finding our own identities again. With no intention or idea about our end result, we would give our hands permission to play with no boundaries, this came to be our own form of therapy and it continues to serve us in the same way during these times. Through sharing Co-creation with the community, we hope to encourage others to use craft, whatever it may be, to find a sense of grounding and easy playfulness within their homes.