Alanna Clarkson and Kiah Robinson Retter

We have a Printmaking studio and gallery space ready to go...but we need your help to purchase a printmaking press. The press will be the heart of the studio as it will not only allow us to make our own work but to also make a living by running printmaking classes in our community. 


Walking along  Melbourne's lovely Merri Creek on a sunny day back in Febuary, our dream to set up a printmaking studio and gallery began to take shape. The next day we stumbled upon a beautiful old milk bar for lease in Thornbury with our favourite creek on the doorstep. This milk bar is now our very own Merri Creek Studio!



We met in 2007 whilst doing a Fine Arts Degree at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. We bonded over not only our interest in art, but also in our desire to work with and support our local community. We believe that art benefits the community in so many ways.

Kiah has been busy working at Fitzroy Adventure Playground underneath the Atherton Gardens High-rise housing with children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Since graduation she also been exhibiting in shows around Melbourne as well as completing her post graduate diploma in Art Therapy at Latrobe, all with a brand new baby on the hip.

Alanna has been living in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she volunteered facilitating art classes with children with sight impairment and learning difficulties. She also lived in the Scottish highlands in high winter gathering inspiration  and images for upcoming shows. Both Kiah and Alanna's work is held in private and public collections including RMIT University, The National Art School and the State Library of Victoria. 

Merri Creek Studio is missing one essential item. A print making press. And we definitely can't make prints and run printmaking classes without one! Help us share our skills as well as produce art work in a medium that we love. We both appreciate printmaking for the depth and richness of the ink, the vast varieties of textures that can be made, and the physicality of the process. From the mediative state that can be induced by the repetitive nature of carving a wood block, to the alchemy of watching your image appear on a lithographic stone, or the expressive expulsion of scratching marks into a copper plate, printmaking has so much to offer to the artist. We need your help to make this possible. In return you have a massive thank you and the  option to have a print of your own made on the press you have so kindly helped finance. Even a class if you prefer! Thankyou for taking the time to read about what we are doing. If you cannot assist financialy, we would love you to be involved in other ways. Check out our website and blog, or pop into the studio for a cup of tea and a chat, to swap ideas, make some art and share some stories. 

580 Press with 58cm x 110cm Bed, Stand, Handwheel, Safety Strap, Steel Bed, Crate and 3 Blankets including tax..$4849.81

The remaining funding will be put towards Pozzible fees, inks, rollers, paper and extra bits and pieces needed for a studio. 

We will face a lot of challenges in the upcoming months. We are both artists learning how to be business people. Alanna is  undertaking training in small business management at NMIIT. We are also organising an exhibition for October for the opening of the Studio and are having open days leading up to that date. Kiah will be doing all this with a 10 month old boy. But nothing is more important to her than showing her son how important it is to find what it is that you love in life and do it with passion.