Over the last year, I've been working on a series of pop culture inspired accessories - which I've absolutely loved doing. These accessories have been profiled by Fashion Journal and even featured at PayPal's Melbourne Fashion Festival. In order to grow this project, I'd really love to marry some of my more "traditional" art skills, like beading, with these pop culture elements to create a suite of heavily detailed art objects. It is my hope to present these in a gallery setting, as I feel that works like mine are usually perceived as frivolous or silly, often discounting the hundreds of hours of work that goes into textiles.

As the world embraces AI, many of us are embracing lo-fi hobbies, like scrapbooking. We're living through deeply tumultuous times and craft can be a way for us to feel grounded. Not only that, engaging in these historically female art forms can help us form connections with one another (hello: scrapbooking groups) and to reach back into our childhoods.

One huge barrier that I'm facing is that I just don't have the funds to continue the project. As a result of major cuts, I lost my university teaching job and have been battling the scarce job market ever since. While I do incorporate recycled and secondhand materials, to create works at the scale I'm envisioning requires a shit tonne of beads (yes, that is the scientific measurement: a shit tonne). 

I want to create lavish beaded bags that poke fun at the luxury handbag market and the hierarchy of male artists vs female crafters, intricate chandeliers made from shrinky dinks, immersive decoupage installations made from early 2000s magazines. 

As these works take a very long time to complete, I'm anticipating showing them at the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026. All donors will receive a personal thanks via email and social media post.

Materials: Delica beads cost anywhere from $4-$10 per three grams. Any magazines or ephemera from the Y2K time period are $10-$30 apiece. 

Gallery fees: approximately $1000. 

If I meet my fundraising goal, I would like to use any extra funds to pursue a larger gallery space and to create more pieces.