Walk into the Pitcha Makin Fellas studio in the Old Post Office building on Lydiard Street and you will be hit with colour, passion, humour and a warm welcome.
The group is reviving the story of Australia’s First Peoples and expressing their personal history through their own contemporary version of Aboriginal art, mainly using techniques of stamping.
When the fellas first got together five years ago and created their first piece of vibrant art, they had no idea what was to come.
There are lots of reasons why art is produced… the fellas are succeeding because it is coming from a real place of need.Peter Windmer, Pitcha Makin Fellas
Since, they have met weekly, formed strong bonds and their work has featured in exhibitions, won awards and highlighted at events that have attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Their work appears in the National Gallery of Victoria and the United Nations in Geneva, featured in the opening of the Lumina Luz Festival in Portugal in 2015, and White Night Melbourne and White Night Ballarat.
This year the collective art group has joined the Federation University Arts Academy as Adjunct Fellas.
Peter Windmer has assisted the fellas since helping start the group with an initial aim to write stories and books.
“Before we begun half the fellas had never had anything to do with art,” he said.
“But it is more than producing art, it is based around community as well. There are lots of reasons why art is produced… the fellas are succeeding because it is coming from a real place of need.”
Much of the group’s art involves humour and a response to controversial public discussions.
The group’s series of portraits titled Black Face was a response to two Ballarat men who dressed up in Aboriginal black face for a dress-up party at a football club.
Another piece, Aboriginal Dog, was a humorous reflection of comments on a sign in Ballarat East that was graffitied with the words ‘Abbo dog’.
Despite creating an extensive range of art, the group has not ignored its initial aims.
Member Myles Walsh’s book What’s in a Name? featuring illustrations by the Pitcha Makin Fellas Notable Book 2017 in the Younger Readers category by The Children's Book Council of Australia.
Adrian Rigney is currently working on a book telling the story of the first Aboriginal cricket team that played in England in 1868.
For 80-year-old member Ted Laxton, involvement with the Pitcha Makin Fellas has changed his life and given him the opportunity to tell his story through art.
“Before I started the group in 2013 I sat at home looking at four walls and the television. Now every week I am looking forward to coming here. It has given me a complete change of life,” he said.
READ MORE IN THE MADE OF BALLARAT SERIES:
- New Clunes business The Odd Sockery is bringing back hand cranked socks
- Saltbush Kitchen leads a Ballarat bush tucker revival
- Crafts revival: Japanese SAORI weaving captures a new type of creator
- The art of lost trades: creators pass on passion for historic crafts
- Kilderkin Distillery puts Ballarat on gin map
- Mick Nunn shares his journey to Salt Kitchen Charcuterie
- Ceramic artist Ruby Pilven features in new Ballarat tourism campaign
- Hunting for black gold, Ballarat truffier prepares for next season
- This couple’s obsession with backyard beekeeping is catching
- Le Peche Gourmand continues pastry traditions dying in France\
- Owen Latta wins top Australian wine award