Here's where you can find artist-in-residence Carmen Griffen around the region.

All are invited to join Carmen for lunch, see her exhibition or take part in an immersive or drop-in creative workshop. There’s no cost or booking required for the lunch, launch or any creative workshops, just come along to to one or all!


EXHIBITION LAUNCH + IMMERSIVE WORKSHOP

Saturday 15 March  l  12 noon to 4pm (includes lunch)

The Bank Gallery + The Exchange Carnamah, 4 - 8 Macpherson Street, Carnamah


IMMERSIVE CREATIVE WORKSHOPS

Tuesday 18 March l  11:30am to 2:30pm (includes lunch)

Ngyrlu Mulla-Mugah Art Space, 27 Jose Street, Mullewa


Wednesday 2 April l 10am to 1pm (includes morning tea)

The Exchange Carnamah, 4 Macpherson Street, Carnamah


DROP-IN CREATIVE WORKSHOPS

Saturday 8 March l 5pm to 7pm as part Women of the Hinterlands laneway party

The Exchange & Gallery Mingenew, 50 Midlands Road, Mingenew


Friday 21 March l 5pm to 8pm as part of Harmony Week celebrations

Perenjori Sports Pavilion, Mullewa-Wubin Road, Perenjori


Saturday 22 March l 5pm to 7pm as part of Silo Movie Night

Jack Thorpe Gardens, Railway Road, Three Springs


EXHIBITION SHOWING

7 March to 11 April l Wednesday, Thursday &  Fridays 10am to 2pm

Exhibition Launch + Workshop, 15 March 12 noon - 4pm (includes lunch) The Bank Gallery, 8 Macpherson Street.

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ABOUT CARMEN

Carmen Griffen is a painter and paper artist based in Margaret River. Carmen’s artworks are often inspired by a sense of place, journeys, family connections and everyday, familiar objects.

ABOUT THE IMMERSIVE WORKSHOPS

Join us for a creative workshop and discover the magic of paper as a wonderful art medium. Think sculpture, collage, and using all kinds of papers, from vintage patterns, tissue paper and more. Be inspired by everyday familiar objects that we all use, and the well-known tradition of sharing cuppas.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION, Voyage Through Time

The works are influenced by family, place and landscape. Artworks are personal reflections, exploring ways to find our journeys through life. Artworks are inspired by old family photo albums, and current discovery of finding ways to explore connections through objects and travel. Mediums: Acrylic on canvas, mixed media and paper.


You're invited!

2025 is going to be a HUGE year! We are excited to share the great artists coming to the North Midlands and some standout activities and events. All are invited to enjoy lunch, hear about 2025, meet our first artist-in-residence, see their exhibition, and participate in our first residency workshop. Full details coming soon but right now please save the date, and we look forward to seeing you on the 15th March. 

A WARM WELCOME 

We are excited to introduce our first Threads In Common creative for 2025! A big warm welcome to Carmen Griffen, who will soon be in our midst.


Carmen Griffen is a painter and paper artist based in Margaret River. Carmen’s artworks are often inspired by a sense of place, journeys, family connections and everyday, familiar objects. More recently, Carmen has used paper as her primary medium, exploring paper sculptures and collage works which evoke a sense of nostalgia, using recycled paper, vintage patterns, found paper, and magazines. In essence, Carmen creates ways to find stories in everyday objects and experiences. It is a way of expressing the everyday familiar connections, we may all recognise.


Carmen writes: “I am grateful and excited at the opportunity to immerse myself in the North Midlands Threads in Common residency, and connections with community through sharing a cuppa and exploring my love of stories through paper”.

This year starts a three-year program 'Threads in Common' exploring 'community'. Through artistic expression we will weave together our Threads in Common, nurturing respect and connection through understanding.  Please click on the arrow for a snapshot of 2025.

We recognise that threads, when joined together, engender strength and resilience. As individuals and communities, when we come together and share our various stories and experiences, our social fabric and our respect for self and others benefits. This, in turn, reduces social isolation, fosters cultural understanding, and supports local networks for personal pride, sense of place and belonging.


Culture and the arts play an important role in the Threads in Common project; providing experiences that bring people together. The impact lies in a greater appreciation of, and harmonious relationships between, people from all backgrounds, cultures, gender, sexuality, skills, and life experiences in our communities.


Over the next three years through artistic expression, we will explore 'community' weaving together our Threads in Common, nurturing respect and connection through understanding.


Full details available soon.

Guidance + Reflections

It's about making sure we are creating activities that help foster healthy connected communities and vibrant liveable towns. Your guidance provides a deeper insight into what we are doing well, what we can improve on.. and an opportunity to see if we are making a positive difference in people's lives, whether we are relevant, or needed. Please click here to join the conversation.

Artwork: Perceptions is a large-scale artwork across twelve narrow canvases, created collaboratively in 2018 by our first international artist-in-residence Lupe Gallo with youth from Carnamah, Coorow and Perenjori. The work is part of the North Midlands Community Art Collection

Weekly- Wednesdays
@ The Exchange Carnamah

If you have a creative pursuit of any kind that you'd like to undertake socially in the company of others, please come to The Exchange in Carnamah on Wednesdays between 10am and 2pm.

Weekly - Thursdays
@ The Exchange Carnamah

If you'd like some help with the internet, tablet, or mobile! Drop-in between 10am and midday on Thursdays at The Exchange, 4 Macpherson Street in Carnamah.

Fortnightly - Thursdays
@ The Exchange Carnamah

Regional writring group Scribes of North Midlands meets at The Exchange in Carnamah fortnightly on a Thursday.

Workshops, Exhibitions + Events!

Click here to jump over to our Facebook Events page with all up-and-coming creative workshops, events special exhibitions, community projects plus everything in between.
North Midlands Project Events Page.

Creative Group SUPPORT

Are you thinking about starting up a new creative community group in the North Midlands, or need some assistance with one already running? Get in touch! We can help with planning, marketing, insurance and providing a space for the group to run activities. #StrongerTogether

Creative Hub

Strengthening our Creative Community Together 

This resource is for artists, arts workers and arts enthusiasts to learn, participate, and connect with what they love. Click here to discover more. All ideas, feedback or content suggestions are warmly welcomed through the make it better contributor's portal

 #StrongerTogether

NoticeBoard

Share + discover arts activities happening in the Mid West

All are welcome to check out and post about creative activities, workshops, gigs, launches, exhibitions, projects and events happening in the Mid West.

If it’s creative and happening in the Mid West, click here and post away! 

CREATIVE @ HOME

If you're at home, we encourage you to keep active, creative and connected with our expansive Act Belong Commit Creative @ Home program. Can you recommend an addition to the program? Would you like to do a live-streamed gig or workshop? Click here to get in touch!

Creative activities, online courses, virtual exhibitions and much more. Open 24/7 online!

REgional Arts WA Network

North Midlands Project is the Mid West Hub !

Looking to change the way the regional arts sector talk to each other, Regional Arts WA has partnered with strategically aligned local organisations to grow a Network of Hubs across the state.

The Hubs themselves engage and respond directly to their local communities by providing on-ground support for their needs. Their role is to increase local decision making, strengthening relationships with local governments and stakeholders, whilst seeking development opportunities for artists and arts workers within their communities.

By having Hubs then connect back to a state-wide Regional Arts Network, assists in building a sustainable and thriving ecosystem of connected creative regional communities who work together in collaboration.

The network is a Regional Arts WA initiative, proudly supported by Minderoo Foundation and The Ian Potter Foundation, with funding from the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund.

You can find out more on the Regional Arts Network here.

We're proud to work with Healthway to promote the Act Belong Commit message through our Creative Community Program. Our many thanks to the Government of Western Australia, Healthway and Act Belong Commit for helping keep our community happy, healthy, creative and connected.