The Sunshine Coat
(Scroll the bottom for a TL;DR summary)
The Sunshine Coat is a collaborative arts project, directed by myself as a sewist and my darling, creative conspirator, Ketakii Jewson-Brown as photographer and visual artist. We are working toward a collection of coats that express visual stories of our unique experiences in the humble township of Nambour, Queensland. Our aim is for The Sunshine Coat to trigger feelings of place, belonging and local pride as well as celebrating the diverse, playful and unique fashions of our town.
The entire project will have a strong focus on sustainable and slow fashion; we will only use materials that have been gifted or foraged, sourced second-hand, rescued waste or organically grown textiles to create the coats. The slow and meticulous pattern drafting and creation of the coats will be captured in a photographic essay from conception to final collection.
As part of our collection, we have called upon other local artists that we admire to contribute their point of view and creative genius to our project. We are ridiculously excited to have Jordyn Burnett, Cat Lee, Mathilda Muller and Benny so far helping us to create coats far beyond our own imaginings. These artists will also be sharing some of their skills in a series of Artist workshops we will be hosting in our magical studio space in Nambour. These workshops will be affordable and inclusive and EVERYONE is invited.
Our project has been made possible by support and funding from The Sunshine Coast Arts Foundation, as recipients of their GIFTED program, we were able to get our idea off the ground, as well as a massive boost of confidence from their support and encouragement.
As well as this, we have had ‘Concept Development’ funding from the Sunshine Coast Council and The Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF). The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Sunshine Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
TL;DR:
I’m working with Ketakii to make a collection of coats that reflect Nambour vibes.
Ketakii will take photos of the process
We have fun artists collaborating with us and they are each going to host a simple workshop that YOU can come to and MAKE ART