Emily Crockford is a shining star (a self-proclaimed Superstar), and an accomplished local artist who is transforming high profile spaces with her trademark bright, bold and intricately detailed style.

No matter what the project, whether it be the WestConnex M5 motorway pedestrian underpass or a 160 m hoarding at Barangaroo commissioned by LendLease, Emily transforms the space into a magical universe of bold colours and detailed patterns.

2020 Archibald Prize

Most recently Emily was a finalist in the 2020 Archibald Prize with her work – ‘Self-portrait with Daddy in the daisies, watching the field of planes’.

When asked about her portrait, painted in honour of her late father John Crockford, who died in 2020, Emily described it as “my dream come true”.

“It’s my dream of my daddy. I watched him flying his beautiful planes in the fields. He made amazing models. This painting is very special to me because he’s my lovely father.

The portrait is ‘a selfie’ with memories of my dad, featuring botanical flowers because I love flowers. I’ve painted pink and white daisies for Daddy because he loves them and I love the colours.”

Emily is a valued artist at ‘Studio A‘, a social enterprise organisation aimed at assisting neurodiverse artists. Through their support, artists can develop professional pathways to achieve both their artistic and economic aspirations – whilst also tackling barriers that living

with an intellectual disability can cause. Studio A physically provides artists with a working studio space, materials and support staff, as well as the emotional and practical support required to ensure that artists are fairly rewarded for the extraordinary work they produce.

Most recently seven artists from Studio A joined forces to paint a 300-square-metre mural at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as the centrepiece of its Archie Plus portrait project.

Milestone Moment

“The Art Gallery of NSW’s commission is a milestone moment that recognises the quality work artists with intellectual disability are producing. And their capacity to create large-scale public art showcases how Australia’s major arts institutions are engaging professionally with diverse and marginalised artists. What an inspiring moment,” said Studio A CEO/Artistic Director Gabrielle Mordy.

“I love working in exhibitions, meeting artists, and making more ideas. I like collaborating because it means I make friends. I want to keep collaborating and creating with new friends”, commented Emily.

When asked in an interview recently with Create NSW, who her inspiration was, Emily replied – “Emma Johnston at Studio A. She makes me so feel strong with my artworks and practice.”

We love hearing about the incredible talent that exists within our local community and the organisations that support and encourage young community members to succeed, despite the obstacles they may face.

Congratulations to the team at Studio A, Emily and the other incredible artists pursuing their dreams.

Keep up the inspiring work!

As Community Partners of HKWS, we are very excited to be supporting the Speak Out Save Lives campaign running between November 25 – December 10 this year.

The need for safe, temporary accommodation for vulnerable women fleeing domestic violence or homelessness has increased due to the COVID pandemic and HKWS is determined to do all they can to support those women affected in our community.

Gender-based violence is an issue that affects millions of Australians with approximately 1 in 4 women and around 1 in 13 men having experienced domestic violence since the age of 15 in Australia. (ABS, 2016). There were 379 reported domestic violence assaults in Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai Council areas in the past year (Boscar NSW recorded crime statistics July 2019 – June 2020).

The Speak Out Save Lives campaign aims to:

• Increase awareness about the issues surrounding domestic violence
• Educate people on how to support family, friends or colleagues who might be experiencing domestic violence
• Raise funds to assist in the day to day operating costs of HKWS

Throughout the 16 days of Activism, HKWS will be providing support and information to workplaces and the community. Knowing how to recognise the signs and symptoms of domestic violence, how to start a conversation with someone, and how to respond if you’re concerned about a friend or colleague, is vital to helping victims find the support and care they need.

Please get involved by visiting: hkws.org.au We also have information about the campaign in our branches and on our website www.tlcbb.com.au .

Wheels for Ryan fundraising brings heart-warming community spirit to the Upper North Shore.

Ten-year-old Sacred Heart student, Ryan Kim, was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) at the age of four when he began having trouble walking. The progressive genetic disease causes extreme muscle weakness and Ryan now needs a wheelchair all the time; however, the family’s car is not big enough to fit both Ryan’s electric wheelchair and his family, so the wheelchair stays at school every afternoon.

Although the government will convert an appropriate car to accommodate an electric wheelchair, the government cannot provide a larger car for the family. Without his electric wheelchair, outside of school, on weekends and school holidays, Ryan is limited to manual wheelchair activities. This is where the community stepped up to help.

Community Support

As passionate supporters of our local community, our two branches are pleased to be assisting Wheels for Ryan, a community-led campaign raising money to help the Kim family buy a minivan to accommodate their four children and Ryan’s electric wheelchair.

We recently presented Wheels for Ryan with a cheque for $1,000, and our Wheels for Ryan donation drive continues with a commitment to donate $500 to the campaign for each new Bendigo Bank home or investment loan drawn down at either of our branches between now and the end of 2020. Just mention this offer and your wish to support Ryan. We also have special Wheels for Ryan Piggy money boxes for local businesses and individuals who would like to fundraise for the Kim family. Please get in touch if you would like a Piggy! Ryan’s face lit up when he met our giant Piggy mascot earlier this month.

The Community Spirit

Ryan’s mother, Soo, is overwhelmed by the show of community spirit for her family and extremely grateful for the support from Bendigo Bank and all the donors. The Kims are a family of six with limited financial resources and huge challenges. Holidays are few and far between and if they occur are at a caravan park a few hours away for a few days. The new minivan will make a big difference to Ryan’s life and greatly help his loving parents care for their son. Not only will Ryan’s ‘wheelie’ be able to come home each day giving him freedom and independence outside school, the large vehicle also means the Kims will be able to go on cherished outings together as a family, which they can’t do in their current car.

Unfortunately, as Ryan’s illness progresses, he is losing strength in his limbs, and his heart and respiratory muscles are becoming weaker. Sadly, the life expectancy of patients with DMD is greatly reduced.

We are touched by Ryan’s story and inspired by the courage of this young boy and his family. The Wheels for Ryan fundraising team have already raised $56,000 against their target of $75,000.

If you would like help, donations can be made online at https://www.mycause.com.au/page/233535/wheels-for-ryan

In mid-June 2020, Sharon Franke – our Community Development Manager had a coffee meeting with Louise McCann, the President and Board Chair of the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter. As community partners of this fabulous organisation, we wanted to work out a way that we could help them achieve their goal of securing a safe and permanent Shelter for vulnerable women and their children in our community. We were talking about how they’d recently missed out on being able to purchase their ideal property by about $200,000.

At the end of that meeting, we had decided that together we would launch an end of financial year 10-day appeal to raise the final $200,000 needed to purchase their own Safe Place. Within 5 days, the team had come together to launch the campaign – and we were able to kick things off with a $20,000 donation. While we hoped we’d get there, we were aware the goal was ambitious.

Together we did it.

Thank you to everyone who supported the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter Safe Place Appeal. As of midnight June 30, we had reached a staggering $185,391 – and with donations still coming in, we may well make that goal of $200,000 a reality.

Every one of the 1,057 donations made a difference. Thank you to every person, community group and business who made a donation – and if you haven’t yet had the opportunity, and would still like to, you can make a donation via their website – www.hkws.org.au, or in either of our two branches.

What’s next for HKWS

Now that they have the funding they need to find the ideal home, we will continue our support by covering the interest payments on a $500,000 loan for the first three years of the loan term.

Community working together to make a difference.

Take a minute to think about the everyday tasks that pose a real challenge to people in a wheelchair…

 Getting up hills, grabbing a morning coffee and negotiating the weekly groceries – every day throws up new challenges.

Ride a Day in My Wheels is an annual event that helps to raise awareness of the daily challenges faced by people in a wheelchair. Currently, in its 9^th year, the event is a fun way to engage the community, celebrate and raise awareness for International Day of People with Disability.

Ride a Day in My Wheels was created by Oliver House, a member of Studio ARTES, who wanted for people to understand the challenges that he faces daily.

The day entails members within the community strapping into a wheelchair and fulfilling a list of physical and mental tasks, under a time limit!

Not only does this event help people to see things from a different perspective, it also raises much-needed funds for Studio ARTES.

The 2019 event was held on Friday 6^th December, with our very own Branch Manager – Dean Castell participating.

The challenge was set:

• Riders had to successfully overcome three hard surface obstacles in the wheelchair.
• They then had to then walk with a full cup of water around obstacles and not spill any liquid – wearing glasses that distort vision.
• Then wearing noise-cancelling earphones, they needed to lip-read what was being said.
• They needed to ride a wheelchair as far as they could around the Hornsby fountain in one minute.
• Order a coffee from a local café without talking.
• Finally, they had to paint their score from the above tasks using only a paintbrush attached to a headpiece.

This wasn’t Deans first experience in the Ride a Day in My Wheels event, but the new vision distorting glasses were a real challenge.

Thanks for being such a great sport Dean and for supporting such a worthwhile cause.

You can find out more about Ride a Day in My Wheels and watch Oliver’s promo video here:

https://www.studioartes.org.au/event/ride-a-day-in-my-wheels/