Queen Victoria Gardens

Drop in with the kids and make your own eight-page masterpiece alongside Kids’ Own Publishing artists 

Join Kids’ Own Publishing at MPavilion for a workshop where children become the authors, illustrators, and designers of their very own eight-page book. The publishers are experts at making interactive spaces where kids take creative control. With support from experienced artists, kids will be encouraged to find inspiration from the natural splendour surrounding the pavilion. And whether they love drawing, writing, crafting—or all of the above—they’ll all get a chance to experiment with a range of materials. So, there’s all sorts of ways for their imaginations to take to the page.

Thinking of joining? Letting us know your anticipated arrival time helps us plan capacity. Bookings for workshop participants and their parents or guardians are recommended.

Collaborators: 

Kids’ Own Publishing  is changing the world one book at a time. They collaborate with artists to co-create books by kids for kids. Children publish books that reflect their own unique worlds in a process that supports confidence, creativity and connection. Their work is profound, transformative and based in the strengths of the communities they partner with. A not-for-profit arts organisation established in Naarm/Melbourne in 2005, they have co-created and published over 200 books by children. Visit their website for more.

Nicky Tsekouras is an emerging, queer and multi-disciplinary artist and workshop facilitator living and working on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Their practice features a deep desire for personal identity dissection and discussion through colourful and captivating outlets. Ideas explored include queerness, expression, late capitalism, sustainability and the human condition. Disruption of conventional art-making practices is increasingly becoming more prevalent as they explore new ways of navigating and responding to their surroundings and prioritising sustainable and found materials. In their creative facilitation, they work regularly with young people and community, prioritising their interests in creating for greater purpose.

Elizabeth van Herwaarden has been experimenting with alternative natural materials for the past decade, to discourage the use of plastics. She uses recycled dressmaking pattern paper in her artwork as its fragile nature reflects the present fragility of our planet. As well as Installation artworks, she creates woven tapestries from this recycled pattern paper that has first been hand-spun into thread and then hand-dyed withnatural dyes. Her fascination and love is with the interconnectedness and interdependence of all living systems. 

Viet-My Bui is a Vietnamese-Australian artist and illustrator living on Wurundjeri land. Viet-My’s practice focuses on character-driven imagery, rendered organic lines and a sense of movement. Taking inspiration from anime, video games and animations from her early childhood, her paintings take on an illustrative, almost graphic quality. Through her characters, Viet-My explores themes of girlhood, becoming, magic, and self-discovery.