Regional Spotlight Artist Profile | Zela Bissett

The inaugural Regional Spotlight exhibition is a showcase of artistic talent from across the region. Developed from an expressions of interest process, the exhibition brings together painting, drawing, photography, and sculptural works by artists living and working in the Wide Bay-Burnett. The Regional Spotlight initiative is an opportunity for artists at any stage in their career, working in any visual art medium, to receive mentorship and share their work at the gallery. Zela Bissett is a local artist in our upcoming Regional Spotlight exhibition opening on 21st September 2024.

How long have you been making artwork?

From early childhood. I was drawing portraits of family and friends from an early age. I intensely recall early aesthetic experiences such as visiting Queens Park with its waterlily pond with my aunt and seeing tall gum tress from my Grandfather’s house at Urangan.

What are your favourite mediums to work with and why?

I like wet media. This began with my learning to work with clay and throw on the potters wheel in the 1970s. I majored in high-fired ceramics at the Brisbane College of Art and worked in my own pottery studio till about 1984 when my second child was born. On our property at Coondoo, past Wolvi to the east of Gympie, I built a double-firebox American fast fire kiln. We used fallen timber from the property and flitches from Kin Kin sawmill to fire it. At temperature flames would be roaring metres into the air from the chimney.

Fibre work such as papermaking and felting are also wet processes, and I took these up later, when, with three children and full time work, pottery became impossible. Of the painting media, watercolours are my first love, although I do work in acrylics as well. When teaching a unit of marine pollution, I became aware of the problems of plastics in the ocean and started making bioplastics using my kitchen Kombucha kit. I developed ways to shape the pellicle and use it in mixed media assemblages, often with handmade papers, stitching and salvaged wooden elements.

Who/what inspires or influences you?

On reflection, I can see that even as a young student, I was drawn to making work from first principles. During my student years, there was an older potter at Hervey Bay called Phyl. She took me out to sites where we dug clay, sieved it and made pots from it. It was a Montmorillonite clay and shrank spectacularly. We found ochres and made slip for underglaze decoration.  Later I fired a wood kiln and made glazes from ash and dug pigments. Eventually I summed up my attraction to making things from first principles under the motto, Formed, Foraged and Found.  That seemed to cover most of the things I like to make.

Has your practice and subject matter changed over time? If so, how?

When I had to reluctantly take a 25-year break from claywork due to work and family commitments, the allure of papermaking stemmed in part (excuse the pun) from the fact that it came from plants that could be grown and gathered. One of my subjects as a teacher was Science, and I loved the experimental side of testing unknown materials, just like I had as a potter. Botanical paper also results in earthy restrained colours, like high-fired stoneware glazes. Some of my pottery knowledge has been applicable to paper-making. For instance, I use ochres and kaolin to give colour and opacity to my paper pulp. Making moulds from plaster was another skill that was handy in creating 3D works. Soft sheets of paper can be moulded in plaster just like soft sheets of clay. So while there have been changes, some strands run through all my work.

What do you like most about living in the region?

Butchulla Country is my birthplace. I always feel a sense of energy and purpose when I am here.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Be assertive and believe in yourself.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Yes. I believe artists have a responsibility to communicate the need to both conserve the natural world and promote social justice. Not in a didactic, heavy-handed way but rather in ways that cause refection and personal resolve and deep behaviour change.

What is the most interesting feedback you have had about your work?

Marine scientist Maria Zann said when opening an exhibition of my exhibition, The Fresh and the Salt, here at the former incarnation of the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery in 2017 that she didn’t know whether to call me a scientific artist or an artistic scientist. I liked the comment, but I actually reject the idea that these are opposites. In fact, Albert Einstein once said that all arts, sciences and religions are branches of the same tree. This tree is an immensely nourishing, all-pervading and reassuring matrix and I hope to work in its shadow for more years to come.