2023 Graduate Showcase

• Abigail Rook
• Adelia Jovani
• Alyssa Montalvo
• Ambrose Rubite
• Ashleigh Speechley
• Christy Grant
• Claire Martin
• Danielle Kontogiorgis
• Diya Maru
• Grace Finco
• Grace Gibson
• Hannah Maybury
• Jade Tomsic
• Jaslar Pearl
• Kate Darwent
• Kiara Hatherall
• Laura Hateley
• Leilani Williams Bale
• Madeline Russell
• Miah Arena
• Nikki (Rong Yang)
• Penelope Colman
• Rhiannon Spiteri
• Sullivan Kovacs
• Tia Wylie
• Yasmin Abbas
• Yvette Hayward

Abigail Rook

Abigail Rook’s work explores the mnemonic relationship between humans and inanimate objects. Reflecting on the artist’s transition from England to Australia as a child, her practice is an ongoing consideration of the transportive power of objects within the context of one’s life, and how their meaning can fade when that connection is disrupted.

While experiences of longing and nostalgia are important, Rook rejects presenting her own sentimentality in favour of sharing experiences of meaning through a more abstract approach. In turn, she presents meaningful objects in considered ways with the aim of generating an elevated experience of the everyday that can be shared and expanded upon with her audience.

Adelia Jovani

They say that once we learn about graphic design, we could never be the same again. We inquire a habit of spotting grid and layout, analyze colors and typefaces and textures, also see beauty where people might not notice. I think that is what's interesting about graphic design, it is a life skill.

I am passionate about art since very young and decided to pursue graphic design.  My work ranges from typography, layouts, illustration and photography. I enjoy lettering and painting too. There is still a lot to explore and learn, I am thrilled to see what the future holds.

      

Alyssa Montalvo

I am a multidisciplinary artist, but my primary focus is graphic design. I investigate various graphic design techniques, including advertisements, packaging, and printing, among others.
My most recent significant endeavour involved designing and writing a children's book about the migration of my parents and grandparents from El Salvador to Australia. This narrative focuses on the journey and all events that occur during it.

Recent family tragedies prompted me to consider the possibility that no family members will be able to recall the trip in the future. There is untold information in this book that members of my family do not know; therefore, the book will recall this trip in a way that the younger members of my family will enjoy and learn more about their great-grandparents. So this will be a way for the story to live on and provide a wonderful keepsake for when our own families eventually begin to grow.

         

Ambrose Rubite

I’m a fashion designer. My love of fashion design was very organic. It was about curiosity and wanting to learn more. There's this strange satisfaction of coming up with designs and seeing them be realised into existence which I eventually began to become obsessed with. I am so intrigued by this never-ending void of design, and I’m obsessed with doing things to the best of my ability and improving my craft.

I work with whatever I can get my hands on. I love up-cycling and love to incorporate it into as many design possibilities as I can. I love all the textile techniques, dying and object manipulation. They’re like toys and things to play with and experiment with. The properties of shape, drape and colour are endless, I just love to experiment and do new things.

I find inspiration and influence from movies, musicals, music, video games and the appreciation of beauty in everyday things are my go-to inspirations, but it changes constantly as I always look for inspiration and add it to my eclectic mood board of a brain.

      

Ashleigh Speechley

Ashleigh Speechley is a Melbourne based emerging artist from rural Victoria. Mostly working with analogue photography; Ashleigh’s work has a focus on people within narrative driven scenes. Inspired by transcendental style within film her work often explores relationships through a personal and nostalgic lens.

In ‘My muse for a year or two’, my family members take on characters illustrating relationships once hopeful now decayed. My mum, dad and little cousin embody my vulnerabilities as I paint this considerably dire, melancholic narrative. It chronicles the intricate accounts of a soured relationship as I attempt to speak to the things we hide about ourselves. Using what is traditionally considered bad framing, I frame my characters emotively, albeit rather uncomfortably as to add to the sense of unease and impending heartbreak.

Ultimately, this series speaks to deep longing and quiet desperation; the comfort and discomfort of familiarity. How we grow, fail to grow and grow apart in relationships.

      

Christy Grant

My work looks into my ability and self worth. My focus is on imposter syndrome, ‘am I good enough? Is my work good?’ My medium is large scale graphite and paper drawings, in an attempt in hyper realism. My first artistic form before an kind of formal education was pencil and paper.

Once entering higher education I was in a position to try other avenues of art and improve my overall artistic and creative ability. Returning to my original form of art for my final showcase, feels like my hard work has paid of. My improvement should be obvious.

Within the work I will be focusing on women and smoke. As an artist and woman I find I’m often drawn to work with feminine energy, its something very inspiring. The women will be of different races; Chilean, African, Caucasian, and Vietnamese. While in my work smoke is used to represent my self worth. It’s fleeting and unstable in nature, in how it covers and inhibits my ability as an artist.

Claire Martin

~ Fueled by coffee, curiosity and a love for being creative ~

Claire is a visual storyteller with a passion for contemporary, elegant and purposeful design. Known for her imaginative concepts, soft colour palettes and refined minimalistic style, Claire's projects showcase her eye for detail, big-picture thinking and her enthusiasm to give new meaning and life to her work. Her careful attention means everything she does is considered, unique and beautiful.

Having interest and experience across multiple design fields; including interior design, styling, floristry, illustration, photography and graphic and digital design, it comes as no surprise that Claire has a well-rounded and unique approach to her projects. Her ability to bring creativity to strategy and find inspiration from the world around her allows her to sketch, build, create and showcase her projects from start to finish with finesse and an element of 'je ne sais quoi'.

      

Danielle Kontogiorgis

Danielle Kontogiorgis is a visual artist from Melbourne, Australia. Danielle is interested in creating work that empowers, inspires, and spreads positivity to those who come across her work.
Danielle’s “Imperfection is Beautiful” 2022 series explore the relationship between the female figure and flowers to represent self-love and growth.

Perfection is Unrealistic. Imperfection is Beautiful. The series of 3 pieces harmonise against one another with colours being used to convey meaning, as well as drawing inspiration from the female figure and flowers to represent growth, empowerment, femininity and vulnerability.

On Watercolour Paper, Gouache Jelly Paint is used to portray a sense of softness, and delicateness. Gold Leaf and acrylic have been added as a means to highlight and embrace the beauty of imperfections.

Many of us have trouble accepting ourselves exactly as we are, especially in a society with many unrealistic standards. In this series of paintings, the viewer is left to feel a positive state of being, with an empowering experience.

      

Diya Maru

कुटुंब (Kutumb) borrows from the sanskrit word ‘Kutumba,’ it translates to family, a household, a member of the household and to support the family.

Diya Maru’s work explores the cultural shift of the indian female and their depiction across time. Diya has used the females from her family as the subjects of this observation — from 4th generation ancestors to herself. The importance of this is not just to study changing attitudes and social norms over different generations, but to pay homage to the females whom she has encountered and admired throughout her life.

Diya has used her age of 21 as a center point to provide a contrast for how life was decades ago. It is the continuation of a series Maru started at the beginning of her studies at 18, using the Bikaneri miniature painting style, handmade paint and handmade paper, in an attempt to further understand and unravel her connection to Rajasthani culture. By applying a contemporary lens over a traditional medium, Diya is able to explore identity, change, and equality.

She depicts changes before and after the British Colonisation of India, religious texts and stories.

         

Grace Finco

My name is Grace Finco and I am a fashion designer based in the western suburbs of Melbourne. My work focuses on the feminine style and aims to celebrate femininity, which is often villainized, made to be frivolous, and looked down on in the media and society.

I work in bright colours and unique embellishments such as body jewellery, beading, closures and motifs, as well as being influenced by history, literature, and art. 

Everything I make is to empower those who feel most represented in the feminine style no matter gender identity or sexual orientation, my work is for everyone.

   

Grace Gibson

“Art and love are the same things. It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.” - Chuck Klosterman.

Grace Gibson is a Melbourne-based artist who transforms her personal experiences into symbolic representations through painting and drawing. In keeping, My Meatron is a love letter of self-reflection and gratitude. Bringing together personal motifs that symbolise strength, humanity and spiritual evolution, this installation work features a large-scale, mixed-media wall piece within an atmospheric gallery setting.

Using various materials including watercolour, acrylic paint, pencil, graphite, charcoal, chalk, and a metallic copper ake, the featured wall piece has an ethereal material uality, emphasized by a large angel wing structure that connects the many sections of the work; in addition, the other sensory additions to the space (light, temperature and sound) help evoke a space of contemplation, not unlike a place of meditation.

Adopting an intuitive approach where spontaneous emotion and memory are expressed simultaneously, My Meatron aims to conjure a spiritual experience for the audience as they connect, however abstractly, with Gibson’s personal journey through art and life.

      

Hannah Maybury

Hannah has been working and creating in the art space her whole life. With a background in film and television she has become a talented designer in multiple disciplines. Hannah's work as a costume designer combines her interest in storytelling with her newly found knowledge of fashion.

She craves to generate fashion that reflects reality and history while promoting discourse and inspiring emotions. Hannah is also an advocate of slow fashion, nature-inspired design, and ethical fashion production. As a filmmaker, Hannah is able to bring her unique point of view to her projects, and she uses her understanding of fashion to create moving, memorable and impactful stories.

      

Jade Tomsic

Melbourne based artist and graphic designer, Jade Tomsic, is a recent graduate of LCI Melbourne who studied Visual Arts and Graphic Design (Bachelor of Design Arts). They have a keen interest in painting as well as sculpture, and have a themed focus on character creation and making use of found-objects.

Visually, Jade is identifiable by their expressionistic yet humorous aesthetic through all of their chosen mediums. Jade has professional experience within the arts due to completing an internship at LCI Melbourne, where they curated the gallery space and were tasked with creating a large sculpture piece for the campus, Jade is also currently working professionally as a graphic designer for a support services company that assists NDIS participants.

They have participated in multiple exhibitions over the years, being one of the founders of the Box Droid factory, and have had great success in hosting multiple interactive performance pieces.

Jaslar Pearl

The main premise of The Label is to act as change agents doing what we can for a positive impact on the world addressing issues such as identity, mental health, sustainability, etc.

This is mainly delivered through the creative collections and unique designs of the garments, most garments tell a story or a lesson aiming to inspire all through a relatable message, appealing designs, sustainable practices, premium finishes, cuts & fits.

Kiara Hatherall

Kiara is an Interior Design Graduate whose work surrounds a broad spectrum of the interior practice. Recently graduating with a Bachelor of Interior Design at LCI Melbourne, she gained experience designing across multiple areas; commercial, retail, hospitality and residential. During this time, she found a passion for commercial interiors and how she could support people in these communal environments.

Ever since Kiara was a young girl, she has always had a sense of nurture and care for everyone around her, hence designing for an individual’s wellbeing would have to be her focus. Kiara’s designs incorporate her belief in the strength of Biophilic design, addressing both the psychological and physical impact a space has on its users. This is done by experimenting with natural elements and materials throughout her interiors to create a closer connection to nature.

Kiara enjoys exploring colour, material and form in her practice, her visual language expresses textural organic elements, harmonious colour schemes and tonal qualities that create spaces that soothe, relax, and provide a place for contemplation.

She applies these principles across a range of presentation methods, with a strong focus on model making. She uses model making is a visual tool to support clients to understand the design process and the spatial elements, forms, and interactions of zones within an interior. Kiara also has an interest in residential styling and enjoys supporting clients to enhance the feeling of wellbeing in their home spaces to create a calm, coordinated and peaceful interiors.

Kie Sunderland

Kie Sunderland is a Japanese-Australian illustrator, graphic designer, extrovert, and event planner. An artist with a mixed practice across a variety of mediums and a small business owner with a growing enterprise, they love creating and sharing work that allows connection with others.

TESSELLATE was a work that tied into these values directly: A student marketplace created by a team of LCI students from all trimesters and disciplines, that was successfully hosted in November 2022. TESSELLATE was a project that sought to allow students to gain confidence in the field of selling their own work, and provided a safe space to learn valuable skills among fellow students and the broader LCI community.

Overall well received by the participating students and attendees, Kie considers TESSELLATE their most successful work and hopes to create more events with the same aims in the near future.

   

Laura Hateley

Laura is a passionate interiors and furniture designer. She takes inspiration from the Australian landscape - particularly the wild country surrounding her farm in the Strathbogie Ranges in Victoria. Inspired by majestic old gum trees, undulating hills and waving grasses, she loves to introduce these natural textures and colours into her designs. She uses earthy, warm materials, beautiful timbers, organic clays, textured linens, and natural materials in a palette that mirror her surrounds.

Her aesthetic celebrates simplicity and clean lines, using colour sensitively to create harmonious, peaceful spaces. She creates contrast and interest using layers of texture.

An analyst at heart, she carefully considers the finer details and thoroughly explores creative options to create designs that are thoughtful, cohesive, and tailored to the needs of the client. Her analytical strength ensures her designs are not only functional and considered, but also uniquely suited to the client and respond thoughtfully to the site. Laura designs interiors and furniture that gift a sense of timelessness, making them forever valued.

   

Leilani Williams Bale

Leilani is a multi-disciplinary creative based in Melbourne (Naarm). Leilani's practice has seen her work both independently and collaboratively accross multiple design fields including Photography, Videography and Graphic Design. 

Leilani's passion lies with conceptual design and producing impactful visuals of everyday people  —  with the individuals she meets along the way strongly influencing and shaping Leilani into the creative she is today. She would describe her aesthetic style as juxtapositional, and finds that she doesn’t fit into just one category. Leilani finds this to be an accurate representation of the creative she is - unrestricted, eclectic and ever-changing.

   

Madeline Russell

Mads Russell is an emerging photographer, gallery and fine artist based in Naarm/ Melbourne. Russell has shown works in exhibitions at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, LCI Melbourne and RMIT.

Coat Check is a photographic and sculptural series that features images of real nightclubbers bags, and a possession from each. Through an almost voyeuristic lens, Russell aims to capture a glimpse of the fashion, habitual routine and human necessity of Melbourne’s clubbing culture through skeletal like, x-ray style images of punters personal belongings.

         

Miah Arena

My Name is Miah Arena, but most people call me Mim. I am a 21 year old creative living along the Surf Coast. I have a strong desire to capture simple moments of beauty with a rich depth in meaning. With a passion for capturing individuals and the unique sense of authenticity that they radiate through the lens. I have always had a strong appreciation for portraiture photography, which brings a strong sense of enjoyment within my creative practice. I intend to continue capturing natural beauty from all walks of life.

Letters to self is my final photographic series which I curated as my capstone project, as an ode to completing my journey at LCI. My intention for my Capstone project is to follow the journey of individuals navigating their 20ʼs and the mixed emotions and complexities of new beginnings, reflecting back at the different versions of oneself, consistently changing and evolving.

A four part co-existing series consisting of 32 images. I captured four individuals in various environments. My selection processing was inspired by the four seasons and forming a unique narrative for each individual. Each subject is experiencing a particular season in their life.

      

Nikki (Rong) Yang

Nikki is a young artist of Chinese descent, currently living and working in Australia. Nikki has invested significant time to study, across Europe and America and completed a Bachelor of Design Arts (Visual Arts) at LCI Melbourne. She is also enrolled as a Master’s student in Chinese Studies at the University of New England.

As a Chinese artist who immigrated to the West, Nikki has immersed herself in the Australian culture. She considers and blends the cultural differences between the East and the West to highlight and form the juxtaposition between the two. Her work uses the form of traditional Chinese dramas to combine these dichotomous philosophies and techniques, allowing her to explore her own understanding through imagination and creativity. Nikki’s practice integrates the latest contemporary international art trends to create a unique aesthetic style. She works across multiple mediums, engaging with oils, acrylic, and composite materials, usually painting on an easel.

Nikki's artworks are researched and considered compositions based on Buddhist and Freudian philosophy, with the cosmic idea as their origin, and the meditation methodology employed to present deep psychological notions. Using an Expressionist and Post-Impressionist style to express the subconscious world, Nikki replaces reality with fantasy in this meditation space. Her works have been invited to participate in overseas art exhibitions for many times and won many awards, which are sought after by collectors at home and abroad.

(Won the 2012 Gold Award of Chinese art industry,THE SOMERS ARTS FAIR 2021 Won Best in Show Award,THE KERNART PRIZE EXHIBITION 2021 won THE People's Choice Award).

      

Penelope Colman

From a young age, i began my creative life journey drawing, painting, cutting, stitching and creating anything I could with the basic materials that I had to work with. I would repurpose materials exploring different creative techniques to bring a new lease of life too.

I believe artwork in any medium would not exist without the ability to actualise the idea or concept. My inspiration comes from everyday experiences, what I see visually, read and touch and the world we live in, these ideas and inspirations change as my knowledge changes and as I grow through my life journey. I am a passionate creative who continues to work with various mediums, styles and concepts.

I am a stitcher, a silversmith, a sculptor, a painter, a sketcher, a furniture maker, a creative, an artist. Living in a creative world energises me, excites me and makes me a happy person. To create daily, share my work and bring smiles to faces and continue to do so, means my work as a creative is complete. While I continue my journey in the creative world, I am continually learning, expanding my knowledge and sharing this with other like-minded creatives. The joy of being creative!

Rhiannon Spiteri

Fashion is a worldwide language that is unique to every person and their culture;something we all use to express ourselves freely and openly. As designers, we have the capability to make those statement pieces that help people express who they are and to help bring joy to all our fashion lovers.

We all know the feeling of finding a really cool jacket or pair of shoes that we absolutely love and wear into the ground. I want to use my creative passion to give people that feeling, to create garments that they can wear everyday for years while upholding the same quality.

My collection 'Lovebirds and Grevilleas' is full of modern designs that encapsulates the beauty of Australia through her native flowers and birds. I showcase this through a select skill set that gives an elegant feminine aesthetic.

            

Shivika Chand

My practice as an artist is 'playing god'! I create characters, worlds, and narratives through digital painting. My works are inspired by the philosophy of 'non-anthropocentrism', which simply means 'not human centred'. We all require some time away from the fast and stressful pace of human life, so my aim is to simply invite the viewer to my non-anthropocentric universe!

Rather than focussing purely on the human condition through the lens of humans, I prefer to create characters and narratives inspired by environments around us.

Sullivan Kovacs

As designers we have the ability to build and create worlds. Growing up I had this fleeting escape into fantasy lands, whether that was driven by stories, art, or video games. During the development of my graduate collection I had the opportunity to explore my own lands and themes and have continued that research to build on my concept to help design and develop a collection of nine bodies for my graduate project. 

Looking back at my previous work within the costume design space, as well as talks with my mentors, I found that a lot of my ideas and research boiled down to Cosmic Horror. Cosmic Horror is centred on this idea of fear of the unknown, rather than gore or jump scares. There is often a science fiction basis to the subgenre as many movies that adopted the genre responded to fear of governance and secrets.

The Tomes of Amana is based on a series of religious texts, highlighting the creation and downfall of a divine entity and a circle of cruel fate and discontent, and the governance of leaders. 

         

Tia Wylie

My concept is embedded by a fascination of biomorhism and architecture and how they inform each other by turning these organic shapes into a structural form. I want to transform biomorhism into a wearable garment through exploring a range of fabric manipulations while focusing on merging fluid organic shapes with structure.Throughout this process I want to create an understanding about different fabric manipulations, how they are traditionally used and how they can be adapted to create new and innovative designs.

I have always been inspired with fashion an architectural designs and have always been fascinated with combining the two disciplines together.

It all started when I explored the idea of structural forms with drape and it sparked the interest of creating wearable garments that contain elements of both organic and structural with a need to explore how they can fit together on the body.

My design ethos are also centred around creating garments that explore fabric manipulations but also enhance the female form.

         

Yasmin Abbas

Yasmin Abbas is a Melbourne-based interior designer, and multi-passionate creative.

Yasmin’s curiosity for design began at the age of ten. Exploring remarkable historical places during her travels, she developed an interest in architecture, interior design, and history. She is captivated by the way design has supported the growth of humanity since early civilisation.

Yasmin’s passion is to support the well-being of people through design. She believes that improving the spaces we engage with positively influences our physical, mental, and emotional health.

Her design approach begins by researching the client’s aspirations, location, site requirements, historical context, and demographics of the area. She celebrates preserving the story and heritage of a place, often conceptualising how she can innovate a space whilst sustaining and enriching its past. She then creates softness in space and utilises fresh materials and harmonious colour theory to deliver timeless, meaningful, and functional design solutions.

      

Yvette Hayward

'I was born this way' is a large-scale soft textile sculpture constructed from post-consumer recycled fabrics. It details an arrangement of various stencil-cut triangles which build to create an abstract array of texture, colour and shape. Tones of blue, purple, green and brown, travel vertically down the structure depicting a natural landscape and are manipulated to generate contrasting compositions of light and dark, free-form beadwork, pearls, various embellishments and sculptural applique.
 
There is a combination of hand and machine sewing used to both slacken and stabilize the work throughout.
 
I was born this way builds a narrative by harnessing the history, story and energy of found objects and fibres. In this sense it details the choices and aesthetic decisions of its maker.
 
As a Contemporary Visual Artist I am currently interested in the feminine mystique and explored within this body of work is traditional female methods of sewing and weaving, along with intuitive and unconscious methods evident throughout my practice.
 
By collecting and sourcing materials from a myriad of contexts, I was born this way examines the journey of a story through combination and collation. Conceptually this work aims to provoke, question and intrigue the viewer by using powerful symbolism and feminine representation in response to political and social events.  The bold presence of this work motivates viewers to think about the nature of the feminine and the power it holds, and in contrast, withheld from it by our patriarchal society.

Intuitively I was born this way examines spiritual perceptions and weaves these interpretations into the fabric of the work.  The end result is work that chronicles the themes of subliminal truths, conscious collective and the human experience which is evident through all my works.