The Educators Q&A

As part of PROFILE 2025, the JMGA-NSW Contemporary Jewellery and Object Award, ADC CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill asked two of this year's finalists about their work as educators and how this informs their creative practice.

Felix Gill is a Sydney based contemporary jewellery artist, whose work embraces a blend of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary aesthetics and storytelling.

With a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours First Class) from Sydney College of the Arts and an Advanced Diploma in Jewellery and Object Design from Design Centre Enmore, Felix’s academic background is a solid foundation for his artistic pursuits.

Melinda Young is a contemporary craft artist living and working on Dharawal Country. Her research-based practice spans jewellery and textiles, exploring place and materiality with an emphasis on working with gleaned or re-purposed materials. She has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally since 1997. Her work is held in public collections and included in numerous publications.

Alongside her making practice, Melinda has spent the past 25 years working within the contemporary craft and design field as a tertiary and community educator, curator, gallery manager and sometime writer.

Describe your practice philosophy in 25 words or less?

Felix: Play, if you’re not enjoying it, stop.
Tinker, if you haven’t pulled it apart yet, start.
Tools, it’s an addiction so scratch the itch.

Mel: An unfinished manifesto:
Less is more.
Learn basic skills well.
Practice.
Stay curious.
Never stop learning.
Listen to materials.
Respect tools.
Set rules.
Keep making.

How does your professional practice inform your work as an educator?

Felix: When I became an educator, I knew I was in the right place, I consider my self lucky to find a job that pays my rent and gives me joy.

Art is a struggle to find a solution, I love it, and it gives me joy, but I need to work on it every day to make it harmonious, just like any relationship.

And I don’t get it right every time in the studio or the classroom, I hope I have the humility and perseverance to try again till I do. I learn in the studio every day, and I am excited by the learning journeys I observe in the classroom every day.

Being an artist / contemporary jeweller gave me the skills to do my job as an educator. I’m not just talking about the craft of it. The skills honed and developed over a lifetime practice that help me create the object. But the story of it, the object is just a vessel for the conversation, for the story. This story telling I hope makes me a better educator.

But passion for the community must be a part of the equation, I hope I pass some of what love across in the lessons. It is a privilege to make and be heard, and it is a privilege to share that with others.

A privilege to be an influence in their journey and I and grateful for the opportunity.

Mel: My practice is firmly rooted in this manifesto of sorts, and I try to instil these ideas in my students when and wherever I am teaching or facilitating. I believe firmly that you can do a great deal with very little, but that imagination, curiosity and practice are crucial.

What do you think are the most critical things a contemporary jewellery artist starting out should have in their ‘toolbox’?

Felix: Forgiveness - You need to forgive yourself when you become overwhelmed by the path in front of you, when you feel guilty for not doing enough work or not having enough working out for you, for not having enough time in the studio, for not knowing enough, for not knowing the path.

Perseverance - To follow the path wherever it takes you, remember perseverance will out last talent every time. To push past the critique external and internal, to embrace the path and the journey.

Joy: Look for it and embrace it when it comes to you and remember it when it doesn’t.

Mel: The desire to learn and an understanding that learning never stops. Initiative. Patience.

What’s your take on the state of creative education in Australia – what could we be doing better and what message would you like to send to candidates in the forthcoming election?

Felix: Funding.

But more than that, understanding that creativity underpins all innovation. We need to remove the barriers to creative pursuits, on a lifelong journey. That means fee free Tafe in creative arts, re-instatement of 3 year full time Art, Craft and Design courses in distinct disciplines (contemporary jewellery as a start) but in other disciplines also.

We could stop undermining the arts as a contributor to community and GDP.

We could start recognising the Arts creates jobs and opportunities and expand the offerings rather than reducing the opportunities.

For me the arts helped me re-skill and change my path and I have seen it happen with others.

Mel: It has been devastating to watch the decline in creative courses offered at Universities and TAFE, particularly in regional areas. It is reassuring to see the growth of community and privately run spaces for making and learning, but there needs to be more accessibility and funding for creative education, this includes galleries and organisations who work with and for creative practice/practitioners. Australia needs more immersive, studio-based craft courses.

I would love to see creativity and hands on making skills as compulsory across all pre-tertiary education.

Stop cutting arts and creative education funding!

To find out more about PROFILE 2025's finalists, visit here.