Drawn In
By Celia Adams, Robert Croft, Craig Reasons, Leisa Shelton and Stephen Oakes
Drawn In is the development of a completely accessible performance of art-making, sound and improvisation.
Non-verbal lead artist with disability, Robert Croft, with support from artists and co-creators, will create drawings onto textured surfaces on which contact mics are installed. The sounds of Robert’s mark-making are manipulated in real-time and transform the experience of drawing into a fully immersive visual and sound experience for the audience as they move through the space.
A work grounded in concept of inclusion and “equality” through creativity.
Robert is a multidisciplinary performance artist who has made significant contributions in the art scene of Geelong. His performance asks us to consider who we are in the context of our surroundings, while he creates beauty through sound and art – and the sound OF art; HE DRAWS US IN.
This project is bought to life by Robert’s co-creators and support workers, Stephen Oakes and Celia Adams, artists with their own practices.
About Robert Croft
Robert is a multi-disciplinary artist who combines his passion for drawing with performance and sound-making. He is a member of Back to Back Theatre’s Geelong-based ‘Theatre of Speed’ Program and has appeared in theatre productions, films, and as a guest artist in various face-to-face and online workshops. Robert attends the supported art studio, Art Gusto in Geelong’s CBD and has sold his work to local and international buyers. Robert is a uniquely talented artist, committed to challenging both himself and his audience through his work. He strives to push the boundaries of theatrical form and content, investigating the power of theatre to impact, move and touch audiences both personally and politically.
About Celia Adams
Celia is an Artist, Art Therapist and Disability Support Worker who has been working in the disability and community arts sectors since the 1990s. She works at Art Gusto – a supported art studio in central Geelong, where she met Robert Croft. She also supports Robert in his home. It is through this work that Celia’s understanding of Robert as an expressive visual artist came about. During the Covid-19 lockdown periods of 2020 and 2021 Celia and Stephen Oakes helped Robert transform his living area into an art studio, performance space, and gallery - from where creativity bloomed and led to the concept of publicly performing the work. Celia also operates independent weekly art groups for Artists with various abilities and is herself a practicing visual artist currently working on various painting and sculpture projects.
About Craig Reasons
Craig Reasons studied video and film production at Open Channel, a not-for-profit film and television training organisation based in Melbourne, Victoria. Craig has a background in disability support and has taught photography and visual art to people with diverse abilities. As a photographer and cinematographer he has directed my focus to all-inclusive and community minded visual story telling.
About Leisa Shelton
Leisa has worked as a performance artist, teacher, mentor, curator and intercultural facilitator. Recent projects have focused on social and participatory public works that reveal and offer new models for greater agency and visibility for artists and participants, offering diverse experiences of the world and ways to be within it. Leisa also collaborates with various major arts companies and is a regular guest artist with Geelong based Back To Back Theatre. In 2020, Leisa began work as a Carer for Shae Benfell and through this relationship, identified how translatable the skills of an artist are, in terms of redefining and expanding the role of Carer within various social settings. This led to her current project #SeeME.
About Stephen Oakes
Stephen is a film-maker and musician whose practice has intersected with disability arts. for over 20 years. As a film maker, his work focusses on social and environmental areas. His most recent film, “The River Moorabool” raised the awareness of water sustainability. for rivers and communities. His music was featured in White Night Melbourne, accompanying projections on the NGV. Stephen has worked with Back To Back Theatre, produced documentaries for Creative Victoria, and has had several incursions into Victorian schools via the creative partnerships Artists In Schools program. Stephen has been collaborating with Robert Croft for over a decade, producing experimental music with CROAKE. In 2020 CROAKE was part of the Australian Computer Music Conference, and in the same year was supported by Creative Victoria to develop new works. In 2022, Stephen worked with Robert again with the project “In The Room”, which explored the intersection of sound and visual art.