Cyclic: Circular Thinking in Contemporary Craft Practice
Presented by Thao Bui, Indy Heath, Madelyn McKenzie, Sal Rosenberg, Georgie Szymanski, Angelica Zumpo
DETAILS
Free, no booking required
The Oratory
Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford VIC, Australia
DATES
Thu 21 May 11am – 4pm
Fri 22 May 11am – 6pm
Sat 23 May 11am – 6pm
Sun 24 May 11am – 6pm
Cyclic is a group exhibition proposed by a collective of craft practitioners from Craft Victoria’s Fresh! Fellowship 2025 cohort. Working across woodworking, metalsmithing, textiles, bio-materials, lighting and ceramics, each maker contributes a distinct yet interconnected voice within the evolving language of contemporary craft.
The exhibition invites participating artists to respond to the idea of the circular — as both form and philosophy. Circular forms evoke notions of process, repetition, sustainability and continuity. Through this lens, Cyclic explores the tensions between making and unmaking, growth and decay, creation and renewal.
Some practitioners engage with sustainable circular practices, drawing from natural rhythms as reminders that materials carry both histories and futures. Others interpret cyclical narratives through themes of memory, inheritance and the endurance of objects as vessels of time. The concept of generational making emerges — crafting works intended to outlast their makers and become heirlooms, carrying stories forward.
Repetition and rhythm form the heartbeat of the exhibition. For some artists, repetition fosters meditative, flow-state making; for others, it becomes an act of repair, accumulation or transformation.
Presented through both singular major works and intimate collections, Cyclic offers a renewed interpretation of time-honoured mediums. Together, the exhibiting artists celebrate the handcrafted, the iterative and the enduring cycle of making itself.
Participants
Georgie Szymanski
Georgie Szymanski’s practice explores object and user encounters through the intersections of furniture, objects and spatial practice. Primarily working with timber and craft processes, her work explores the balance between historical forms and present-day functions, informed by traditional methods of cabinet making and technical exploration. Szymanski trained at the Sturt School for Wood and RMIT University, graduating with Honours in Interior Design. Her work has been exhibited in Next in Design: The Rigg Prize at the Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Craft + Design Canberra and Melbourne Design Week (2023–2025). Szymanski is the recipient of the 2023 VIVID Authentic Design Alliance Award of Merit in Furniture Design and a participant in Craft Victoria’s FRESH! Fellowship in 2025.
Angelica Zumpo
Angelica Zumpo is an emerging jeweller and multidisciplinary artist living and working in Melbourne/Naarm. Utilising precious metals, semi-precious gemstones, and found fabric and ephemera, she creates bespoke jewellery and small-scale objects inspired by her interest in ancient worlds. Specifically, she explores the juxtaposition of ancient motifs and symbols with contemporary insights, intertwining them with precious metals and found fabrics and materials. Through the wearable and hand-held objects she creates, she investigates community and intergenerational connections. With a first-class honours degree in Fine Art from RMIT University, she has developed a diverse practice that responds to themes of distorted memory, place and personhood in the contemporary landscape.
Sal Rosenberg
Sal Rosenberg makes collectible design objects from their studio in Brunswick. Blurring the line between function and expression, Rosenberg brings a fresh perspective to the fields of lighting, jewellery, sculpture and textiles. Through their craft, material and process become linked, with each informing the design of the other. Rosenberg celebrates the subtle beauty of raw materials and the impact of process, relishing the minute imperfections that reveal the presence of human hands.There is a level of spontaneity in their work, an outcome derived through sensorially motivated processes. Rosenberg often allows the tactility of movement and a craftsperson’s intuition to guide design decisions and influence the final result. Rosenberg’s work has been shown in 100 Lights (2025) and soft (2024). After graduating with a Bachelor of Fashion (Design) from RMIT in 2024, Rosenberg received professional development and mentoring as a participant in Craft Victoria’s Fresh! Fellowship in 2025.
Indy Heath
Indy Heath is a Melbourne/Naarm-based artist working across textiles, sculpture, biomaterials and lighting. Their work explores the material life of textiles, both living and lived, through a heightened sensory experience. Heath’s approach to making is rooted in sensory engagement, creating works that invite touch, sight, smell and sound as ways to connect. They work with natural pigments derived from rust and plant matter, biomaterials such as seaweed and bacterial leather, metal, found objects and discarded textiles, interweaving these elements into sculptural pieces that question how future materials might coexist with those of the past. Blurring the line between organic and human-made, their work sits in the tension between what is grown and what is discarded.
Madelyn McKenzie
Madelyn McKenzie is an emerging ceramic artist based in Melbourne/Naarm. In 2025, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at RMIT University and participated in Craft Victoria’s Fresh! Fellowship Program. She was also selected for Craft Victoria’s Fresh! exhibition that same year.Madelyn’s practice centres on skilled hand-building techniques, employing processes of repetition, assemblage and material responsiveness. Through this approach, making becomes a rhythmic and introspective act, cultivating an embodied understanding of memory where tactile engagement with clay activates subtle emotional and physical recollections.
Thao Bui
Thao Bui is a mixed-media jewellery artist based in Melbourne/Naarm. Her work investigates personal and cultural memory, weaving fragmented histories into unified yet non-linear narratives. Drawing on an interdisciplinary background in psychotherapy and sexology, alongside over a decade of experience in intensive care nursing, Thao explores complex and sensitive themes through wearable forms.Her practice is grounded in material experimentation, working across textiles and precious metals. Thao completed an Advanced Diploma in Jewellery and Object Design at Melbourne Polytechnic in 2024. She was a participant in Craft Victoria’s Fresh! Fellowship in 2025 and was selected for exhibition at Romania Jewellery Week the same year.