Hi I’m Aimee Gladigau, an emerging artist from the small town of Alawoona. I’m currently on my gap year and next year I will be heading to Adelaide to study a Bachelor of Creative Arts.

I’ve always had a passion for art and storytelling, getting to be involved in a project where I could combine both of these was wonderful. I have been involved in the ‘Shine’ project as both an illustrator, and as the leader of the team in charge of creating the story for the animation.

I’ve been lucky to have this opportunity to give back to the community I grew up in and make it ‘shine’ before I begin the next chapter of my life.

My name is Alexia Flight, I am an emerging digital artist in the Riverland. I have been involved in a few projects similar to Shine, but when I heard early discussion on the possibility of this becoming a reality, I immediately got involved.

I was primarily involved in the creative part of the Shine project, including early discussion on the details, storyboarding, and finally creating my own piece for the show. I really do think that Shine is such an amazing project, the artwork is particularly beautiful, but I think the people who were involved were my favourite part.

From the very beginning we would meet up and discuss the possible ideas of the project that eventually after months of work led to the completed shine project. I absolutely loved being involved the entire way through and seeing it develop and change, and I am very thankful I got to play a large contribution to it.

All in all, the journey of creating this art piece was sometimes difficult and very overwhelming but all together was such an inspiring experience that I will treasure forever.

Art has been a part of my life since I can remember.

I like to challenge myself with a variety of subjects and mediums. And the past year has been an exciting one as I’ve broadened my art experience to include public art.

Some of the public art space projects include placing art on the planter boxes in Berri, Karoonda Silo Art night projection since its inauguration, Barmera Theatre Night Mural, and art project manager for the mural on the Loxcare building in Loxton. Being chosen to be a part of the Barmera Theatre Night Mural by Illuminart was wonderful; I saw my painting transformed by animation into a truly beautiful piece of art.

This was the beginning of my involvement with the Illuminart team. And I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the ‘Shine’ project. I’ve gained experience and now have a better understanding of projection art and hope to do more in the future.

I’m looking forward to the successful launch of ‘Shine’.

Kat Bell is an award winning First Nation Artist based in the Riverland who has a passion for storytelling. Kat has been involved in creating projection artworks for the last few years, using it as a contemporary way to share her art, culture and stories of First Nations peoples.

She came to be involved in this project through her previous collaboration with Illuminart on the Riverland Night Mural, which was an amazing experience amd opportunity to share her ideas for large scale murals.

Being involved in the Shine project has been really good for Kat in terms of further extending her artistic practice, creating art to be included in a beautiful collaborative piece, seeing how her artworks contribute to this wonderful event and being able to give to the community.

Hi, my name is Abby Hansen, I am an artist from Loxton looking to go into the art industry. I am entering my gap year preparing for a move to Adelaide and UniSA in 2023 studying a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts.

Art has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I enjoy creating landscapes and stories through my artwork. Often using many kinds of media and combing them together. With my favourites being watercolour and felt tip pen.

Designing the main characters David the Shepard and Cassie the girl. As well as other characters for the ‘Shine’ project has aligned with my style and creative flow. Building these characters for people of all ages to enjoy and feel immersed in this ‘Shine’ project.

I applied to Illuminart for the Barmera Theatre project and was surprised when they asked me to come on board because I thought they would be looking for younger people. I did feel out of my depth as I really knew nothing about this kind of artwork so it was a huge learning curve. When I saw the art work on the side of the Bonney Theatre my first reaction was “WOW” how exciting. The way they joined all the different styles together was incredible.

I was delighted when they asked me to be involved in the Shine project and am excited to see it on the opening night. My role was very simple, I had to design bright colours for a backdrop that would compliment what the others would be doing, then have Peace doves that would be moving across the design, I’m really interested to see what they do with this.

Lastly I designed a singing Christmas tree which I believe will have a choir designed by children singing in it. The concept is wonderful and it’s a pleasure to work with such professionals.