Joey Karpany
Duwan Smith
Nicole Evans
Mia Smith Ballard
Kirene Newchurch
Rovina Newchurch
Layla Chamings
Winston Long
Future Studios: 2025
Future Studios: 2025 Wood Burning Workshop, Bryce Cawte, (2025), workshop documentation, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Lana Adams.
Experimentation to ExpressionFuture Studios: 2025
Now in its second year, Future Studios: 2025 continues Adelaide Contemporary Experimental’s partnership with the Department for Education to provide Aboriginal secondary students with pathways into the visual arts. Building on the success of the 2024 pilot, the program has evolved into a sustained platform for creativity, cultural connection, and professional development. Through hands-on mentorship, experimentation, and reflection, students deepened their understanding of contemporary practice and discovered the confidence to define their own creative voices. The students’ positive responses, imaginative techniques and strong final artworks demonstrate how effectively the program fosters inspiration and engagement.
The 2025 program retained its core model of an intensive studio week, artist-led workshops, and tertiary exposure, offering students the chance to experience what it means to work as an artist, collaborate with peers, and connect with established practitioners. The week balanced guided learning and open-ended exploration, fostering both technical skill and conceptual confidence. Students took part in a diverse range of workshops led by leading contemporary First Nations practitioners Lara Tilbrook, Bryce Cawte, Brad Darkson, and the Mardawi Aboriginal Corporation.
Across painting, sculpture, weaving, printmaking, and installation, students experimented with materials and techniques, from clay work and weaving to wood burning, screen printing, and painting, discovering how art can communicate identity, connection to Country, conceptual ideas and lived experience. Many students gravitated towards tactile and process-based approaches, combining clay, paint, plaster, and natural materials in inventive ways. Others found meaning through pattern, texture, and symbolic imagery, or explored themes of belonging and transformation.
The resulting exhibition at ACE reflects this diversity of approaches. Each artwork represents a deeply personal expression of identity and experience, collectively forming a portrait of creative curiosity, resilience, and connection. For Joey Karpany, painting became a means of exploring family and belonging. My Roots, created with acrylic paint on canvas, depicts pathways connecting five symbolic sites, representing his family members and their shared bond. Joey left the intensive week with a clear vision for his dot painting and connected strongly with workshops, translating personal storytelling into a confident visual language.
Themes of cultural continuity resonate in Kirene Newchurch’s woven work, a circular piece made from coloured raffia. Returning from Future Studios: 2024, Kirene focused on weaving while experimenting with watercolour and textured plaster early in the intensive week. During the Mardawi workshop, she refined her final piece, honouring family traditions and cultural transmission.
Layla Chamings’ ceramic sculptures combine cultural symbolism with everyday form. Her three hand-built bowls explore how functional objects can echo natural forms, hold deep cultural meaning and are a ground for experimentation. Inspired by natural materials in Lara’s workshop and the SALA Fire Talk with Dominic Guerrera, Layla incorporated embossing of natural materials and intentional gaps for weaving into her ceramics. Her bowls celebrate culture, family, and connection through, careful forms.
Winston Long’s painting explores connection and identity through symbolism. His painting features DNA-inspired dot work flanking a central meeting place symbol. Winston experimented with blending and wood burning, producing a highly successful sunset palette and rhythmic dot patterns that reflect personal and cultural histories.
Also returning from the Future Studios: 2024, Mia Smith Ballard was able to build on her previous experiences to engage deeply with workshops and mentoring. Her work, Nomawi Yapi (Family Tree), features three hand-carved coolamons displayed against a printed backdrop. Each coolamon represents a family member, reflecting on family, heritage, and storytelling through a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional forms.
Duwan Smith experimented with textured plaster in early workshops while developing his ocean scene. He was drawn to the 3-dimensional elements of materials and explored wood burning, printmaking, and weaving, applying these techniques to enrich the textures and layers in his final work, which depicts the fisherman and sharks. Duwan is an example of expanded painting and experimentation.
Rovina Newchurch’s charcoal portrait honours David Gulpilil’s life and legacy. She explored watercolour, charcoal, printmaking, and weaving, with the Mardawi cultural workshop resonating strongly. Her final work reflects both growing confidence and the way that Aboriginal artists continue to inspire across generations.
Nicole Evans’ mixed-media installation traces her reconnection with Wiradjuri and Narungga heritage. Using twigs, fabric, and wood in a large scale sculpture, Nicole represented her path of cultural rediscovery. Engagement with Bryce’s wood burning techniques and Lara’s storytelling-focused workshops, supported both technical skill and personal reflection, demonstrating how art can communicate deeply personal stories while inspiring consideration of future pathways.
This year’s program highlighted growth not only in skill but in confidence and creative agency. Collaboration, feedback, and one-on-one mentoring are key strengths that demonstrate how the program nurtures both technical ability and personal development. Students are provided the freedom to experiment and develop their contemporary artistic practices with considerate support of acclaimed First Nations artists and experienced arts workers.
Connection between artists, educators, and communities was also central. By placing students alongside professional studio artists, Future Studios created a two-way learning environment where young people gained insight into artistic careers, while practitioners were reminded of the curiosity and openness that drive creative practice.
The Future Studios: 2025 exhibition is both a culmination and a continuation, celebrating achievements and anticipating what is yet to come. Each artwork embodies learning, curiosity, and cultural pride, marking the early stages of artistic voices that will continue to evolve and contribute to the broader cultural landscape.
As the program moves forward, Future Studios reaffirms ACE’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of artists through mentorship, access, and care. When young people are given space, guidance, and belief in their creative capacity, they not only make art, they make meaning, inviting us to look closely, listen deeply, and recognise the many stories shaping our shared future.
Crista Bradshaw
Education Coordinator (First Nations), Adelaide Contemporary Experimental
installation
Mia Smith Ballard
Nomawi Yapi (Family Tree) 2025
Acrylic paint on coolamons and graphic print on paper 130cm x 65cm x 8cm
Mia Smith Ballard (2025), Future Studios: 2025,
view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Mia Smith Ballard
Mia Smith Ballard
Nomawi Yapi (Family Tree) is a collection of three hand-carved coolamons displayed against a printed backdrop. Made from eucalyptus timber, acrylic paint, and finished with a paperbark tree resin varnish, the work reflects my deep connection to family, Country, and cultural heritage.
Each coolamon represents a family member, with colours chosen to symbolise their individual presence within our shared story. Through this work, I explore the connection between Indigenous culture and storytelling, how art can carry and communicate ancestral knowledge and identity.
Growing up learning to honour my culture inspired me to recreate traditional artefacts with my own contemporary twist. This piece tells my story, my family’s story, and the continuing story of my Mob. I hope audiences feel the strength of these connections and the importance of keeping culture alive through art. In the future, I hope to continue sharing cultural knowledge through art by writing and illustrating an informative book on Ngarrindjeri native plants, combining creativity, storytelling, and education.
Mia Smith Ballard (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Layla Chamings
The link between generations 2025
Ceramics, kangaroo leather, echidna quills, leaves, raffia and thread
Dimensions variable
Layla Chamings (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Layla Chamings
Layla Chamings
Rooted in cultural tradition and everyday life, this series of three sculptural ceramic bowls explores how functional objects can carry deep cultural meaning. Made with clay, underglaze, and glaze, the bowls reflect the values of gathering, sharing, and connection that are central to Aboriginal culture.
In Aboriginal culture, bowls represent gathering and sharing, acts that are central to identity, belonging, and community. Through my work, I wanted to express these values, creating objects that are both practical and symbolic. Each bowl reflects the traditions of making, sharing, and storytelling that have been passed down through generations.
I chose natural, earthy colours and textures to reflect our connection to the land. The rounded shapes of the bowls suggest wholeness and the importance of coming together. The simplicity of the forms speaks to the care and meaning embedded in everyday objects.
Through this work, I hope audiences notice the thoughtfulness in these bowls and reflect on how even simple things can hold deep cultural significance. My work is an expression of my identity as an Aboriginal woman, and a celebration of family, community, and tradition. While I do not see art as a career, making art is something I wish to continue as a personal practice, a way to express my culture and creativity for years to come.
Layla Chamings (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Layla
Nicole Evans
My Journey 2025
Acrylic paint on canvas and linen, wood and metal wire
Dimensions variable
(Top left painting)
“This painting represents my family and I’s block in Wilmington. On our block, we have two creeks that run through, one of them forks off, splitting into two. The stars at the top are all the times my family and I camped out there, sat next to a fire, telling stories and watching the stars above us. The footprints in the painting represent my cousins and I leaving our marks in the mud with our feet. In the painting I’ve also added a bunch of trees, those are all the trees that are on my block. The kangaroo tracks are around the creeks because the kangaroos would come to get a drink from the creeks. My handprint in the artwork is to show that this isn’t just a painting but a part of me with core memories and stories that have been made and shared there.”
Nicole Evans (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Nicole Evans
Nicole Evans
This work began as a way to understand where I come from and who I am. Using natural materials such as twigs, fabric, and wood, I created a mixed-media installation that symbolises my journey of reconnecting with my Wiradjuri and Narungga heritage.
Growing up, I didn’t learn about my culture, our language, traditions, celebrations, or dances, so this piece represents my journey of learning and reconnection to my identity and heritage. Each element symbolises a step along that path: the burnt goanna connects to Country and storytelling, while the painted fabric reflects my movement toward rediscovery and belonging.
Becoming a SAASTA student has inspired me to learn more about my culture and to express that through art. Living in the desert also influenced the bush textures and earthy tones that appear throughout the work. I want viewers to see someone on a journey, searching, learning, and growing in cultural understanding.
Through this process, I’ve discovered how art can tell deeply personal stories and help reconnect with heritage. My experience with the ACE program has also made me consider studying art further at TAFE in the future.
Nicole Evans (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Joey Karpany
My Roots 2025
Acrylic painting on canvas
51cm x 40cm
Family has always been central to who I am, and My Roots expresses that connection through paint and texture. Using acrylic on canvas, I explore how family bonds, though imperfect, remain strong and grounding, much like roots that keep us connected to where we come from.
The painting represents the idea that even if a family isn’t perfect, there will always be a connection and support between siblings. I chose brown as the background to represent the land we live on, and white for the meeting places so they stand out. Pathways connect each meeting place, formed by textured dots of varying sizes, creating a sense of movement and connection. I want audiences to notice the texture of these pathways and reflect on how they symbolise connection, support, and belonging.
This artwork is deeply personal. It comes from my desire to reconnect with my artistic skills and to create something meaningful that could be shown in a gallery. It is both a celebration of my family and an expression of the importance of connection and togetherness.
Joey Karpany (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Joey Karpany
Winston Long
The DNA River 2025
Acrylic on canvas
29.7cm x 42cm
The DNA River is an A3 acrylic painting featuring DNA-inspired dot work on either side of a central meeting place symbol, accompanied by male and female icons. The work reflects identity, cultural heritage, and connection, inspired by the Murray River, where my ancestors gathered and my family still meets.
The meeting place symbol represents a welcoming, loving space, both physical and spiritual, binding my people across generations. Warm sunset tones and traditional dot painting honour Indigenous cultural practices, with every element chosen to express belonging, heritage, and continuity.
Through this piece, I aim to convey more than visual imagery. It tells a story of connection, resilience, and the flow of traditions across generations, passing these stories on through my art.
Winston Long (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Winston Long
Kirene Newchurch Reconnection 2025
Woven raffia and frame
30cm x 43cm
Kirene Newchurch (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Kirene Newchurch
This circular woven piece, made from coloured raffia, represents my journey of learning and reconnecting with Ngarrindjeri cultural traditions, particularly the weaving practices of my nana’s Country.
Weaving was an important practice for my nana, who passed on her knowledge to my mum and others. Over time, this tradition had faded in my family, and I wanted to ensure it was preserved. By learning from the Mardawi weaving group, who share the same country as my nana, I could connect with my heritage and honour the lineage of teaching passed down through generations. One piece from the group inspired me, particularly the intentional gaps they wove into their work, which I incorporated into my own piece.
I chose natural colours to complement the environment and worked carefully to create even spacing between stitches, producing a neat and harmonious texture. The curved lines in the weaving bring a sense of movement and life to the piece.
Through this work, I want the audience to recognise the importance of preserving cultural practices and to feel the connection woven into each stitch. For me, this artwork is both a continuation of my nana’s legacy and a personal expression of cultural pride. In the future, I hope to keep creating art and perhaps establish a business sharing my practice with others.
Kirene Newchurch (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Rovina Newchurch
David Gulpilil 2025
Charcoal on paper
29.7cm x 42cm
Inspired by the life and legacy of David Gulpilil, this charcoal portrait honours his impact on First Nations representation in film and culture. Through expressive realism, I aimed to capture his strength, pride, and deep connection to Country and storytelling.
Charcoal was chosen for its simplicity and power, one tool creating a lasting impression, just as Gulpilil, one person, transformed how Aboriginal people are seen and valued in Australia. The black-and-white tones convey emotion, depth, and truth, reflecting the realism of his experiences.
This work is a tribute to Gulpilil’s enduring influence and love for culture. I hope viewers feel the same emotion and respect I do when I watch his performances and recognise his importance to the Australian film industry and future generations of artists.
Rovina Newchurch (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Rovina Newchurch
Duwan Smith
Badja 2025
Sticks, bark, paper ribbon, plaster, cardboard and acrylic on canvas 61cm x 46cm
Badja is a textured painting with 3D elements, made from sticks, bark, paper ribbon, cardboard, plaster, and paint. It depicts sharks, a raft, and a man, exploring my heritage, culture, and the passing down of knowledge through generations.
Through this work, I investigate identity, family heritage, and cultural continuity. I used plaster to create textured ocean patterns, while the imagery reflects the stories and traditions important to my community.
I hope viewers recognise the storytelling in the piece, feel a connection to heritage, and understand how knowledge flows across generations. I aim to continue exploring my culture and stories through my art in the future.
Duwan Smith (2025), Future Studios: 2025, installation view, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Crista Bradshaw
Duwan Smith
Credits
Project Coordinator/Curator
Crista Bradshaw
Artists Mia Smith Ballard
Layla Chamings
Nicole Evans
Joey Karpany
Winston Long
Kirene Newchurch
Rovina Newchurch
Duwan Smith
Designer Publisher Harriet Culbertson
Adelaide Contemporary Experimental
Published by Adelaide Contemporary Experimental to coincide with Future Studios: 2025, an exhibition held at ACE from 18 October – 12 December 2025.
ISBN 978-1-875751-45-7
Future Studios Program
The ACE Future Studios is a free program that provides fully-supported CBDbased studios to young South Australian artists for a one-week intensive period and mentoring across the year. This unique industry placement nurtures creativity and practical skills with the support of mentor artists and ACE staff and gives young artists an understanding of professional studio practice.
Future Studios is supported by the Department for Education.
Future Studios: 2025 Intensive Week Experimentations, (2025), workshop documentation, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Lana Adams.
About ACE
Located in Adelaide’s iconic Lion Arts Centre precinct, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) is South Australia’s leading independent contemporary arts organisation, proudly supporting artists to imagine, develop and showcase art on Kaurna Yarta (Kaurna Country).
Established through the merger of the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) and the Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF) in 2017, ACE builds upon the legacy of over 100 years of leading experimental arts activity in South Australia.
Through exhibitions, studios, live programs, education and professional development opportunities, ACE is a space for artists and audiences to explore, reflect on and connect with contemporary and experimental art.
Lion Arts Centre
North Terrace (West End)
Kaurna Yarta Adelaide SA 5000
+61 8 8211 7505 ace.gallery
Opening Night: Yucky (2024), event documentation, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Thomas McCammon.
Future Studios: 2025
Mia Smith Ballard
Newchurch
Kirene
Newchurch
Rovina
Layla Chamings
Winston Long
Duwan Smith
Nicole Evans
Joey Karpany