A BIG Update: Production weeks

We are mid magazine-making the second BIG edition. Pagination conversations that end at 1am Sydney time have us missing the quick fire responsiveness of working side by side we experienced recently.

SUBSCRIBERS you can expect your magazines to arrive by the first week in April - just in time for school holidays! If all goes according to plan the magazines will be on our stockists shelves on April 2. The pages are currently in design and the fabulous Maree has really embraced our vision for a treasure filled world. While that is in the mix we are already working on the THIRD edition - GAME ON! The theme, a direct request from our senior editor Luca and friends, sees us set to tackle the digital world of screen-time and back it up with a playful dose of knucklebones, paper, scissors, rock and murder in the dark! Our cover artist is award winning and we are beside ourselves at his generosity, experience and imagination.

By the side of the late-night BIG mag-making I am working on a new danced duet that will be performed in March at Venn Gallery in Perth. Production week for the show will madly coincide with the print run of BIG so Lilly will fly to Perth to help manage the BIG mailout (and see the show!). Quiet beast is a collaboration that will amplify dance, sound and text alongside a stunning group exhibition by some incredible artists. If you are in Perth, come and say hi and watch me swing a leg in my 'day-job'!

We have exciting news in announcing that JUMP mentee Emma Fishwick will be working with us on the next edition. Emma is a talented emerging artist in the fields of dance, media and visual arts, and as part of the JUMP programme will be mentored by me in both my capacity as dance artist and magazine-maker. Emma also made the awesome artshoes for our subscription give way (pics coming soon!)

A MAN update:
We have an incredible array of interviews and projects set to be published as part of the MAN series of posts and our website for this project is in the wings. We need another MA (mother artist) to help with this aspect of the project...if anyone is interested in playing a greater role, don't hesitate to get in touch. We have received so many incredible inquiries from around the world and we didn't expect it to hit such a chord with so many. As soon as we get this Treasure to print in a week we will be in MAN mode! Promise :)

If you have not already, please subscribe now or pass on the info to someone you think might like the BIG work. We are so appreciative of your support.

Jo Pollitt and Paea Leach in 'Quiet Beast' Photography by Eva Fernandez

Side by Side. Brothers Tom and James

Tom and James are brothers who have been working side by side since the beginning of their lives. James was born in 1977 and Tom was born in 1981 with Downs Syndrome. We are thrilled to have their collaborative work in the pages of the upcoming Treasure Maps edition of BIG Kids Magazine due to be launched April 1st. If you have not yet subscribed you can pre-purchase your copy HERE. 

 James tells us a little bit about their extraordinary shared practice:

Once we start drawing together it is a simultaneous work, reaching over each other, we often hand each other different pens or take over finishing shapes that the another has started. We are starting to learn each other's symbols and sometimes it feels like our set of codes is building into a strong language which we can both utilize across the page. We often make jokes while we draw. Tom will say what he has drawn and I'll respond to that, or i'll ask him what the drawing is about and he'll tell a great little story. I love this idea that he has a whole set of personal codes that an outsider can't necessarily see.

It wasn't until recently that we formalized the process of making works that were ready for exhibition. This was the first time we took our casual collaborative art making really seriously.

I like that Tom really loosens me up. Drawing all day as a career, I often get a bit tight in my work, so it's great to draw without thinking, to really free everything up. I think Tom really appreciates the encouragement and understanding he gets from it, he obviously loves creating things and is proud of the finished projects, but he has trouble starting major works by himself. I think I bring a bit of well needed discipline, so we can make large scale interesting work together. Tom gets on obsessive tangents and will draw one particular thing for a while whereas I'd rather he keep it moving. But we are both interested in obsession so I love that side of him also.

 I think we evenly pull the works in different directions.

 Visit Tom and James Draw to see more of their gorgeous side by side work and you can find out more about James and his diverse creative worlds here.

Acrylic, collage, pencil, ink and pen on paper. Tom&James 2011

 Tom&James 2011

Tom&James 2011

KIDOODLE doodles for the BIG TREASURE pages

The Kidoodlers - Karen, Oscar and Michelangelo


We love paper and pencils and string, but there is no doubt that we are more and more inspired by the incredible digital worlds that are provoking kids to explore creativity in new ways. Michelangelo Capraro of Kidoodle designs interactive digital experiences for children with the understanding that todays touchable gadgets offer imaginative tools for interactivity and response like never before. You can find out more about his gorgeous digital activity book Pirate Scribblebeards Treasure app here. 

'My goal has always been to create memorable and engaging digital experiences and bring delight to anything with pixels. '

                                                       Michelangelo Capraro

We are thrilled that Michelangelo and Karen collaborated to create brand new work for our Treasure Pages which will be released early April. You can subscribe to BIG Kids Magazine HERE to find out what secrets they have drawn into our pages.

Side by Side: Mother and Daughter map the Fairy Park and the journey of the lost umbrella

Map of The Fairy Park, Alexandra, age 5, Perth

The Journey of the Lost Umbrella, Rachel, Perth

Rachel and Alexandra created their maps side by side. Both loved the BIG task and got lost in the process to find their own directions. Rachel enrolled in art classes the day after.

Beyond The Frame - A BIG idea from Art in All of Us

 We greatly admire the vision of Art in All of Us in reaching 100000 children through art activities in schools around the world since its inception in 2005. Founder Anthony Asael instigated the program to promote tolerance and cultural exchange through art to stimulate the creativity and the curiosity of children.

This latest project is the most beautiful response-based idea connecting children from different countries in a visceral and immediate dialogue about the way they see the world around them. Children are given photographs from a particular place (not theirs) and asked to imagine beyond the borders to continue drawing the map past the edges of what is 'seen'. In this way,  a new work of art is created extending the original image and provoking ideas of the continuing links between people and places.

Children working on Beyond the Frame in Brazil

Art in All of Us - Beyond the Frame Beyond the Imagination project: 

Stick a photograph in the middle of a very large sheet of paper. Look carefully at the image and discuss what is in it. What might lie beyond its borders? After discussion, each child in the group can help to draw on the paper, around the image, what the group has agreed lies beyond the frame.