Imbil resident Vivien Eardley delayed becoming an artist after her Year Eight teacher told her she wasn’t good at drawing or painting.
‘It left an impression on me,’ said Ms Eardley. ‘I always had a creative crafty streak but nowhere to direct it. I made cards and gifts for friends.’
In her mid -forties, Eardley did a Cats Claw weaving workshop with Kris Martin at the 2017 Mary River Festival.
‘I was hooked. I wove constantly, baskets and baskets, then free weaving and turning the basket base into other shapes. I added handles, lanterns, vases, flowers. I made bees.’
In 2019, Eardley entered the Australian Wearable Art Festival where her garment, The Chrysalis (made from Cat’s Claw found in the Mary Valley) won the Sustainable Nature and Emerging Artist awards.
IMAGE supplied by Vivien Eardley
Her 2024 entry, Tigressa, (banana fibre, Cats Claw and seed pods) also won the Sustainable Nature Award.
IMAGE supplied by Vivien Eardley
In 2025 she won the Innovation award for Metamorphose (made from a new material called Banango (mango flesh, skin and banana trunk fibre).
IMAGE supplied by Vivien Eardley
In 2026, Eardley is a finalist in the prestigious Du Rietz Art Awards (5 Sep to 9 Oct) with her sculpture of a flying pig titled ‘Everything Is Possible’.
She says her flying pig, made from Cat’s Claw, playfully reflects humanity’s power as creators of our own lives.
IMAGE: supplied by Vivien Eardley
‘Amid local, national and global events competing for our attention, this sculpture turns Cat’s Claw creeper weed into a timely reminder to nurture hope,’ said Eardley.
‘I am passionate about working with natural, biodegradable and foraged materials. The temporary, changing nature lends itself to ephemeral creations mirroring the truth that just like nature, humans and animals are never the same from one moment to the next.’
Something very different for the Mary Valley Arts Fest
Eardley is also a finalist in the Mary Valley Arts Fest (23-26 July) with her thought-provoking Oh! To be human sculpture which she says reflects the current era of people changing their appearances with cosmetic procedures and AI filters.
‘In a future not too far from this age of plastic surgery, Botox, nipping, tucking, tightening, and filling, digital enhancement, filters, masks and AI confusion, we will ache to be human,’ said Eardley.
She sculpted Oh! To be human from bioplastic she made with gelatine and glycerin with accents from dehydrated mulberry shards.
The result is a delicate, otherworldly glass-like face, which the artist hopes will encourage viewers to think about what it means to be human and ‘…experience all our joys, flaws and intricacies, to own and really feel all the feelings and revel in our individuality’.
IMAGE supplied by Vivien Eardley
As for her burgeoning art career, Eardley says her self-taught, intuitive practice is evolving.
IMAGE of Vivien Eardley supplied
‘I love the idea of a minimalist footprint and am challenging myself to explore new natural materials available on our property.
‘I’ve played with banana fibre, tiger grass leaf, foraged seed pods and created a new material I call Banango (mango and banana fibre) which won my fourth Wearable Art Festival award.’
Eardley said that in the past, she’d struggled with the title ‘artist’.
‘It is only in the past year that I have started to see myself that way. I just love creating and feel like a conduit for joyful, creative energy to flow through me.’
