WHILE Griffith loses a lot of its young creative artists to the city lights, it has been lucky enough to have one return to the fold to pursue her dreams.
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Kristy-Lee Agresta said she had always been making things for as long as she can remember.
The young jewellery maker will showcase a collection of her work on Friday from 6pm at Bidgee Studio.
Studio owner Hape Kiddle said he was hopeful other young ‘creatives’ like Miss Agresta would be inspired to put their works on show within the community.
“It would be great to create that kind of an environment and bring back other artists to make this a supportive community,” he said.
“People forget just how creative a lot of our local people are, but there is a whole group of young people who have gone out and done a lot of inspiring and great things and we want them to come back.” Miss Agresta moved home to Griffith in January and has since been focused on completing her collection. “I wanted to have the opportunity to spend more time making jewellery, rather than having to work all the time just to survive. Moving back to Griffith has given me the opportunity to do what I want to do and be able to make a living from it. I studied silver-smithing at Charles Sturt University, that course actually doesn’t run anymore because you’re covered from head to toe in dirt and you’re setting your hair on fire – it’s just not that glamorous. Then I worked as an intern in Sydney which gave me an insight into production and how to design a collection so I’ve studied both sides and now I’m here and it is the right time to do my own thing.”
Miss Agresta said she was nervous to show her home town the results of all of her hard work. “It’s daunting, the collection is a bit more of a reflection of me, it’s very personal. It’s called ‘Ease’ and it was inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyphic I saw for harmony and balance – it’s two things existing without destroying one another.
“I’ve used blackened silver with polished silver to try to capture the concept of things working together that ought to clash. I really hope that people respond well on Friday night.”