Katrina Ginis

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Katrina Ginis is a visual artist currently residing in Melbourne. With a parental background from both the Peloponese and Mytilene, her original heritage stems from Asia Minor.

Painting, drawing and the visual arts in their many and varied manifestations have been a source of fascination and an integral part of Katrina’s identity. Her personal aesthetic is predominantly figurative and representational and her practice largely centres around painting and drawing, working with oil, acrylic, watercolour, pencil and pastel.

She regards her creative practice as a means of self-expression which enables her to engage with and explore the beauty and complexity of existence. Her creative work is informed by her cultural heritage and her research as a scholar of Psychology. She finds great inspiration in Greek art, iconography, history, philosophy, literature, and mythology. 

In 2012, Katrina was shortlisted for Top Arts and attained a perfect score of 50 and a Premier’s Award for her secondary school studies in Art. 
She was a finalist in the 2015 Manning Art Prize, finalist in the 2020 National Capital Art Prize and awarded the Tolarno Hotel’s annual acquisitive prize for 2015.

Katrina has presented at visual art related conferences at Melbourne’s Monash University and at The Unviversity of Melboune’s ‘Women, Art and Feminism in Australia since 1970 Symposium’. She has completed private commissions for original works, portraits and freelance illustrative projects and has exhibited works at various galleries including The Manning Regional Gallery, Gallery Voltaire, The Black Cat Gallery and Linden Gallery. 

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Kalliroe Loukidou Tsiatis

I believe in the free minded artist who in spite manifestos allows for a journey to take place, unknown, fearful and lonely, driven by a stimulus, recounting memories of his experiences of sorrow, pains, fears, doubts, the conscious and subconscious together, facing the challenge of planning the means of colour, form, space, balance, crescendos, materials, to deliver the essence and the magical poetics.

I completed my Tertiary studies as a scholarship recipient, at the School of Fine Arts Athens Metsovio Polytechnio. I majored in Painting and Theatrical Set Design under the guidance of Yiannis Moralis , Dimitris Mitaras and Vassili Vassiliadis.

As a practising artist I exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, got involved in architectural public projects, theatrical performances , children book illustration as well as Art projects for children.

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Angy Labiris

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Angy pursued art in high school and attended La Trobe University where he studied Art History. He also took up practical art classes in life drawing at RMIT. After completing his Arts degree and a Diploma in Librarianship, he commenced work in the public library system. He continued his love for painting, initially working with acrylics on canvas, board and various other surfaces. His first exhibition was held during the 1990’s at the Bridge Road Gallery in Richmond, followed by exhibitions at Cotham Gallery 101, Kew and the Tacit Contemporary Art Gallery, Collingwood. He has also participated in a number of ‘Antipodean Palette’ annual art exhibitions at Steps Gallery in Carlton, Melbourne.

“I am basically self-taught. My background in Art History has given me a passion for the works of The Old Masters and their subject matter. I paint mainly on board and at times on canvas. I transitioned from painting with acrylics to painting with oils as I felt acrylics were too restrictive. When I changed medium, I found oil paints too slippery and took much longer to dry. To create a rich textured surface, I developed an impasto technique using predominately sticks, the palette knife and to a lesser extent, the brush…An artist’s aim is to create a ‘successful’ picture, by any means.

I have always loved creating landscapes and the illusion of being able to ‘enter’ an artwork to explore its rich, colourful, mysterious or sinister world. I hope my work invites viewers to enter my world. I am also fascinated by the ambiguous and abstract forms found in nature.

I was born in Greece and arrived in Australia with my parents in 1965. Lately, I desire to return to my roots and to visit Greece regularly. Fascinated by its landscape, many of my works are scenes of Greece…and of course Australia. Do I see Greece through Australian eyes or Australia through Greek eyes? You decide.”

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Stella Grammenos-Dimadis

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Stella Grammenos-Dimadis is an award winning writer, director and producer at Medea Films, with a passion for cinematic, provocative and compelling storytelling. Her film work is complemented by her art practice which is figurative and expressive in style. She was awarded her Masters in Film at Deakin University in 2012, after completing two B.A’s, 1988 (La Trobe University), 1991 (Phillip Institute of Technology)- (Fine Art) and a Diploma in Education, 1992 (The University of Melbourne). Her filmography encompasses both drama and documentary which thematically revolves around societal issues, covering themes such as ageing, migration, end of life choices and the healing power of art. She is a member of the Australian Director’s Guild and malvern Artist’s Society.

“There is never a quiet moment in my mind. It is always thinking of ways to move forward with the many societal mishaps that humans are faced with; with this comes a culmination of art that challenges the questions, Have I done enough? Will it ever be enough?”

Recently she has been able to dedicate equal time to both her film work and art practice which has been conducive to her creativity. She has been on the multicultural advisory board of Channel 31, Vice President for Women in Film and Television, Victoria, and in 2018 was the recipient for the Community History Awards by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and the Public Records Office of Victoria for her online series, ‘Migrant Stories’.

Her art work revolves around four different themes; nature, separated into animals and flowers, fashion with the impacts of consumerism, and consequently the many uniforms that women wear without knowing, as well as an ode to her Greek background.

Inherently the images that she creates at first seem child like and playful, bursting forth with confident brightness, but on closer observation the works are thought out, constructed with images taken from the Western world that she’s inherited. Gold leaf is placed as a means of enlightenment, drawing the viewer to that which is of importance in some way, embellishing the motifs that are used.

Her works show a glimpse of her identity as a woman, mother, wife, friend, artist, filmmaker, business owner, and her navigation of these roles in a Western society that is brandished with brands that consumers, the planet, are constantly exposed to. Whilst she references the world, it is only a reference from her inner responses to it. She is influenced by Jung, revelling in the collective consciousness; the symbols, her dreams, as well as the German expressionists, borrowing the explosive emotions adapted into her art.

When she is not immersed in her film work and art, she is busy with her four adult children, teaching, attempting to turn traditional patisserie creations to a vegan mix, travelling and dancing, the latter for her is an absolute non negotiable in life.

To view more of Stella’s artwork visit https://bastet-galleries.myshopify.com

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Anne Warren (Sampsonidis)

Anne Warren works in several different mediums including painting, drawing, collage and mixed media.

Her abstract paintings are responses to mood through several layers of paint with the final result emerging through erasure. This technique can have an element of planning with the final result emerging by chance.

The collage mixed media work dislocates found images into new and unexpected environments that can sometimes be described as plausible and at other times implausible.

Anne teaches workshops from her home studio.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Distinction) 2009
Visual Art Diploma (2001)

Events & Projects

2018  Mergence @ Tuggeranong Arts Centre, Canberra

2010 Winner, Tales of a Greek Migrant, Hellenic Museum, Winner
The kindest adult colouring book of all time – art fundraiser.

2015 Curated 23 contributing artists by Anne Warren 

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Masonik Arts

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Masonik is an Australian multi-disciplinary arts collective, who have performed, nationally and internationally since 2006.

Masonik’s immersive experience creates electronica / jazz-fusion / neo-classical and soundscapes layered with video projections. As Visual Artists, Masonik generates artworks based in graphic design, film, photography, sculpture, installation & theatre.

Masonik were regular contributors for the ABC Radio National show, ‘Sound Quality’ & were invited to record in the ABC studios in Sydney. Masonik has also created long form exhibitions and performances titled ‘Altar’d Lament’. These have been presented across Australia & Athens.

‘Altar’d Lament’ is a multi-disciplinary art installation and performance project. Though the critical locus of the project is the destruction of the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna in 1922, ‘Altar’d Lament’ is a pantheon for Neo-rebetes.

Masonik embarked on a pilgrimage to Piraeus and Athens to confront ‘rebetiko’, a cultural form that can be simultaneously fragile and resilient, both comforting and threatening. Refuge for the exiled, the tradition altered creating a narrative to an open-ended underworld. So was created this Unorthodox Amanes Altar.

Masonik: Perth-based innovators of multidisciplinary arts, The Greek Herald, 9 June 2023

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Joy (Economos) McDonald

Joy is a multi-disciplinary artist with works in puppetry, painting, ceramics, printmaking, digital imagery, and traditional icon painting.
Her work explores the patterns, rhythms, and marks of nature in painted and printed forms and more recently from coffee cup ‘reading’ pattern imagery.

In her painted works, she abstracts the natural forms to a series of graphic units of strokes and lines. With these units she uses a technically simple form of printmaking and painting to build complex layers of colour, depth, and movement. Moving away from representing the natural world in natural pictorial form, she deconstructs imagery using repetition of marks to create moving surfaces of colour which allude to energy fields, wave systems and other unseen patterns within the natural world.

Joy (Economos) McDonald studied Fine Arts at Sydney University (1970s) and graduated at the Australian National University in Visual Arts in 1997 after teaching for several years in NSW. Now residing in Melbourne Joy has continued her art career in abstract imagery both digital and on canvas.

Her work is in several collections both overseas and in Australia, in the collection of the Canberra Museum and Gallery and in corporate collections. She spent time in Canberra on the Board of ANCA (Australian National Capital Artists) was a member of Craft ACT where she often exhibited as an APM, (Aust. Professional Member) her last solo there being in 2013.

She was a finalist in the Fleurieu Biennale SA in 2008, and again in three categories with two high commendations in 2011. She received a Rosalie Gascoigne Award from the Capital Arts Patrons Organization (CAPO) Canberra and a recipient of two grants from artsACT 2011 and 2012 for a Centenary puppet stage production and children’s book in 2013 titled, The Very Sad Fishlady, which was performed at THE STREET THEATRE. This story, and its subsequent production, was inspired by her Greek heritage with connections to Kastellorizo, in the Dodecanese Islands of Greece.

In her early artistic career, Joy began as a puppeteer with Peter Scriven’s Marionette Theatre, The Tintookies which toured Australia’s country towns. Here she worked with Michael Salmon, the well-known Melbourne children’s author. Joy has had over sixty exhibitions (ceramic, painting, and prints) and several solo exhibitions in Canberra and Sydney. She lives with her Husband James McDonald, PhD, who is an academic and a historian, specialising in Classical Greek and Canberra history.

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Constantine Nicholas

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Constantine Nicholas (HatziYiannakis) was born in Perth, Western Australia and currently lives in Sydney. He is a 3rd generation Greek Australian. His ancestry is from the isle of Kastellorizo where his grandparents and many others migrated in the early 1900s escaping foreign occupations, and seeking a new life in Australia. Most landed in Fremantle, and other parts of Australia and stayed. Nicholas has always questioned his identity which has been an ongoing theme in his work. He creates rich and layered works, installations and digital projects. His work offers fragments, of text and imagery, citing colonial, aboriginal and commercial references which the artist uses to question his Australian identity. “An ongoing theme in my work is to use historical journals (other’s truth), maps and illustrations to present a ‘point of view’.

His new line of work since 2020, harkens back to very early works, are more abstract and less referencial in nature. ART LINES explores space, digital photography and drawing to create rich coloured abstract line-scapes. Visit lynkfire.com/Artcons9

Nicholas has participated in more than 70 exhibitions in ANZ, APAC and USA.
Represented in Public and Private Collections in AUS, NZ, APAC, US, EMEA.

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Emmy Mavroidis

‘A gesture in visual art is an expression of an idea or meaning which is presented and performed through the somatic effect on material and site. In other words, it is an expression of the body’s temporal rhythm, as well as a record of the body’s interaction and encounter with material and space.‘ Emmy Mavroidis

Born in 1965 in Melbourne, Emmy Mavroidis is a Master by Research candidate at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at The University of Melbourne. Currently, she is conducting research focusing on Drawing: Gesture, the Body, and Movement. At the Faculty of Fine Art and Music, The University of Melbourne, she earned a Master’s in Contemporary Art in 2020. Following her completion of her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) degree at the Victorian College of the Arts in 1986, she earned her Diploma in Education in 1992.

She founded Nyora Studio Gallery in 2003, a thriving arts centre in Melbourne. Emmy teaches & mentors other artists through the Nyora Gallery Resident Artists Program as well as holding exhibitions and workshops on drawing and sculpture.

2021-current Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne, Victorian College of the Arts Master of Fine Art, by Research
2019-20 The University of Melbourne, Victorian College of the Arts Fine Arts & Music, Master of Contemporary Art
2003 – current Nyora Studio Gallery Director, Melbourne
1991 The University of Melbourne, Institute of Education. Diploma of Education
1984–1986 Victorian College of the Arts Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting

SELECTED PRIZES AND AWARDS
2023 Artist in Residence at DRAWinternational Caylus, France
2022 Recipient of The University of Melbourne, Stuart Black Memorial Scholarship for excellence in drawing.
2020 Winner of the Arnold Bloch Leibler Award, Yering Station Sculpture Award, Yarra Glen, Victoria.
2020 Grant awarded, Nillumbik Shire Council. Time of COVID-19, Art and Cultural Development,
2019 Montalto Sculpture Prize, Finalist, Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove, Red Hill, Victoria
2018 Lorne Sculpture Biennale Small Sculpture Prize, Finalist, Lorne, Victoria
2016 Winner, Yering Station Sculpture Award, Yering Staff & Directors Choice Award, Yarra Glenn, Victoria
2015 Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize, Finalist 2014 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize – Semi-finalist
2013 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize – Semi-finalist
1985 Clifton Pugh Drawing Prize, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Victoria
1985 The Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria Award, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Victoria

Stuart Black Memorial Scholarship Award

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Troy Argyros

Troy Argyros is a third generation Greek Australian born in Melbourne, 1990 and grew up in a multigenerational household.

He holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Monash University, and has spent several years studying classical drawing and painting at The Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy.

Troy focuses on the beauty of light across the genres of portraiture, still life, and landscape.

He has held six solo exhibitions in Melbourne, was the recipient of The Graeme Hildebrand Emerging Artist Award in 2017 for Oil Painting and his work is featured in numerous private collections internationally.

2017-2020 The Florence Academy of Art Painting Program
2013 Graduate Diploma of Visual Art Education Monash University
2010-2012 Bachelor of Fine Art Monash University
2009 Certificate IV Visual Art and Contemporary Craft Holmesglen TAFE

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