Gallery welcomes artists with a disability
Local
An art gallery dedicated to showcasing work by South Australian artists living with disability or mental health barriers is adding a splash of colour and positivity to Adelaide’s CBD.
Bearded Dragon Gallery is a social enterprise business run by Community Bridging Services (CBS) Inc. The goal is helping people achieve success, in this case through creativity.
The gallery hosts up to four exhibitions a year, most recently a SALA (South Australian Living Artists) exhibition called Organic Visions which showcased work by four artists: Michelle Chiles who works with ink and wood to create varnished wooden wall pieces, abstract colourist Robert Eckert who creates beautiful pieces with acrylics and watercolours, John ‘Bundy’ Bannerman (a former rural truck driver who was forced to change careers after an injury) and works with acrylics on copper sheets, and Sonja Garnaut who creates intricate mandala designs.
Sonja said art is a way for her to heal.
“There are chapters of my life that are still with me and that I’m processing,” she said.
Artist Sonja Garnaut with one of her mandala pieces.
“Stuff I put aside for a long time, and it was time for me to look at. I was diagnosed with childhood PTSD, and I had to go inward, there was no other choice.”
What began as small-scale paintings on rocks during COVID lockdowns soon turned more serious.
“Over the years they got bigger,” Sonja said. “I hyper-focus on things so I just wanted each one to be that bit better.”
Bearded Dragon Gallery provides an opportunity for artists to make income from their art.
“It’s a great spot,” said gallery manager Bailey Johnson.
“We’re fortunate to be in Gays Arcade where people can walk by and see us. It’s just near Rundle Mall and off Adelaide Arcade. There are a lot of unique businesses here so it’s great that a social enterprise like the Bearded Dragon Gallery can be part of that.”
Sonja remembers the first time she spotted the creative haven.
“I was having a coffee with my daughter and aw the gallery and thought, ‘hmm, this feels like something I could be part of’,” she said.
“I love painting as a hobby, but I can’t just fill up my shed with mandalas. They need to come out of the shed and into the world. When I’m writing and being creative it helps me, and I know that when I help myself, I’m helping others.”
The gallery and the work in it are also conversation starters.
“There’s a lot of shame and stigma around mental health,” Sonja said.
That’s where staff like senior art gallery assistant Sophie Newman are invaluable.
“Our job at the Bearded Dragon Gallery is largely to introduce customers to the gallery and find the right language to convey what we do here,” Sophie said.
An exhibition opening at Bearded Dragon Gallery in Gays Arcade, Adelaide.
“It’s our responsibility to try to challenge that in person when we meet people face-to-face. We talk about the artists and their work and what it means to them.”
Bearded Dragon Gallery welcomes expressions of interest from all artists living with disability.
“Our next exhibition on December 3 2024 is going to be based around the theme of unity,” Sophie said.
“We’ll do a call out to our artists, and we’ll see what people bring in, then select a few artists to focus on. We work with more than 60 artists at the moment and we’re always looking for more. With the call outs, we allow people to submit what they think would fit well with the theme, then we sit down and have a look at what works.”
The gallery takes 25 per cent commission on piece sold to support our team and keep the gallery running. The remaining 75 per cent goes directly to artists.
“It’s a great way for a lot of people to really display their art and take that next step to develop into established artists,” Bailey said.
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