By Jenni Ivins
When the Cardinia Shire Council called out for local artists and businesses to participate in the inaugural What’s On Cardinia Festival, they wanted to create a month-long event that would support businesses, artists and the general community of the district as we came out of Covid-19 lockdown.
Artist and writer Jenni Ivins was inspired by the brief and created two projects for the festival.
One was The Art of Business and Community, which was actively supported by the Star News Group.
Four businesses from across the shire took their turn hosting Jenni as their artist in residence for a day.
Each week a full-page mind drawing with a list of items to find and an article about the host business appeared in the Pakenham-Berwick Gazette.
The host businesses were Brunch on McBride café in Cockatoo; Cannibal Creek Restaurant and Vineyard in Tynong North; Upper Beaconsfield General Store and Over the Road Restaurant; and Caldermeade Farm, market, and café.
“During the residencies, I learnt about the heart of each business,” said Jenni.
“Each was unique, yet there was a common thread. They all have strong ties to their community, with an ethos of supporting other local businesses, groups and individuals and caring for their environment. It was heart-warming to see!”
As part of the project Jenni spoke with many locals, online and at the venue. The stories showed an appreciation of nature and community culture.
People sent pictures of things to include and Jenni took photos of different facets of each business, to reference when creating each ‘mind drawing’ in the week that followed.
Jenni’s drawings are created with a 0.1 and 0.05mm pen, producing fine lines and a lot of detail.
Each was printed at twice the size in the Gazette to make it easier for readers to find the hidden items. Jenni always hides a four-leafed clover in her uncoloured mind drawings.
“A mind drawing is a picture in which the lines or marks may be seen or interpreted in more than one way,” explained Jenni.
“As you might imagine, this can lead to confusion when people are not seeing things the same way when looking at the same thing.
“I first discovered this phenomenon in my drawings when I was preparing for my first solo exhibition in 2012 and my daughter asked me why I had chosen the title, Hidden in Plain Sight for one of the drawings.
“I said, ‘because it is hidden but you can clearly see it.’ She asked, ‘What is hidden?’ When I told her, I discovered that she couldn’t see it! So I showed her, using my hands to cover part of the picture, and then she could see both images.”
Over the years Jenni has shown that picture to many people at exhibitions and events.
She has found nine out of ten people see the same thing first and one out of ten see something different, as her daughter did.
“I have since learnt that this effect is known as gestalt. It is a ‘thing’ – but it doesn’t indicate anything like intelligence,” said Jenni.
“However, it does show us we need to use our words clearly when in conversation, to make sure we are talking about the same thing.
“This is the most important aspect of my artwork,” she said. “It is a tool that can improve communication. And if I show and tell enough people, perhaps it can make a positive difference and lead to more peaceful lives.”
There was more to see in the white or ‘negative’ spaces in the Art of Business and Community mind drawings in the paper. Did you find any?
In the Brunch on McBride drawing, you might have noticed a lady’s face in the clearing above Jerry, the dog’s grave. If you turn the whole picture upside down, there is the suggestion of a stalking water bird.
If you rotate the Cannibal Creek drawing ninety degrees anticlockwise, you might see the suggestion of a white horse.
The Upper Beaconsfield drawing has a different sort of subtlety, with a golf ball above the water tower suggesting a microphone for the singer at Over the Road restaurant.
Jenni left the white space in the middle as a place that people could draw their version of BUGS the cat sprawled, as cats do.
When she was collecting community suggestions for the Caldermeade Farm drawing, she received a request for a cow in the negative space. Did you find it? Some people didn’t see it until it was pointed out.
The best way to get prints of the drawings from this project is by contacting the artist via email Jenni@minddrawing.net. They are also available at redbubble.com/people/jennilivins/shop
