About the Program

In 2025, Carey Grammar School's Artist-in-Residence Program provided Year 11 Art students with the opportunity to work closely with Japanese-born, Castlemaine-based multidisciplinary artist Noriko Nakamura in partnership with the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA).

Drawing on themes of animism, ritual, mythology, identity, and environmental sustainability, the program encouraged students to explore how artists can communicate stories through the transformation of materials. Students examined the relationship between people, culture, and the natural world while engaging with aspects of Japanese artistic traditions and contemporary practice.

The residency involved students from both Year 11 Art Creative Practice and Year 11 International Baccalaureate Visual Arts, with activities designed to complement the different requirements of each curriculum. Through a series of artist-led workshops, students explored ceramic hand-building inspired by traditional Japanese Dogu figures, soft sculpture and felting techniques, and collaborative installation practices based on Shimenawa forms associated with Shinto traditions.

Following these workshops, students developed individual artworks using materials and processes of their choice. The program concluded with a critique session in which students presented their finished works, discussed their creative processes, and received feedback from Noriko Nakamura. The residency fostered critical and creative thinking, intercultural understanding, and experimentation with contemporary artistic practices, while encouraging students to reflect on personal identity, everyday rituals, and the storytelling potential of materials.

About the Artist

Japanese-born, Castlemaine-based multidisciplinary artist Noriko Nakamura creates installations that draw on ideas of animism, mythology, and ritual practices inspired by her Japanese heritage. Through the transformation of materials, her work explores the relationship between people and the natural world.

Noriko holds a Master of Fine Art from La Trobe University and is currently undertaking a PhD at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). She is also a graduate of Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, London.