About the Studio
Supporting Creative Communities
The story of my studio’s creation began during the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, I became involved in the Surf Cost Arts Trail as a Local Area Coordinator and my eyes were opened to the importance of creativity in providing the fundamental structures that maintain community wellbeing. I watched many of my mentors and fellow creatives struggle as the pandemic highlighted the underlying fragility of the industry. Ingrained lateral violence in the arts and cultural sector due to limited funding had created a continual reliance and competitiveness for external resources. This was what made me a passionate advocate for community and the creative arts and thus, Mollie Vaughan Studio was born. It is through my services, that I give back to my community and support creatives and other community-based entrepreneurs, by providing them with assistance that supports them in their field. This gives them both the confidence to become independent freelancers, whilst also encouraging the industry to support itself from within.
About Me
Mollie Vaughan is a Photographic Artist, Community Arts Activist and Consultant to creatives and community-based organisations. She passionately advocates for The Arts and its ability to nurture community wellbeing. She is particularly dedicated to partnerships across multiple sectors that aim to engage and develop strong networks between creatives, organisations and businesses. Mollie is the founder of Mollie Vaughan Studio where she educates her clients on the value of their craft and fosters self-sustainability within creative practice and business.
Mollie is also a photographic artist who translates the transcendent spirit of nature through the abstraction of its transient patterns which symbolise nature’s universal interconnectedness in life.
Throughout her work, the spirit of nature is felt in the unseen forces which govern nature’s environments and organisms, and it is through her unconscious awareness of such forces that Mollie captures nature’s imprinted patterns in a process she describes as ‘relearning the universal language.’
It is in this state that the complex esoteric and sensory expressions of nature are conjured through the layered hybridisation of cameraless photographic techniques and digital image manipulation.
The distortion and juxtaposition of scale found in the combination of these techniques mirrors the universal quality of nature’s mysticism and its continual ability to influence our existence.
Experience Summarised
Artist Coordinator of the Surf Coast Youth Art Fest // Development of programming for the festival, coordination of artists, communications between artists and project leads, artist consultation, installation and de-installation of event.
PhD Research Assistant // research into residencies, exhibitions, and grant opportunities for PhD candidate as well as editing of candidate’s colloquium.
Split Point Lighthouse // Social Media Manager for Instagram account.
Co-coordinator (Anglesea/Bellbrae) for the 2020 Surf Coast Arts Trail // co-designer of the virtual PORTAL program, liaising with 30+ local artists (who I love dearly), assistant web designer for PORTAL’s website pages & social media manager of the Surf Coast Arts Trail's Instagram account.
2020 Surf Coast Calendar // Head Photographer for finalist calendar works.
Surf Coast Art Space // Digital analytics and community engagement report writing, exhibition installer and front of house attendant
*My other skills include curation, exhibition installation and scheduling of artists for various events/projects. Please see my CV below for more info*
Mission
My mission is to create a business which promotes independence amongst community and creative-based practitioners and supports symbiotic partnerships between creatives and organisations. My philosophy is that partnerships such as these should build the stable foundations needed in the sector which creates self-sustainability, allowing creatives and entrepreneurs to formulate and lead the culture of their communities. My aim as an independent coordinator and consultant is to deliver services that aid community and creative-based practitioners from within the digital space through to the public place and all other initiatives in between, allowing organisations and entrepreneurs in their field more time to focus on their outcomes and goals.
Vision
Having spent some years within the community arts space, I have become a passionate advocate for youth arts and the ability of the creative arts to enhance mental and emotional wellbeing. In the future, I hope to expand my mission further, by combining these passions which will create and support initiatives that target these areas, whilst partnering community initiatives locally and abroad. I would love to see the construction of in-person and online gathering places, where creatives and businesses can engage with experimental and innovative ideas that give back to their respective communities and nurture their diversification.
‘Artists are humanity's greatest gift, they hold a mirror to our societies and they shape its cultures, striking down moral injustice and allowing the most beautiful reflections of what it means to be human ’
