Between the 5
of us… there is more than a century of experience at the jobs we’re doing!
Lelli Brown has a wealth of experience in graphic design and event management. She has been working with the FEHVA’s arts festival for many years and knows many artists in the area so, of course, it’s just perfect she’s now in charge of coordinating the centre’s exhibitions and workshops.
Noel Richards : the framing expert
Noel has joined the team full time now and has brought on board his 30 years of experience as a framer in Melbourne where he had 5 framing stores… now he’s happily retired in Byron Bay (and only works from Monday to Friday and from 8am to 5pm… so just imagine what is was back then!).
Nothing is too hard or bizarre for Noel to frame... whale bones, dirty tee-shirts, rugby caps, delicate ceramics, coral fans, silk scarves, dried flowers, shields, ancient tankas… you bring it, he’ll do it !
Of course your photos or prints are also in good hand and, last but not least, he’s an expert at stretching canvases.
Together with Noel, we have created our range of PROFESSIONAL stretched canvas which are on par with everything we do here… the best quality at the most reasonable price! For more infomartion have a look under “Professional Art Supplies”.
Melinda Power, alias Molly, is the quiet and (usually) patient beautiful presence hiding behind the large screen and huge printer at the back of the class.
She’s the queen of profiling and her eagle eyes never miss a spot on a print or a speck of dust in a scan!
She doesn’t work here all days, but when here, she’s also the person to talk to when you bring in a printing job as she has most answers and is happy to sit with you and show you all the variety of media you can print on.
Sabine and Vianney have been partners in life and at work for quite some years now… they begun working together 15 years ago in Sabine’s graphic design studio which specialized in book design and book covers… hence all the art books available at the gallery for your perusal, as they needed them at the time to find artworks to illustrate the books.
Although Sabine’s parents had a gallery when she was young (so she can answer that no she’s never run a gallery before but yes she’s run a lot in a gallery!) and her mother then went on to become a painting restorer at the Louvre and her Dad to run an American Art Foundation in Paris, she actually was the literary one of the family and more interested in English Lit which she studied at York Uni and then the Sorbonne.
She then founded with a friend a great Anglo-American bookstore in Paris, Attica, and begun there the first Australian literature section in France. After ten years of that, the call of the wild came and she traveled a fair bit.
On returning to Paris, she got to know a lot more of the art world, when she became assistant to art expert John Armbruster, specializing in Belgian surrealism and compiling with him a Catalogue Raisonné of Magritte’s works.
Two years later is was back to books. At first on the design side then, with Vianney, as publishers… among which quite a few remarkable Australian authors such as Sue Woolfe, Kate Grenville, Kim Mahood, Philip McLaren, Luke Davies or even Stephanie Dowrick.
Vianney’s background is equally interesting and, actually, helpful in running Still @ the centre. He’s got a PHD in Psychology and a post-grad degree in management of cultural events. For years he was cultural attaché of the city of Arles, in Provence, managing many a festival there, in dance, music or the yearly grand Art exhibitions the city held.
In 2002, Sabine, Vianney and their two boys spent a year in Australia and loved it so much that when they sold their publishing house in 2005, they decided to try and come and live here…
After all those years of coming to Australia, reading, publishing and translating Australian books, in February 2006 their dream came true! A few months later they bought the Waywood Framing & Gallery which was turning 10 that year… and extended it to become their ideal atelier space: Still @ the centre!
They do hope to meet you soon and that you’ll enjoy making use of it for your art and creativity!