It has taken me six years to cobble together an eclectic collection of clutter into a group of artworks that explore the human foibles and frolics found in classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Perched between the ocean and the escarpment, the Clifton School of Arts feels like the perfect setting for this exhibition of wooden assemblages and tiny oil paintings.

The shed attached to my Thirroul studio has long been piled high with clock cases, fragments of old wooden furniture rescued from council clean-ups, children’s blocks, toy parts, and ornaments collected from antique shops and markets. Friends and family have also contributed treasures — a bag of used wooden golf tees, and a dainty collection of porcelain doll limbs from a market in Germany among them.

The title Once… refers to the ‘Once upon a time’ of fairy tales, but also to the unique, once-in-a-lifetime chance to bring this long-gathered collection to life. A lifelong fascination with folklore, nurtured through my involvement with the Illawarra branch of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, has been central to the evolution of this work. It also gave me the opportunity to create illustrations for the 2025 AFTS Annual Conference, Over Water, Under Water, Magical Waters of Fairy Tales, held in Sydney just one week before my exhibition opens.

Downstairs at the gallery, a small retrospective of earlier drawings and illustrations will also be on display.

For more information about the AFTS conference or to preview works from Once…, visit: www.helenmccosker.com