How would you describe your practice in five words?

Slow
Quiet
Ambiguous
Tedious
Mobile

What does a day in the studio encompass?

My studio life is messy, and no day is the same – a product of working with opposing materials and juggling the many tasks of mothering. Though I do have a home studio for my kiln formed glass work, it is not a wool friendly space. Fortunately, needle felting is delightfully portable and the car and kitchen table often stand in as the studio. With my days punctuated by school runs and after school activities, carving out quality studio time is challenging, but not altogether impossible.

I have been thrilled to recently spend time in a shiny new ‘Maker Studio’ at FABRIK Arts + Heritage in Lobethal, as well as being the grateful recipient of the Ed Tweddell 6-month studio residency at Central Studios in Kent Town. These opportunities have provided a plethora of new ways to engage with audiences and tap into knowledges. It has also been a great opportunity to ‘test drive’ the logistics of working in a more formal studio setting – which is always in constant consideration.

Image: Fiona McIntosh, Unseen 1, 2024, hand felted wool fibre, glass, photograph Sam Roberts. 

What does the South Australian arts ecology mean to you?

At a very grass roots level and for a newly graduated artist (2023), I have found the Adelaide arts community to be a gentle and encouraging place to land. There is a strong sense of ‘family’ in this small community that readily welcomes and supports ‘new to the scene’ artists like myself. I have found it to be a community enriched with diverse and enthusiastic arts people with amazing and accessible opportunities such as residencies, mentorships, exhibitions, art prizes and of course, focussed events like SALA. The interlaced networks that emerge from our close-knit graduate cohorts has also been something I have particularly valued. Something perhaps unique to SA is its more intimate size. While I imagine at some point, I may want to explore opportunities over the border, I also feel there is plenty here to keep busy, should that be the choice.

Is there a historical artistic lineage you draw from?

My mother was a champion hand work artist. We are a farming family from the Yorke Peninsula and in her younger life, it was a popular activity to enter hand work in the local agricultural shows. One year, Mum entered her work in the Royal Adelaide Show and took out every single category! Her unheard-of success was written about in the Advertiser, and I often enjoy telling the story of how the prize money from that show paid for most of the white goods in her newly built marital house. Ironically, (or not) we produced wool on that farm, and it is interesting to me how my own hands have been drawn back to this familiar material later in life.

What are your career aspirations?
Gosh, there are just so many things on my list – I really do wish I started this gig earlier.

• I’d like to keep pushing the materiality of wool into new and unchartered waters.
• I would love to spend more time with my glass kiln, in particular, some focussed experimentation with the process of ‘pate de verre’ and illustrating onto glass.
• I am constantly curious about working on larger projects and particularly those that use very tedious processes.
• I’m definitely a multidisciplinary artist at heart, so continued material experimentation or even a return to my drawing practice is always a possibility.
• And yes, I do have one holy grail, ultimate career aspiration… but that’s a fascinating story for another day.

Visit Floating Goose Studios for Fiona McIntosh’s exhibition Reconnection, showing until May 4, 2025.