About R|The Path
Program dates:
Stage 1: Fri 3 to Sun 5 July (workshop intensive)
Stage 2: Fri 10 to Sat 11 July (workshop intensive)
Stage 3: Mon 13 July to Thu 27 August (individual mentoring)
Stage 4: Fri 28 to Sat 29 August (workshop intensive)
Stage 5: Tues 1 September (The Presentation)
R | The Path is a program taking artists on the journey from concept to production development of a new body of work. Facilitated by Dr Kellie O’Dempsey, the program includes intensive group workshops, individual consultations, peer critiques and talks from artists and industry professionals.
This program is designed to equip emerging and early-career visual artists with the skills to plan, strategise and design a professional career path.
Attendance is required throughout the program and applicants should be available over the program dates.
R | The Path is delivered by SCCA as part of The Refinery and is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, Sunshine Coast Council, and Noosa Council through the Regional Arts Development Fund - to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland and the Creative Ecologies Research Cluster at UniSC.
The Path 2026 Cohort
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Alicia Sharples
Holding a Masters in Environmental Science, Alicia’s work explores the complex relationship of humans with their environment. Rich watercolour paintings inspired by nature create a base, for hand drawn animations. The stop motion animation process blends raw materials and traditional techniques with new technologies. A storyteller, Alicia’s animations express deep conversations in a visual medium.
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Elijah Huckel
Elijah is a multimedia, digital, and sound artist based in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Operating under the moniker math_feels_ Elijah’s work expands on their love of beatmaking, exploring the lineages of Jazz, Dub & DnB.
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Holly Field
Holly is a Sunshine Coast-based creative with a strong curiosity and a deep passion for faces and the stories they tell. Currently in her second year of Visual Arts study at Queensland College of Art and Design, Holly works primarily in oil portraiture, whilst exploring different ways of responding to her work through drawing, painting, photography and sculpture.
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Jamie Davidson
Jamie is an emerging artist based on Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi) Country on the Sunshine Coast. Her photographic practice explores the often-overlooked, awkward moments of suburban life, focusing on the beauty of the mundane and the stories found in objects and artefacts. Currently, her work centres on still life photography and portraiture, particularly drawing from within her personal relationship.
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Jordyn Stirling
Jordyn is a multimedia artist primarily working with textiles and painting, who utilises their histories with gender hierarchies, domesticity and craft to create feminist critique of social experiences. Stirling’s practice draws on feminist frameworks as well as myths, media and texts that explore the ideology of the ‘The Monstrous Feminine.’
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Jude Muduioa
Jude is a New Zealand–born ceramic sculptor living and working in Brisbane. Her practice centres on clay and porcelain, with a strong focus on experimentation, material inquiry, and the slow, intuitive processes of making. Jude’s work often moves between sculptural and functional languages, embracing tension, curiosity, and the unexpected outcomes that emerge through sustained engagement with material.
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Michael Norris
Michael is a sound artist based in Kureelpa, Queensland, whose practice explores the relationships between environmental systems, technology, and perception. Working with generative audio, field recording, electronics, and custom-built interactive systems, he creates immersive sound installations that respond to audience presence through sensors and real-time processes.
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Lee McIntosh
Lee is an Australian painter based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. His work explores consciousness, fear, memory and the subconscious through fragmented figures and atmospheric abstraction. Drawing from childhood imagination, mythology and existential thought, his paintings blur the boundary between internal and external reality.
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Ro Clark
Ro is a Sunshine Coast artist whose practice explores themes of regeneration through atmospheric landscapes and botanical forms. Working primarily with acrylic paint, she draws inspiration from regenerative species such as banksia, investigating parallels between environmental cycles and personal transformation following a spinal cord injury in 2019. Her work is characterised by underpainted guiding words, layered colour, texture and immersive compositions.
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Sally Chippendale
Sally is a contemporary artist currently based in Buderim, Sunshine Coast. Her practice is grounded in traditional art forms, with a particular focus on figurative art and portraiture. Through her work, she explores character, presence, and the subtleties of human expression. She has exhibited in numerous group exhibitions throughout Brisbane and South East Queensland, and was a finalist in the Brisbane Portrait Prize in both 2023 and 2024.
Photo by: Louis Lim, 2024, image courtesy of Kellie O’Dempsey
Program Facilitator
Queensland-based creative and producer, Dr Kellie O’Dempsey, works across the arts and cultural sector as a research-based practitioner, educator and project developer. Kellie’s work explores the potential for public and private spaces to generate shared experiences of transformation and wonder. Delivering solo and collaborative projects and programs in both regional and metropolitan areas, from the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) and Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) to Townsville and the Sunshine Coast, Kellie’s approach is diverse, flexible, professional and engaged. Kellie is an active practitioner and engaged educator with vast experience in delivering programs to audiences, students and creatives at various stages of practice and development. Kellie has broad networks and extensive knowledge of the art and design industry. Through her practice, production, collaborations and mentorship she adeptly guides the next creative generation and creates opportunity for creativity and culture to thrive.
About The Path
Artists will learn to:
identify artistic investigation
bridge the gap between ideas and a project
articulate and understand the intersection of practice, concept, and delivery
design and deliver an artistic project, series, or body of work
engage and learn about critique and capacity to discuss new work.
A limit of ten places are available.
Artists working across all disciplines are encouraged to apply. This includes, but is not limited to, painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, installation, photography, video, performance art, digital and audiovisual.
Cost - $275 for SCCA members, $330 for non-SCCA* members (prices incl. GST)
Location - Multiple locations including UniSC Campus (Sippy Downs), Noosa Regional Gallery and The J (Noosa) and Caloundra Regional Gallery and Library (Caloundra).
*NB - Individual Membership to SCCA is $40/year.
“Working collaboratively in a supportive and inclusive environment has enabled me to explore deep and profound ideas. Completion of The Path program with Kellie and the other incredible artists has given me the foundational skills to increase my networks and grow my professional arts practice.”
Kylie Harries
2024 participant
R | The Path is by application.
Applications open: Thursday 14 May 2026
Applications close: 9am, Thursday 4 June 2026
Cost - $275 for SCCA members, $330 for non-SCCA members (plus booking fee)
Applications must include:
200 word artist bio
2 page CV
Examples of previous work with captions/descriptions that provide context for the images in PDF format.
In partnership with Noosa Council, there are three (3) fully subsidised positions available to Noosa artists. If you are based in Noosa and are seeking access to one of these places please indicate this in the application form.
Application Process
Samantha Taylor presenting ‘Accumulated’ at 2024 final showing,
UniSC Gallery
Have a Question about The Path?
Email us at hello@therefinerysunshinecoast.com or fill out the contact form →

