The final wrap up is here! 🧶👩🏻🎨 I’ve put together the best of the wonderful images and video captured of my time at the @tweedregionalgallery to be able to share with those that might not have been able to see the exhibition and to hold dearly the memories of this achievement.
It’s wild to think that this all started almost 4 years ago and I really could not be more grateful and proud of the outcome. It’s a challenge to project manage, design, deliver and also create and then create some more and alongside all the other usual life things!
Which is why I am so thankful for all of the support I had in my corner over this journey and really no amount of words can describe how much it means to me. So even if you had a small part in the realisation of this collection please know it has not gone unnoticed and your knowledge and kindness will forever be cherished.
I knew I had the passion in me to pursue this even though it was daunting, but I’m so glad I persevered and put myself and my work ‘out there’ as it’s the most rewarding and surreal experience I’ve done professionally to date.
So if you’d like piece of this milestone, there are a few original finger-knitted on canvas works still available and also copies of the exhibition catalogue available. Get in touch now for a price list or if you’d like a catalogue posted to you!
There are also a handful of tea towels (only 8 left) available to purchase and a lovely selection of the greeting cards too.
I haven’t forgotten about the print release either, which will be coming at you in 2025 🙏🏻
Thank you & Stay sensitive! ✨
Images: @claudiokirac
Video: @onreplayau
This project “SENSITISED” and “SENSITISED & SENTIMENTAL” was a Tweed Regional Gallery PLATFORM EXHIBITION and was supported by The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and City of Gold Coast to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
#soloexhibition #artist #textileartist #yarn #fingerknitting #creative #melissaspratt #goldcoast #createandoriginate #tweedregionalgallery #buyart #exhibition #creative
What a whirl wind of creative joy 2025 shaped up to be! Forever grateful for these opportunities and the collaborative projects that have produced heart warming community focused experiences 💫
I wouldn’t have been able to do all of these wonderful things without my talented, supportive and skilled collaborator and friend @talfitzpatrick 💞 I’ve treasured the time we’ve shared this year and I cannot wait to continue making art with you in 2026!
Together with the help of some amazing producers, arts workers, artists, council teams, photographers and videographers we delivered 3 major projects, 2 solo shows, a group exhibition and many more special workshops.
So proud of what has been achieved this year and thankful for each and every person who was involved whether big and small! It all matters 🙏🏻
#createandoriginate #goldcoastartists #textileart #publicart #2025wrap
THE CITY SPEAKS SOFTLY presented at BLEACH* Arts Festival 31 July – 10 August 2025 and is proudly supported by Experience Gold Coast through the EGC Arts Fund.
This project is supported by Generate GC. Generate GC is a City of Gold Coast initiative through the Arts and Culture Unit.
Special thanks to @michaelzavros@kasmirakazam@sorrydontclaire@rrebeccaross@rox.boxx@scotty.chrisman@claudiokirac@ellamayphoto Jorge Serra, Bora Mustafa (@leftbankartgroup ), @michelleleplastrier Tom Fitzpatrick and @rugmakingaustralia_becandersen for their assistance and support with this project.
Thanks also to @somersetstoryfest (2025) who supported the previous iteration of this project and to the team at Placemakers* for supporting local artists through the Incubate* residency (2023) where Tal and Melissa first met.
We are grateful to everyone who participated in the workshops delivered as part of this program, your contributions are at the heart of what this project is about!
View the full length video via the link in bio!
We proudly acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are situated, the Kombumerri families of the Yugambeh Language Region. We pay our respects to the Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
#craftivism #publicart #textileart #feministart #fingerknitting #quiltmaking #streetpolebanners #Bleachfestival2025 #bleachfestival #artfestival
✅ PERMISSION SLIP — This artwork acts as a symbolic permission slip for highly sensitive people; an offering of validation in a world that often rewards hardness, speed and restraint. Using the familiar format of an official document, Spratt questions why softness and emotional vulnerability can feel like things that require permission.
Through her signature finger-knitting process, Spratt reclaims sensitivity not as a weakness, but as a form of care and intuition. The tactile handmade surface reflects comfort, while the fluorescent orange yarn resists the expectation that sensitivity should remain hidden.
Operating between sincerity and satire, the piece offers permission to rest, slow down, feel deeply, set boundaries and exist without apology, inviting viewers to recognise the quiet power of sensitivity.
Finger-knitted yarn on canvas, 107cm x 85cm, DM for price.
#fingerknitting #melissaspratt #textileart #createandoriginate #goldcoastart
This neon orange yarn just had to come home with me! 🧶 It’s definitely the brightest colour I’ve ever worked with and these would have to be the smallest scale letters I’ve created — This finger-knitted textile artwork is almost complete 👀
#fingerknitting #melissaspratt #textileart #createandoriginate #goldcoastart
‘Sensitised and Sentimental’ by artist Melissa Spratt @create_originate is an exhibition of tactile textile works that explore what it means to experience life as a Highly Sensitive Person.
Spratt transforms deeply personal experiences of sensory and emotional overwhelm into visually striking works. While textiles are often associated with comfort, nostalgia and softness, Spratt deliberately complicates those ideas. For many who are Highly Sensitive, texture and touch can instead provoke discomfort.
Working with richly coloured Romney-cross wool sourced from artisan dyer and rug maker Bec Andersen, Spratt creates densely textured pieces that are both alluring and confronting. Each work begins with making metres of finger-knitted chain — a repetitive and calming process — before arranging the wool into capitalised statements that reveal inner thoughts, anxieties and emotional responses.
The resulting works are both forthright and nuanced. Bright colours and tactile surfaces draw viewers in, while bold text communicates the intensity of navigating a world saturated with sensory stimuli.
The exhibition title references two intertwined ideas: sensitivity and sentimentality. Together they speak to the honesty and vulnerability at the centre of Spratt’s practice.
Text adapted from an essay by Bree Di Mattina, written for an exhibition of ‘Sensitised and Sentimental’ at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, 2024.
‘Sensitised and Sentimental’ is on at BAMM until 30 May.
Images: 1. ‘Stream of Consciousness’, 2024 2. ‘It is daunting to make art about how existing makes me feel’, 2024; ‘I thought that everyone goes through life feeling this sensitive …’ 3. ‘Are set on high’, 2024 4. ‘I find myself needing to withdraw during busy interactions’, 2021; ‘I make a point to try and avoid confrontation and violence’, 2021 5. ‘I thought that everyone goes through life feeling this sensitive …’, 2021, detail 6. ‘I am made uncomfortable by loud noises.’, 2021
#BAMM #KamilaroiCountry #regionalgallery
‘SENSITISED & SENTIMENTAL’ is currently in Moree NSW being shown @bammoree until May 30th 🩵
The Bank Art Museum Moree is a beautiful heritage building and it’s so lovely to look back on these install photos from last week — seeing my work on these walls and having it in a regional community is so special.
These artworks are for sale, so do get in touch with myself or the gallery team for more details!
#BAMM #Moree #melissaspratt #textileart #fingerknitting
Where maximalism is thriving! 🧶🪡✂️🎨✏️
Now that I’ve got this space somewhat ordered — I’m open to creating more commissions. Get in touch if you have thoughts on that 💭
Otherwise share this with a creative friend to let them know they shouldn’t give up being arty! 💫
#melissaspratt #fingerknitting #createandoriginate #textileart #artstudio
Went on a little (6hr+) road trip out to Moree, regional NSW in @artythevan to deliver my ‘SENSITISED & SENTIMENTAL’ exhibition, which will be shown @bammoree until May 30th 🩷
I feel extremely grateful that I was able to hand deliver the works and attend the opening event on Thursday night. To have this body of work exhibited in such a beautiful heritage building amongst so much talent, culture and sentiment really means more to me than I can put into words.
I must say a very big thank you to Rosie Dennis now former director at Bank Art Museum Moree for her unwavering belief in my work and support in curating it into this collection of exhibitions. The whole team at the gallery have been so lovely and I’m truly honored to show this work in a regional community.
Check out the artists also showing work for the next 6 weeks: @thrownbyjo@penny___evans@pipstalley@aaron.butt 👏
I was also super thrilled to have finished my first ever sewing project (that I’d completed all by myself!) from @theboldone_ Gracie wrap dress pattern in time to wear on opening night! 💫
Last, but not least — Thank you to @craigmcquinn for your love, support, care and willingness to come along on my wild adventures! I couldn’t do it without you ❤️
#BAMM #Moree #melissaspratt #textileart #fingerknitting
We wanted to take a moment to share and thank again the people who participated in the making of this Community Climate Quilt supported by the climate, resilience, and sustainability team in council at the City of Gold Coast last year. All of your creativity, care and willingness to share your ideas helped bring this beautiful and meaningful piece to life.
We, @talfitzpatrick and (@create_originate ) Melissa Spratt brought together everyone’s individual contributions to create a powerful collective textile artwork. The result is a quilt that reflects hopes and conversations about climate action and our future.
Please enjoy these photos and view the video via link in bio: /watch?v=PdjtSH7eihY
We also wanted to let you know that the completed quilt is currently being shown at the following locations:
📣 NOW: Runaway Bay Library, Lae Dr, QLD 4216
📣 NEXT: Broadbeach Library, 61 Sunshine Blvd, Gold Coast QLD 4218 from 20 April for a month.
If you’re nearby, we encourage you to visit the display and see how your contribution sits alongside those of others from across the community. Thank you again for being part of this special project and for contributing to conversations about climate action, resilience and our shared future.
For more information about the City’s Climate Resilience and Sustainability strategy please search ‘Future Plans Budget’ 🌏
We’d like to thank the CRS team for their willingness to allow creative practices to transform their way of communicating and engaging within our communities. Thanks also to the @generate_gc and @gcartsandculture teams for guiding this project and providing an opportunity to connect with future thinking!
Images: City of Gold Coast and Jorge Serra
#textileart #changemaking #futurethinking #denimquilt #goldcoastart
Thinking it would be cool to see this original textile artwork as a print? So this is my entry to the #slowdownprint2026 competition!
I do have print ready files of my full ‘SENSITISED & SENTIMENTAL’ exhibition, but being the busy artist I am, I haven’t got around to launching them yet! 🫣
Maybe the @slowdownstudio team can help get this going 🙏🏻
#artprint #textileart #fingerknitting #melissaspratt
Thrilled I was able to submit 3 pieces into this years @incognitoartshow 💚 I cannot wait to see the collection of artworks when they go live and support a great initiative!
@marven_toy_poodle gave his seal of approval before I posted these off over the weekend 💫
From :
WHAT IS THE INCOGNITO ART SHOW?
The Incognito Art Show is a not-for-profit organisation supporting Australian artists. We run Australia’s biggest and most inclusive art show.
The Incognito Art Show isn’t an ordinary art sale. Every A5 artwork, regardless of artist, is sold for just $100.
The identity of an artwork’s artist will remain anonymous at all times. Only once an artwork is bought, will the artist’s name be revealed to the buyer on the back of the artwork. Profits raised will go towards funding programs that support artists living with disability.
The show’s unique model provides greater access to art-buying for those without the usual means to do so, as well as democratises art selection; buyers buy what they truly love, not a big name.
#incognitoartshow2026 #incognitoartshow #melissaspratt #textileart #createandoriginate
