Celebrating creativity

By Sheree Hoddinett  

The natural environment and a background in art therapy inform the creative work of Bribie Island-based artist Katrin Terton.  

The mixed-media artist is a finalist in the 2025 Moreton Bay Art Prize with her entry Whispers of Shelter, a piece that is a series of sculptural works that emerge from slowing down — observing, gathering and creating in response to the natural world. 

The Moreton Bay Art Prize is awarded to an artist aged 18 years or over who currently resides in the City of Moreton Bay area or identifies as a Kabi Kabi, Turrbal or Jinibara First Nations person living in Australia. There is no set exhibition theme or categories. Katrin is honoured to be chosen as a finalist. 

“I am grateful that my work has been recognised and that I have the opportunity to exhibit alongside a group of highly talented local artists,” Katrin said. “This recognition feels particularly rewarding as it comes after a period of focusing more on my therapeutic work. It also comes after the disruption of Covid, which stopped short my touring solo exhibition of tactile, multi-sensory artworks.  

“This moment represents a reconnection with my own arts practice, reinforcing the importance of creative expression in my life. The chance to share my work in this exhibition is both affirming and inspiring, reigniting my commitment to the creative process.” 

Katrin’s work reflects sensitivity to the rhythms of nature and transformative processes, often incorporating natural fibres, found objects and reclaimed materials to explore the intersection of the natural and manmade.  

“Living near the coast, I’ve become attuned to seasonal rhythms, nesting cycles and shifting weather. These moments serve as both meditation and inspiration for my work,” she explains. “The forms—resembling nests, seed pods and cocoons—speak to shelter, transformation and possibilities of becoming. I work intuitively with organic and man-made salvaged materials. These elements speak to the intersection of nature and human presence, much like birds weaving debris into their nests. The inclusion of my own hair symbolises an offering to vanishing habitats.” 

Art and creative expression have always been a part of who Katrin is as a person.  

“Life’s challenges, at times difficult and transformative, deepened my connection to art and led me toward the path of art therapy,” Katrin said. “These threads—making, healing, listening—have woven their way through my life, through studies in fine arts, the shaping of my own creative practice and my work as an arts therapist. Holding space for both can be complex, but it is a tension that has taught me a lot. More and more, I see how the two feed one another—how my creative work lends soul and honesty to my therapeutic work and how my role as a therapist roots my art in something deeply human and alive. This journey has also drawn me closer to the rhythms of life and the natural world. I have come to see art not just as expression, but as relationship—a way of being in dialogue with the world around me.” 

With all this coming together, Katrin admits it is why she is mindful of the materials she uses in her art.  

“Fibres from plants, twisted into cordage by hand; wood, hair from my own body; salvaged wire and guitar strings once filled with sound, these are more than materials—they carry stories of place, memory and renewal,” she said. “Working with them feels like a kind of listening, a quiet collaboration with what already exists. It’s also a conscious environmental choice—an act of respect toward the earth and its limited resources and a small way of honouring what we so often discard.” 

The Moreton Bay Art Prize awards night is on Saturday June 28, 6pm-8pm at the Pine Rivers Art Gallery (130-134 Gympie Road, Strathpine). For further information about the Moreton Bay Art Prize 2025, please visit www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/Galleries-Museums/Get-Involved/Artist-Opportunities/Art-Prize