14 & 15 SEPTEMBER
14 & 15 SEPTEMBER
Step into Raquel Caballero's brightly coloured, heavily embellished world, where everything is handmade from salvaged materials. Her resourceful practice is organic, personal and proudly egalitarian, championing an "art is for all" ideal where there are no barriers or limits to what you can make with your hands.
In this workshop, you'll learn practical bricolage techniques using fun, decorative materials to create a Patchwork Doll. Anything goes! Bring along any colourful decorative materials you have on hand to include in your work.
In her most recent pieces, Raquel uses the bricolage technique to decorate 2D works and sculptural papier-mâché forms. "Bricolage" is a fancy French word for "Do it Yourself," describing something constructed from a diverse range of materials.
Raquel is a Sydney-based artist whose work pays tribute to the peculiarities found on the fringes of popular culture. This fascination shows up in her handmade creations, which pursue a "hardcore craft" tradition: a dedication to intricate, skilful craftsmanship across papier-mâché and textiles, using unconventional and salvaged materials. For Raquel, whose work has been described as "a brightly coloured, heavily embellished kind of folk maximalism," the pleasure of play is found in the act of decoration and display.
Raquel presented a solo show, The Patchwork Portal, at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2025, and was the 2023 Creative in Residence at the UTS Library. Her group exhibitions include shows at Firstdraft, Campbelltown Arts Centre and West Space (Melbourne). In 2026, she will present a solo show, Once Upon a Doll, at Wollongong Art Gallery.
