Freaky Little Creatures
AN INTERACTIVE ART EXHIBITION
The art of Nicola Milan | Perth Fringe Festival, January 2020
One day Friday 17th January… all manner of freak, wonder and weirdo descended on the FREAKY LITTLE CREATURES Interactive Art Exhibition, held as part of the 2020 Perth Fringe Festival.
Perth, Western Australian illustrator and musician Nicola Milan threw her first solo exhibition to celebrate the culmination of two years of illustration work.
Held at Feld & Co in Booragoon; a delightful creative space that was all too happy for me to scale the walls and double sided tape plastic cut outs of trees to the walls and blue tack a million and one bats!
Although I was really happy with how the exhibition turned out, the truth is, the whole experience nearly burned me out with the stress of it all and how much there was to do. Most people put art up on a wall and call it a day… but no… I had to have a whole evil forest along with four completely different sections to the exhibition:
- The Aristocracy
- Magical Creatures
- Vampires, Witches and Warlocks
- Carnivorous Plants
So with this vision in mind and over 28 pieces to exhibit… I set off to make my world of Freaky Little Creatures a reality.
Peruse the quirky characters from the exhibition below… the art was pretty good too! (hehe) But seriously, this art attracts the coolest crowd; lovers of Steampunk, Gothic, Foklore and all things slightly left of centre.
The whole affair became more of a temporary art installation than just an exhibition, and made me realise I FREAKING LOVE DOING THEM! I cannot wait to do my next installation. Stay tuned…
Nicola xx
Ms Milan in the evil forest. Home to her vampires, witches & warlocks.
Come behind the scenes…
Drawing the evil tree cut-outs
I headed down to the park near my house so I could roll the 5m long pieces of builder’s plastic out flat. Weighting the corners down with bricks, bags and flip flops I used a very un-reliable white marker to draw the shape of the trees which I then cut out.
Drawing the evil tree cut-outs
Close up of the unreliable white marker. It only just managed to draw both trees before running dry on me.
Spray painting my evil forest trees
I went around to the local areas of bush land looking for the perfect branches to use in the exhibition. I managed to find two big 1.5m branches and a bunch of smaller ones.
I then spray painted them black for effect. I went through three whole cans just for about 6 evil trees.
I also made a right mess out on the grassy verge of my house…
The Carnivorous Plant Section 'Before'
The Carnivorous Plant Section 'After'
The Evil Forest 'Before'
The Evil Forest 'After'
This photo: Karen Lowe Photography
Some photos taken by Karen Lowe Photography
Meet some of the characters
Duchess van der Park
Discover what happened to Duchess van der Park as she performed the ‘Luscious Lucy Fan Dance’ during an unfortunate, yet rather entertaining evening…
The Von Furstenbergs
Meet the Von Furstenbergs. ‘New money’ from America, with more than one unsavoury secret to keep during their rise to fame and fortune…
Hugo and Emelda
Twin children of Madame S. Archibald. Fond of collecting pet spiders, rare species of slugs and eating black pudding. Read their story here…
Book me for an installation!
I am open for bookings for installations for festivals and events! Contact me here.
interesting, most likely unrelated content…
Peruse my friend so you do not lose, the chance to discover something new.
Carina & Jack
Commission piece for Carina & Jack. I turned this lovely couple into Steampunk/ Gothic characters. See the creation process here.
How to Create A Valentine’s Evening At Home
A simple way to create a romantic evening at home for Valentine’s Day. In lockdown? No problem, I’ve got you covered in today’s video. #glamorousdarling
How To Draw Skull-Bats!
Learn how to draw these cute little critters I like to call ‘Skull Bats’. They’re super cute and evil at the same time 🙂
Merfolk Cove
Down, down, down in the deep…. A dark poem about mermaids. No pretty seashells or Disney songs here….
