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A Roadmap to Creative Pursuits: GCBRV Interview by Elizabeth Harris
I sat down with embroidery extraordinaire Astrid Barta, founder and needle threader of Good Canberra Vibes aka GCBRV, to learn more about her craft, vibing with other artists, and how a historically ‘women’s’ activity makes her feel like a boss-assbusiness-bitch.
and fostering friendships online, has created a kind of ‘scene’ in Canberra for me. Posting to Instagram drives me to keep making things. It’s part of the business in a way, having this social media presence, especially as I don’t have a shop or consistent physical presence. I enjoy doing it – I don’t know if that’s selling myself too much.
*** Do you think art school has made you a better artist? I’m doing a Bachelor of Visual Arts with sculpture as my major. It’s definitely made me look at art making in general and how it’s seen in the world. It’s changed how I speak about art and validate making art for myself. A lot of the imagery you use is very Canberra specific, like Clem Cummings’ bus stops and Telstra Tower. What has been the effect of living in Canberra on your art, and why do you think such icons have become so omniscient in Canberra youth culture? Personally, being a Canberra girl, I’m aware that we’re not in a big city. Everyone goes through a stage of hating Canberra and being like ‘no, I want to leave and go to the big smoke’, but I think there’s been a reclaiming of Canberra. People have changed and started saying ‘all of these weird little quirky things in Canberra are great, so we’re going to
make it its own thing’. I’m not trying to put Canberra on the map, but utilise the things around Canberra in a good way. You use social media (particularly Instagram) to promote your business. How do you think social media is affecting the creative arts in Canberra, not only in terms of inspiration and cross-fertilisation between artists, but also in terms of facilitating successful creative businesses? Seeing people’s work [on Instagram]
You are deeply embedded in the Canberra arts scene, having collaborated with Degenerate & Six, Art Not Apart, and the Lonsdale Street Markets. What is the importance of these collaborations for your creative process and the promotion of your business? I’ve definitely done some stuff I didn’t think I’d do when I started this, like Degenerate & Six. Meeting people was a highlight. I’m pretty introverted and normally in my bedroom embroidering, so it brings me out and gets me vibing off peoples’ energies. Having a common working space allowed me to see all the good things happening in Canberra. I got to do an embroidery workshop, so having the opportunity to further what I do in my business was really cool. I was nervous to do [the workshop], because I didn’t know if people would be into it. But people were really into it. It was good for me to teach people, as I started
