It's puppet time!
Drop into the Schaeffer Fine Arts Library for a hands-on workshop with artist Madi Feist, for kids aged 5-11.
As part of the University of Sydney's 2026 Community Festival, the Schaeffer Fine Arts Library is hosting a puppet-making workshop for kids, specially designed by artist Madi Feist. Kids will be supplied with all materials, and Madi will be on hand to help with the making.
While in the Library, you are also invited to explore an exhibition of student work curated by Verge Gallery, and to browse a selection of second-hand art books for sale.
The workshop is designed for kids between the ages of 5 and 11. Registration is not required – feel free to drop by anytime between 11 am – 4 pm.
Co-presented by the Power Institute and Verge Gallery, with support from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. Presented as part of the University's 2026 Community Festival.
People
Madi Feist
Madi Feist is a multidisciplinary artist living and working on Gadigal land in Eora/Sydney. Her current practice centres on collecting discarded materials, peculiar objects, and the mundane remnants of daily life. Using processes including assemblage, mould making and traditional handicrafts, she transforms "junk" into artworks that play on consumerist tropes and explore her experience of cultural in-betweenness. Her practice is concerned with the dystopian obsession with efficiency and disposability relating to contemporary urban life. Everyday anxieties of uncertain futures are balanced with a cautious, humorous optimism, leaning into the ingrained absurdity and inherited narratives her objects can signify. Guiding those narratives is a desire to understand her cultural identity. Being of mixed Filipino and Italian heritage, Feist has often found it difficult to understand where she belongs within the diaspora. Her practice is a method of exploring and researching both micro and macroscopic cultural references, ranging from ancient mythology and folklore to family stories and personal anecdotes. Madi Feist held her first solo exhibition BAG LADY at Puzzle Gallery (2024), and has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including 'Tactile Illusions', China Heights Gallery and a commissioned work in ’How to dismantle the world...', Verge Gallery (2026). She was the recipient of the Recycled Materials Award at Hornsby Shire Council’s Remagine Art Prize (2026), awarded Gosford Regional Gallery’s Emerging Art Prize (2025), and was a finalist in the Burwood Art Prize (2025-26) and Hazelhurst Art On Paper Award (2025). Feist holds a Master of Fine Arts from the National Art School, Darlinghurst. During her studies, was the recipient of the East Sydney Doctors Scholarship (2020) and the Derivan Prize for Mixed Media (2019).