Toora

Distinguished and Famous people from Toora

🎨 Anne Roussac-Hoyne

Anne Roussac-Hoyne helped give Toora a distinctive artistic meeting place when Rare Earth Studio Gallery opened in late 2020. A former language teacher, she developed a painting practice using earth pigments after encountering a textile-colouring process at a workshop. Early attempts on fabric proved frustrating; stretched canvas offered a better solution, and an exhibition encouraged her to keep going. She subsequently invited other regional artists to experiment with pigments too. Her gallery work joined her own painting with curating, collaboration and the reuse of local buildings. The earth pigments made the landscape part of the paintings themselves.

🏺 Shelley Panton

Shelley Panton brought an established pottery and homewares business from Melbourne to Toora in 2023. The store occupies a former hardware shop, while her pottery studio is on the couple's farm near Foster. Working with husband Arron Crombie, she combines her own practice as a potter with presenting the work of other makers. The Toora connection is therefore a working one, rooted in the main street's changing commercial life. Practical handmade objects, ceramics and Arron's timber wares have given an old shop a new use without losing its connection to things made for everyday living.