8 May 2025
South Australia is the only place in the world where you’ll find Stobie poles, and they’re the perfect blank canvas for some of Adelaide’s top local emerging artists to make their mark.
Launched in 2022, The Stobie Pole Project is back for its fourth iteration! The Helpmann Academy aims to assist emerging creatives to gain valuable skills in negotiating the public art scene from concept to completion. Better still, public art contributes to establishing creative, liveable urban spaces.
This project also marks the eighth major public artwork commissioned by SA Power Networks through the Helpmann Academy!
In 2025, we’re thrilled to introduce the incredible emerging artists and their mentor, pictured above left to right: Crista Bradshaw, Christine Cholewa (project mentor), Tieyuan (Vivian) Zhou, and Ange De Palma!
The three artists will be mentored and supported by established multi–disciplinary artist Christine Cholewa while developing their public art abilities. They’ll take part in workshops over several months, offering a platform to develop ideas, collaborate, and build professional connections.
2025’s cohort showcases the diversity and creativity of graduate artists from our Partner Institutions. They work across a variety of disciplines, and we can’t wait to see their artwork appearing on Stobie poles in the City of West Torrens, on and around George Street, Thebarton!
Crista Bradshaw
Crista Bradshaw is a proud Wangkumaran contemporary artist living in South Australia. She is a graduate of the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours), supporting her multi–disciplinary practice across photography, painting, and installation.
Crista grew up without much of a relationship to her Wangkumaran heritage, since her family had lost their association with their language group. Then, as a teenager, Crista started to explore and re–establish this connection. Her artistic practice has since evolved from surface–level, separate interpretations of Western and Aboriginal art, into a much more refined exploration of the inner workings of each and how they fit together to expand on each other.
“A key focus is making visible the losses and absences caused by colonial dispossession—the separation of people from Country and Country from people. My recent Honours research at the University of South Australia employed Indigenous methodologies to explore absences and silences derived from colonisation,” says Crista.
She investigates how a multi–disciplinary approach can better represent the progression of both First Nations and traditional Australian art and the evolution of Indigenous Australia. With extensive knowledge of Indigenous dreaming, dot painting, contemporary painting practices and techniques, Crista employs a deep understanding of both cultural importance and unity between these art forms.
Connect with Crista: https://www.cristabradshaw.com/ | @cristabradshawart
Tieyuan (Vivian) Zhou
Tieyuan (Vivian) Zhou is a researcher and artist specialising in printmaking, ceramics, and installation, whose work explores the relationships between loss and renewal. She is a graduate of the University of South Australia and holds a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts (Honours).
Vivian exhibited in the Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition 2025, receiving recognition for her ability to translate personal and collective histories into evocative visual forms. She was presented with the Helpmann Major Exhibition Award, further affirming her commitment to pushing boundaries in material storytelling. With multi–media approaches and shattered ceramics, Vivian’s work looks at language, identity, memory, and the resilience and fragility of cultural connections.
“My work delves into the complexities of migration, acknowledging the fractures it brings while embracing the potential for reconstruction,” says Vivian.
Vivian has a deep appreciation for storytelling – especially stories that speak to the enduring power of language and culture, inviting audiences to reflect on their own experiences of transformation and belonging. Each piece of art holds a quiet strength which balances vulnerability with hope.
Connect with Vivian: https://www.tieyuanzhou.com/ | @tieyuan_zhou
Ange De Palma
Ange is a painter, printmaker, photographer and sculptor, recently obtaining a Bachelor of Creative Arts from Flinders University and currently undertaking honours at Adelaide Central School of Art. Ange was recently awarded the Hill–Smith Art Advisory Award for their work displayed in the Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition 2025. Their artwork is process–driven with an interest in mark–making and perceived “faults”. Ange is passionate about exploring queer themes in their artwork.
“My practice of painting and sculpture is alongside abstract monotype woodblock printmaking and copperplate etching seen through a queer contemporary lens via a disciplined process. Using textured vibrant colours, layered compositions, and intuitive techniques, themes of identity, introspection, and lived experiences are prominent in my work. I aim to dismantle traditional barriers and embrace fluidity and experimentation, reflecting on the complexities of queer identity through Combine and Assemblage,” Ange says.
They are involved in many aspects of the arts industry from a prop maker at State Opera, to a scenic artist at State Theatre, and working at both The Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Fringe.
At an amateur level, Ange began creating in high school before commencing tertiary study in 2021 with a professional art career in mind.
Connect with Ange: @_adp_artist_
The Stobie Pole Project is a partnership between the Helpmann Academy and major partner SA Power Networks and is supported by the City of West Torrens.
