Between Faeries and Walnut Oil
I moved to Hepburn with my family at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It gave this contrast between a world that felt totally unpredictable and the quiet magic of moving to such a beautiful place.”
Maya Carroll-Tischler's first memory is of slowing down. “Because my parents own a building business they’d joke about how - here no one starts work before nine!” There was suddenly a garden, and that is where permaculture began. “Having lived in countless rentals over my childhood there was no way I could take this tiny patch of land for granted. My beautiful mama, who is a total garden enthusiast, immediately started planting trees. We planted what must have been over fifteen trees before they even started building the house.”
One moment remains crystalline: “Mama laying rocks around the base of a tiny apple tree. She casually explained that the rocks helped channel water and provided thermal mass to gently warm the tree at night. I knew she had figured it out herself. It hit me that this was a special kind of intelligence, and I knew deep inside myself I wanted to be that connected, to learn things from the
land itself.”
The art began with a tube of paint. “Gouache is like a vibrant watercolour that dries opaque, I’m absolutely in love with it. But one day I noticed this tiny label on the back of the tube: May cause cancer and reproductive harm. I had never even considered gouache might be toxic! I knew instantly I had to find an alternative.”
Mixing paints by hand changed everything. “Each paint is mixed with raw pigments and cold-pressed walnut oil before being spooned into a tube. The best analogy is the difference between growing vegetables in your garden or buying them at the supermarket. It demands a special kind of presence - which sometimes feels like a hard-won luxury.”
She forages for ingredients. “Acorns make the warmest softest brown, walnut husks create a darker stronger colour. Foraging connects the artwork to this area in more ways than one. What is healthiest for us is also healthiest for the planet. It lets us glimpse the fact that we too are nature - not separate from it but the very same thing.”
“I have always believed in Faeries, ever since I was little! They feel like the perfect archetype for a changing world. They exist in the liminal, appearing at dawn, dusk, the crossroads, the edge of the forest and the bottom of the garden.”
Mythology, for her, is alive. “In the same way a language is alive I can feel mythology quietly breathing in the hills and rocks, waiting for us. Right now these stories feel like a lifeline into a future where humans survive in harmony with Mother Earth.”
The bush outside Hepburn offers its own conversation. “I used to visit a gully where a neighbour kept their tiny mountain goats. The goats would eat the blackberries while I painted them.
The landscape has been ravaged by waves of gold mining and invasive weeds, the land changed by metres, but there’s a magic to this ecosystem which tells you stories of renewal.”
Gardening began as a job. “I thought, hey, I know how to garden! I’ll just do it for a year and then I’ll make art full time. Except I couldn’t stop gardening. I feel such a deep connection with each property, it’s a huge deal when someone collaborates with you like that.”
At first, Maya hid being an artist. “Now all my clients know I spend half my time painting faeries and they’re super supportive. I’m sad I thought those two things were incompatible. Now I see them as part of the same practice - a huge meshing of everything I’ve loved as a child and young adult.”
“I’m so excited to see people interact with the artwork in real time. I know there’s a collective craving to bring nature back into our lives. If people catch just a twinkle of that invitation for reconnection I would be over the moon.”
The community has matched that energy. “The support has been flabbergasting. There’s a huge generosity here. Having my first solo exhibition at the Newstead Arts Hub means more to me than the most prestigious gallery in Melbourne. When I got the confirmation email I was literally jumping around and happy dancing and my partner was laughing at me and everything!”
The exhibition opens November 1st. “If you like whimsical art or gardening or supporting a young local artist, definitely come and chat to me. I’ll be there, buzzing with excitement and maybe a little nervousness, hoping it brings a feeling of magic.”
MAYA CARROLL-TISCHER
Maya Carroll-Tischler
Debut Solo Exhibition – “Faeries” Opening 1st November 4pm, then running until 30th November 2025
Newstead Arts Hub
mayacarrolltischler.com.au
@mayacarrolltischler
STORY BY MAHMOOD FAZAL
PHOTOS BY KAIYA RAE