Best in show: And they called it puppy love
Artist Rachel Burke’s Brisbane Powerhouse residency will feature a show about a love of dogs, created with fellow canine enthusiast and singer Patience Hodgson.
Loving and losing treasured pets is part of the inspiration for a show that will be the crowning glory of Rachel Burke’s star turn as Brisbane Powerhouse’s artist-in-residence.
Created by Burke and Patience Hodgson, Flower. Puppy. Show. is on from August 6 to 8 and will be a vibrant performance that blends handmade fashion, live music and participatory craft into a richly sensory experience.
Inspired by the nostalgia of vintage swap cards, kitsch ornaments and the beloved puppies that shape our emotional worlds, the work unfolds as a tender yet playful meditation on memory, adornment and connection. It had an early iteration when it was performed in a community hall at Woolloongabba late last year, but the show has been considerably tweaked for its Brisbane Powerhouse season.
Performed live by Burke alongside Hodgson (Fancy Free Collective), Joel Woods and Tom Fletcher, the show will invite audiences into a surreal landscape of colour, texture and sound, where the line between performer and audience begins to blur.
Beyond the stage, a post-show craft workshop extends the experience, inviting audiences to take part in a collective act of joyful making and become collaborators in this exuberant, handmade world.
Hodgson is widely recognised as the dynamic front woman of The Grates and her electrifying stage presence and distinctive voice have made her a defining figure in Australian music.
Burke is an artist, designer and author, known for her colourful maximalist aesthetic and materially rich practice. Working across fashion, installation and performance, her work transforms everyday materials into extraordinary, emotionally charged pieces.
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It was a no brainer for Brisbane Powerhouse CEO and artistic director Louise Bezzina to kick off the artist-in-residence program with Burke.
“We are an incredible cultural precinct that should be filled with artists and, of course, that happens, but I wanted to make it more deliberate and an obvious opportunity,” Bezzina says. “Outside performances, how else do we bring that incredible creativity to the building? My vision is to grow an artist-in-residence program featuring iconic artists. I wanted the first one to be very visual and impactful and here we have … exhibit A, Rachel.”
Burke has already begun a program of workshops at Brisbane Powerhouse but Flower. Puppy. Show. will take things to the next level and demonstrate something that some may have forgotten or never known about in the first place. That is that Rachel Burke was a performer before she focussed on her art practice.
“I describe myself as a multidisciplinary artist and I do wearable art, sculpture, installations and some painting, but now I’m adding performance,” she says. “My deep past was musical theatre which I studied at the Victorian College of the Arts. And, in fact, I did my last show here at Brisbane Powerhouse. It was called Brave New World Order, and it was staged in the Underground Theatre, which is where Flower. Puppy. Show. will be. So, I’m coming full circle.”
Around the age of 21 Burke quit the stage, but by then she had a solid grounding. She has also been in a cabaret band known as The Duvets.
Fast forward to the present and she’s channelling her performer self alongside Hodgson. They will both be singing in the show, which she says deals with a love of dogs with proud sentimentality and even some sadness. She and Hodgson have both lost beloved pups – Burke lost Daisy, and Hodgson lost “Todd, the half-priced dog”.
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“He was half-priced at the pet shop and had two askew eyes, but he was deeply loved,” Burke says.
Thinking about their love of dogs inspired the pair to create this show, which does not involve actual dogs although Burke says they did think about that.
“But we’re keeping it conceptual,” she says. “Inspired by puppies.”
Burke currently has “two sausages” (we assume she’s referring to dachshunds), which are much-loved.
Doggie songs are on the program and, yes, they do sing Hound Dog. Big Mama Thornton first recorded and made that song a hit in 1953, topping the R&B charts. However, it was Elvis Presley who made the song famous with his iconic 1956 cover.
Flower. Puppy. Show. is followed by a series of other events as part of Burke’s residency. There’s Junk Jewelling on August 22, which invites participants to rework discarded trinkets, broken jewellery and small objects into bold wearable pieces. Guided by curiosity and play, the session celebrates creative reuse, revealing the unexpected beauty of overlooked materials.
Then there’s Zine Making on October 17, offering a relaxed space for personal storytelling through handmade zines – small booklets created through collage, drawing and folding. The workshop embraces imperfection and intuitive making, with participants leaving with a unique self-published zine and a renewed sense of creative direction.
Rosette and Badge Making on December 12 reimagines traditions of adornment and celebration, with participants using textiles, ribbons and found materials to create layered rosettes and custom badges.
The program concludes early next year with a Melty Bead Keychain Workshop on February 20, where participants experiment with colour, pattern and form to create retro-inspired, pocket-sized artworks designed to be carried, gifted or kept as personal talismans.
It’s a bit of a Rachel Burke festival, really, and it will be a revelation to those who forgot or never knew her musical theatre background. And what a double act with Patience Hodgson. It’ll be great mate … woof.
Flower. Puppy. Show. plays the Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, August 6 to 8. After the show audiences are invited to stay and participate in a hands-on craft activation where they can create their own handmade works.
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