our history
Moving to the Illawarra in 2018 and wanting to connect and contribute to community, Dom and Mike aligned their established art, music and yoga teaching careers into what is now Illawarra Studios. Building on Dom’s long-term disability community involvement and Mike’s history in kids & adult education, Illawarra Studios provides tailored skills-based, wellbeing-focused programs for individuals and groups throughout the Illawarra.
We are committed to growing our local art, music and yoga practice communities. If you or someone you know is interested in joining our programs, sharing experiences, or helping to grow our community events here in the Illawarra, we’d love to hear from you!
our approach
We believe in guiding independent creative self-expression. Whether it’s art, music or yoga, individuality expressed through choice & control is central to our program design:
Content is generated collaboratively: we recognise and celebrate that creative goals differ from person to person. Our students actively contribute ideas about what (and how) they would like to learn to ensure that subjects, themes, materials & practices are explored that genuinely resonate and are truly meaningful.
Structured activities are tailored meaningfully: while expressive freedom is a focus of our programs, we provide structured activities to assist our students to transform ideas and goals into reality. Tailored to individual interest & ability, these activities provide practical tools to build skills & techniques, self-expressive confidence and growth.
Context provides personal connection: helping to place individual creativity in a meaningful context, our educational materials bridge our students’ creative identity to other inspirational identities. We discuss exciting ideas of renowned artists, musicians & yogis throughout history, providing connection to new and relatable creative worlds.
dominique hindmarsh
art & yoga
Dom is an artist & Iyengar yoga practitioner who teaches kids, teens & adults in mainstream and disability art & yoga programs.
With over 20 years’ experience in the disability community, Dom specialises in personalised disability art and yoga programs. An advocate for person-centred disability programs, she holds professional Adult Education qualifications (TAA; TAFE NSW) and a Certificate IV in Disability Work (Swinburne).
Passionate about people with disabilities having opportunities to nurture their distinct creative voice & expressive individuality, Dom developed her first suite of personalised disability art programs in 2007. She has since partnered with numerous disability organisations to provide her programs to hundreds of participants in individual and group settings. She holds degrees in Master of Art & Masters of Fine Art (UNSW), specialising in painting and drawing.
Dom has practised yoga for over 15 years and in 2019 completed her Iyengar Yoga teacher training. She brings her knowledge and experience to the design of personalised yoga programs aligned with Iyengar principles that focus on safely addressing individual physical & emotional needs. Complementing her disability-based yoga work, Dom co-manages a yoga studio where she teaches mainstream yoga classes.
NDISWC: #77534433
WWCC: #WWC2072352E
mike barnard
art & music
Mike is an artist & musician who teaches kids, teens & adults in mainstream and disability art & music programs.
An Archibald Prize finalist with degrees in Master of Art & Masters of Fine Art (UNSW), Mike has over 10 years’ experience developing innovative studio art programs for kids & adults across a range of public education settings, including the Art Gallery of NSW (Contempo) and the University of NSW (Art&Design). His tailored art programs focus on guiding artists to nurture individuality in their creative ideas & expression. An advocate for platforms promoting diverse creative voices, Mike practises person-centred education in partnership with numerous disability organisations to provide accessible bespoke programs for kids and adults with disabilities.
Trained in classical piano & musicianship from the age of 7, Mike had his first professional gig over 20 years ago. He has worked as a solo & ensemble performer on piano, violin and mandolin, and teaches blues, jazz, folk and pop/rock performance & composition. His unique music programs cater to participants' specific musical tastes & abilities to foster personally meaningful self-expression through singing, playing, percussion & songwriting.
NDISWC: #86420542
WWCC: #WWC2327994E