Image: Jane Richens, ‘sound coat’, 2024. A series of isolated landscapes, a wearable, a holder of field recording equipment, a protective coat in the elements. Photo by Brian Doherty.
Jane Richens on making art, biodiversity farming and community
6 November 2025
In recent years, the conversation around ‘third spaces’ has been everywhere. Defined as a social space, separate from the home (our ‘first’ place) and the workplace (our ‘second’ place), third spaces are seen as essential providers of positive wellbeing and connection. It is not revolutionary to say that in contemporary Western life, the decline of religion and the rise of social media has left a hole here for many.
So, what is the antidote? If we’re not going to go back to church or ditching our phones, where can we find this community that is so essential? I think a great starting point is to look to the arts, particularly in the regions.
Dungog artist, Jane Richens, describes herself as a ‘socially engaged’ artist and biodiversity farmer. As an active member of the community in her town, she shows us exactly how the arts can help us solve the ‘third space’ problem.
Jane was born and raised in both Brisbane and regional Queensland. She initially trained at Queensland College of Art in 1984 and spent the early years of her career involved in artist-run spaces in Brisbane. Moving to Sydney in 1989 with her partner Brian Doherty, she spent her time completing her Bachelor of Arts at the Power Institute of Fine Arts, staying engaged in the artist-run scene and gaining a wealth of experience in arts administration, gallery work and graphic design.
About 20 years ago, Jane and her partner moved to Dungog, a regional town of 9500 people on Gringai country. Here, she has developed her practice in three interlocking streams: biodiversity farming, visual arts and event creation. Drawing from her experience in the artist-run sphere, Jane has used these elements of her practice to engage with her community, playing a role in both the restoration of the environment and the fostering of connection in the regions.
Image: James Theatre, Dungog NSW, 2025. Photo by Beatrice Waller.
Jane and Brian moved from Sydney because they wanted to return to the rural life they experienced in their childhoods. It was the Tabbil Forest, a 680 acre property with a large dry rainforest, that they purchased in the 1990s that brought them to Dungog.
“Both of us had a connection to rural life,” Jane said, “I grew up in the country for some of my childhood, so I was sort of yearning to go back into that sort of system, you know, into rural areas. And the property is just so special.”
As soon as they arrived, getting connected into the community was a high priority.
“For me, whether it was from the artist-run spaces or even as a child, being involved in a rural community, you get involved in everything and you just become part of that community. So, one of the first things I did was become the editor of the local newsletter for one of the local towns, which I’m still doing 20 years on, and that was my way of finding out what’s going on.”
This community engagement is one of the three streams of practice that Jane has cultivated while living and working in Dungog. She describes it as ‘event creation’. One example of these is Defashion Dungog, created for National Science Week 2024. This event was a celebration of sustainable wearables and involved a fashion show of over 60 contributions and 200 visitors.
Image: Metanoia performing at Defashion Dungog, 2024. Photo by Gus O’Brien Cavanough & Brian Doherty.
“I partnered with a young person from the high school, Freya Rubeli, and we were both the MCs and then she had a band. So, the band played after the catwalk and the young people came and then there was dancing. I love dancing. Any event I do ideally some sort of dancing.”
Biodiversity farming is another essential part of her practice.
“We are just so lucky that we we’re custodians of this amazing property that has a big rainforest on it. For me it was this incredibly steep learning curve of how to be stewards of this amazing place.”
The area surrounding Dungog has traditionally been focused on cattle and timber farming, but Jane and Brian have embraced a different approach.
“Biodiversity loss is a really important issue, particularly around here. Lots of these endangered ecosystems have become fragments. They’ve become islands. As you’re driving through the landscape, you see that it’s really cleared and then you see these patches of forest. For us it’s important to conserve and build on that.”
Instead of using the land to produce crops (apart from a small amount of garlic for local markets), rehabilitating the land is their farming endeavour. The land also provides seed to others wanting to do revegetation.
Jane’s visual artwork is multidisciplinary, involving elements like sound, film, textiles, performance and sculpture. Tabbil Forest feeds directly into her practice too.
“It’s basically a living laboratory that I’m always learning about and from. And it also inspires play and creative response. The biodiversity farming really informs a lot of the artwork that I’ve been creating.”
One example is her contribution to Hundreds + Thousands with Luke George & Daniel Kok & other plantitas for Liveworks at The Performance Space, Carriageworks, Sydney in October 2022. The artists involved connected during Covid over their relationships with their plants. In this show, they met in person with these plants alongside sculptures, video works and live performers.
Image: Jane Richens’ ‘Sting’ at ‘Hundreds + Thousands’ with Luke George & Daniel Kok & other plantitas for Liveworks at The Performance Space, Carriageworks, Sydney in October 2022. Photo: Jane Richens.
Jane’s contribution was Sting, a baby giant stinging tree from her property, which had to be caged and monitored in the performance for the audience’s safety. Often misunderstood and cut down due to their potential to cause ‘months of pain’, Jane sought to ask the question, “Who is being protected? The Juvenile Giant Stinging Tree or us?” Sting is now back home, living beside the creek at Tabbil Forest.
Jane also doesn’t see being a regional artist as a barrier. Returning to the theme of community, there is a significant overlap in the ways in which artist-run spaces and regional communities operate. In both cases, you have a lively team that prioritise helping each other, despite a small budget. And in the regions, you have the added benefit of drawing crowds from all sorts of backgrounds.
“You have small teams of people that get in and help, and that was our experience in Brisbane in the arts as well. Someone was the driver or had the project, and then there was this team around them to help. And that’s what I find in terms of events here. Often, I might be a driver, or I’m helping as a tech person or in whatever other capacity to help other people drive their events.”
“I think one thing that’s great about regional areas, depending on how involved in the community you are, is that you can pull in teams from quite eclectic people. I felt that even with Brisbane and Sydney, which are my two other key areas that I’ve worked and played in, you do tend to have the arts people, and yes, they’ve got other eclectic jobs as well, but it does tend to be very similar people. Whereas here, you’ll get all sorts of people involved because they’re just like ‘I’ll give that a go.’”
But being regional does come with some challenges too.
“The challenges are not being connected. I miss that being part of a scene that’s really strong.”
Arts service organisations, like Regional Arts NSW (RANSW) and Arts Upper Hunter (AUH), have supported Jane to overcome such challenges with programs like Regional Futures and Work of Art.
For Regional Futures, a program by the network of Regional Arts Development Organisations (RADOs), including AUH, Jane made a series of videos of people from her region about sustainable practice.
“It was fantastic to be able to meet up with the artists around the state and start to collaborate with them. And I’ve since gone on to have other exhibitions and do sound projects and all sorts of things from that, which has been fantastic.”
Work of Art was a 2023-24 professional development program for regional women by RANSW.
“With Work of Art, what was really great is that there were all those sessions that were very much about professional development and skills and reinvigorating what your practice is, those types of things. But the best part was the face-to-face meeting up with people. I got to meet people from around the Mid-North Coast and the North Coast, and I’ve since had contributions from some of those people in Defashion Dungog and some other projects that I’ve worked on. And I’ve also contributed sound for some of their videos and films and things that they’ve made.”
For Jane, the three elements of her practice are so intertwined that you simply can’t separate them from each other. Biodiversity farming and her creative practice have been the vehicles through which she has ingrained herself into the Dungog community. And this is why we should look to the arts when we are considering the role of third spaces in 21st century Australia.
What we see here is a mutually beneficial relationship. Jane offers her community vibrancy, opportunities for connection and a fresh perspective on farming that cultivates the environment. And in return, she has the opportunity to connect with the people around her and enjoy the subsequent relational benefits.
And so, when considering why we need the arts (particularly in regional towns) we need to look to the third spaces they provide. Support for regional artists is not just about providing artists with an income. It’s keeping the heartbeat of regional communities alive.