Discovering pathways to success

What happens when a weed and plant specialist heads into the shed with a soldering kit and a bucket of old keys?

In Michael Moerkerk’s case it is a new business – Moerkey – which has taken his art all over the world.

A keen photographer and author of weed and plant publications, Moerkerk, who lives in Horsham, has found a new creative niche in recent years.

While still working his day job, his spare time is spent creating sculptures, large and small, from keys, pennies, bottle tops and other discarded metal objects.

Wimmera-mallee people can hear Moekerk’s story and gain plenty of tips for promoting their art and events, during ‘martketing the Wimmera Mallee’, a special event at Horsham Art Gallery on Saturday.

The event, part of Horsham’s Art is… a Footprint festival, will include information about cultural tourism, communication planning, promotion through traditional media, social media, and online sites.

With western Victoria the home to many artists and regional festivals, martketing the Wimmera Mallee is a great chance for individuals and communities to learn new skills about promotion and events management and expand cultural networks.

Moerkerk’s story is sure to inspire participants to promote their creative pursuits to others in the community and beyond.

Moerkerk said he had worked hard to achieve his goals but had begun pretty much by accident.

“It started out as a distraction while cleaning up the shed – I found some copper pipe and cut it up and started making said.

“From here I moved to keys, which were scrounged from all sorts of places, and soldered together to create fruit bowls, balls, lamp shades and even a bust.”

Soon he had a shed full of pieces and decided to promote his art online – which has taken Moerkey on an unexpected global path.

Commissions began arriving from London, New York, the Middle East and all corners of Australia.

“I hope that I can inspire others to think about how their backyard hobby could potentially be a business and also with events, to show that we can use media to promote to our own and the wider community,” he said.

The event is from 1pm to 4pm and costs $7. People can call 5382 9555 for details. it into spheres,” he