Photo by Daniel Purvis
Creative studio with heart, strategy,
and impact.
I’m Bohie Blackwood; artist, designer, facilitator, and the woman behind this purpose-led design studio. With over 10 years of experience in this field, I specialise in turning complex ideas into clear visuals, collective action, and creative experiences that leave a mark.
My chosen name is Bohie Blackwood.
My birth name is Bohdana Palecek.
I was born in 1987 on Walbunga Yuin Country, in the beautiful Southern Tablelands of NSW, in a heritage-listed town called Braidwood.
My parents are first-generation Canadian migrant and a sixth-generation settler Australian, both of whom dedicated their careers, creativity and philosophies to the age-old craft of ceramics. Which we, in my family, simply called pottery.
I trace my maternal ancestry back through the most decorated navigator in WWII, the first public librarian in Australia, and convicts who landed in the Norfolk Island colony after years aboard prison ships (one on the female prison ship known as The Floating Brothel). Beyond that, we reach through generations in England to Norway.
On my father’s side, I trace my roots through Western Canada to a Scottish and Syilx Okanagan union within the Red River Colony. More recently, on his father’s line, we migrated to Canada from Bohemia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
My blood is a motley mix.
My culture is a motley mix.
I grew up with hands in clay and bare feet on soil, dreaming wistfully of North American birch trees, snow, foxes and grizzly bears while kookaburras laughed overhead and the hot summer sun beat down on sunburnt skin.
I swam in freshwater and learned to cook on the fire. I was raised within the Japanese philosophy of Zen Buddhism, which my father brought home from his pottery apprenticeship in Japan.
My creative journey began in film photography, then meandered through drawing, printmaking, graphic design, creative writing, hand lettering, traditional sign painting, murals, street art, illustration, and now, storytelling.
Through my creativity, I’ve travelled the world and collaborated with many partners and like-minded kinfolk…
Photo by Asha Kidd
I’m a motley mix of blood and culture, woven through soil, smoke and story.
Creativity is how I listen. It’s my offering.
My mum taught me how to paint. I have artworks by her mother hanging in my kitchen. Mum taught me how to listen to Country. How to be an activist through my art. How to feel through my art. How to feel blessed by a day ending with enough wood for the fire and fresh veggies for the stew.
Dad taught me how to dedicate myself to the discipline of the craft. How to respect the energy exchange from “the makers mark”. How to read philosophy and question systems of power.
He’s the extrovert. She’s the introvert.
I land somewhere in the middle.
My work is in Belonging.
Belonging to family (or chosen family), to community, to Country, to ourselves through befriending our own bodies.
My imagination and creativity help me belong; they connect me to my clients, my community, to humanity and to the living ecosystem I exist within.
I offer this work to my community as a gesture of hope, connection, forgiveness, sorrow, grief and love.
And play. Always play. It keeps life interesting.
My practice is built on listening,
learning and translating.
Collaboration is the foundation, not just a phase.
Artists Statement
Bohie Blackwood (neé Palecek, she/her, b. 1987) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer and illustrator based on Wadawurrung Country in Geelong, Victoria. Originally from Braidwood, NSW, she works across public art, community engagement, environmental storytelling and human-centred design. Her practice focuses on shaping visual language that sparks connection, conversation and collective impact.
Rooted in both creativity and systems thinking, Bohie blends large-scale murals, symbolic illustration and strategic facilitation. Her work explores how meaning is created and who holds the power to create it. She collaborates with communities, researchers and organisations to transform complex themes such as reconciliation, climate change, identity and belonging into public and visible stories.
With a background in traditional signwriting, figurative art and graphic design, her early work challenged commercial aesthetics by offering hand-crafted alternatives to corporate messaging for clients such as UBER and Westfield. Over time, this evolved into a deeper inquiry into power, ecology and the commodification of creativity. Between 2019 and 2023, Bohie led a series of youth-led mural projects centred on gender equity, environmental themes and place-based identity, while mentoring young creatives through accessible and affirming co-creation processes.
Her visual language is both intuitive and intentional. Combining symbolism, narrative and visual clarity, her work creates space for complexity. In 2023, her co-authored journal article Street Art as a Vehicle for Environmental Public Communication (Australian National University), along with the accompanying short film, highlighted her unique ability to translate abstract issues into public artworks that invite both emotional and intellectual engagement.
She sees hope not as decoration but as a methodology, a way of building agency and emotional resonance in the face of systemic overwhelm. This perspective has positioned her as a creative translator in climate communication, partnering with organisations such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Upper Murrumbidgee Waterwatch to develop visual tools that support behavioural change, community participation and citizen science.
In 2024, Bohie became the first artist commissioned to paint the walls of the Gandel Atrium at the National Museum of Australia for an internationally curated exhibition. Her work has also extended globally through ecological art residencies and exhibitions across Australia, Mexico, North America, Japan and England.
Today, her practice is a living inquiry into the tensions between capitalism and nature, self and system, beauty and disruption. Through collaborative authorship and embodied research, she invites us to reimagine not just what we see but how we see, and who we might become when we return to care, creativity and connection.
Art is how we make meaning visible.
Collaboration is how we make it matter.
My Approach
Every project is different, but this is the throughline:
It starts with listening
Every project begins with deep listening—to the brief, the history, and the voices often left out. Relationships come first, and trust is built over time.
We co-create with purpose
I work with communities, not for them. The process is collaborative, grounded in lived experience, cultural context and shared authorship.
Turning complexity into clarity
From science and mental health to climate storytelling, I translate complex ideas into visuals that connect with real people.
Designing for impact
Whether it’s a mural, a zine or a resource, each piece is crafted to resonate deeply and stand the test of time.
Research-led. Place-based. Empathy-driven.
I take a hyper-local approach, working with schools, councils and communities to reflect people and place through meaningful, socially aware design.
How I Do It
Public Art, Digital & Hand Painted Murals
Research-led or client-led, sustainable, place-based, and community-powered.
Creative Facilitation & Workshops
Engaging groups in co-design, storytelling, and visual thinking.
Education & Wellbeing Projects
Translating science and policy into compelling public communication.
Consulting & Strategic Design
Supporting organisations with visual direction, brand storytelling, and collaborative frameworks.
Fine Art and Artist in Residence
Creating a unique site-based response to place based concerns.
This is not a solo act.
Every project is built through co-creation with young people, Elders, educators, scientists, community voices, and the beyond human world guiding the way. Together, we turn ideas into impact.
See It In Action
Here I speak with ACT Government stakeholders about a public art project turning suburban infrastructure into a storytelling platform.
Together, we co-created an illustrated 8-sided artwork on ICON Waterboxes, raising awareness about endangered species and stormwater impacts through creative placemaking and science communication.
Video by Ocolo Digital