Local artist Eloise Grills creates artwork for 2026 festival
Words in Winter 2026 is officially on its way, bringing together our community to celebrate literature, storytelling, and art. This year, we are thrilled to feature a new commissioned piece by local artist and former festival stalwart, Eloise Grills. Created specially for Words in Winter 2026, Eloise’s artwork perfectly captures this year’s evocative theme: Curiouser and Curiouser – a nod to Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland.
From Festival to the Canvas
Eloise is no stranger to the Words in Winter family. Last year, she dedicated her skills, time, and warm heart behind the scenes, serving as Artist Liaison for the 2025 event. Her deep connection to our local creative sphere ensured participating artists felt supported and integrated. This year, she steps back from an organisational role due to an exciting personal chapter, but her creative spirit remains front and centre.
“I was obviously very involved with the festival last year, and I’m currently quite heavily pregnant, so I may not be as able to take on the same level of involvement,” Eloise shared. “But it was really great to remain part of the Words in Winter family this year – especially as our own family is growing.”
Unpacking the Inspiration Behind the Art
When asked about the creative inspiration for her stunning Words in Winter 2026 artwork, Eloise explained how she drew deeply from the Lewis Carroll reference while weaving in a surrealist, local twist. “I was so thrilled to be asked,” Eloise said. “Relating to the theme Curiouser and Curiouser, which is obviously from Alice in Wonderland, I really wanted to draw from that but also expand on it. So, I’ve got an Alice-like figure in the image. She’s reading a book and has dozed off. I love the idea of someone’s dreams pouring out of them in a surreal way – becoming this tangled hair that encompasses all these symbols and images.”
The piece beautifully integrates classical symbols of transformation and whimsical storytelling alongside identifiable nods to our local environment in Daylesford. Look closely and you will discover Eloise’s Alice, whose dreams are “pouring out of her in a surreal way”, a sleepy Cheshire Cat, a green caterpillar crawling on a black squiggly line, two vibrant butterflies as symbols of transformation, and the White Rabbit, no doubt late for a very important date. You will also spot Fly Agaric mushrooms that grow at Hepburn Mineral Springs, the Wombat Hill Pioneer Memorial Tower in the Wombat Hill Botanical Gardens, lots of pine trees, and Lalgumbook, just a ten-minute drive north of Daylesford.
About the Artist
Eloise Grills is an acclaimed artist, writer, and comic maker whose work explores identity, memory, and the human body. Her illustrated memoir-in-essays big beautiful female theory was shortlisted for the 2023 Stella Prize and the 2023 Indie Book Award for Illustrated Nonfiction. Her writing and comics have appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Meanjin, and many other publications. For more about Eloise, including her awards, grants, and current PhD research at RMIT University, please visit her website.
We are incredibly grateful to Eloise for lending her brilliant mind and artistry to Words in Winter 2026 once again.
Stay tuned for programming announcements for the festival running from 26–30 August, 2026.