From Kmart laundry lids to CMAG: meet the Canberran turning waste into wonder

Posted on 7 July, 2026

Bryan Fitzpatrick comes to his first exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery from an unlikely, but quintessentially Canberra, perspective.

In Year 7 at Weston Creek High School, he failed art and never did another class.

But he would go on to create the iconic alternative nightclub Toast in the 2000s, become an audiovisual producer, funeral livestream specialist, motorsport obsessive and build possibly the largest backyard go-kart track. More of this in a moment.

Now Bryan is enjoying a moment as one of the city’s most unexpected artists. Working under the name Flutterbry, Bryan turns discarded plastic laundry hamper lids into illuminated sculptures that look as though they have drifted in from the deep sea, outer space, or a fever dream after a music-filled night at Toast.

The most unlikely part? It all began with a trip to Belconnen Kmart, 140 unwanted lids, and a man who had spent most of his life believing he wasn’t artistic.

Long before he was slicing, weaving and lighting plastic into otherworldly forms, Bryan was helping shape Canberra’s underground nightlife. In his late twenties, he opened Toast in Civic, the much-loved alternative nightclub remembered by many Canberrans as a home for music, art, and a sense that Canberra wasn’t so daggy after all.

Later came an audiovisual production business, livestreaming work for government departments, embassies and major events, and, when COVID-19 changed everything, a pivot into funeral livestreaming. After attending more than 500 funerals through that work, Bryan had plenty of time to consider the fragility of life, the certainty of death, and the importance of doing things while there is still time.

Outside work, his interests are no less full-throttle. Bryan builds and races highly modified Renault Clio race cars, holds class records at Canberra’s hill climb circuit, and has transformed his long suburban driveway and backyard into a 250-metre electric go-kart track. His mechanical philosophy – simple, lightweight and strong – now runs directly through his artistic output.

Bryan’s creative awakening began less than three years ago, with what he describes as a pre-Halloween party house makeover that looked suspiciously like art. But the true spark came in March 2025, when he noticed the pattern in plastic laundry hamper lids at Kmart – delicate, repeating, almost wing-like – and learned they were destined for landfill after being abandoned by customers.

So he talked his way into taking 140 of them home.

What followed was part experiment, part obsession. Could he make them unrecognisable? Could he turn a disposable object into something that felt alive? His first illuminated sculptures – a jellyfish and an anglerfish – proved fruitful and Flutterbry took creative flight.

Things then moved quickly. Social media accounts appeared, photos went online and within days, Bryan had been offered an exhibition at the National Folk Festival.

Then came his 14-month creative binge consisting of more than 150 sculptures made from over 1,000 rescued hamper lids, most collected for free from retailers around the Canberra region. Invitations followed, including the Canberra Art Fair and a hastily arranged week-long exhibition at The Vault in Fyshwick – where one of the visitors happened to be a curator from Canberra Museum and Gallery.

Now, his work is on show in Worlds Beyond Waste at CMAG, where Flutterbry’s surreal ecosystem of illuminated forms invites viewers into a place that feels both organic and architectural. The exhibition is designed to change between day and night, with lighting and shadows bringing new life to the sculptures after dark.

These sculptural forms have also found a home at the newly opened Weston Park Maze, where a mirrored infinity gallery has been created to showcase Flutterbry’s glowing sculptures at the centre of the maze. (For the record, Bryan could not resist flexing his clubbing, DJ and AV experience by putting on Lbrynth, a three-stage dance party held throughout the maze and we are genuinely devastated we missed it!)

There is, however, plenty of time to see the exhibition, which is on for the next seven weeks. Byran is also presenting an artist talk and live demonstration on Friday 31 July, at 12.30 pm.