JUL – OCT 2021
Blue Mountains City Art Gallery, Into the Blue, InSight Membership, What’s On, Gallery Café and Shop.
Welcome The City of the Blue Mountains is located within the Country of the Darug and Gundungurra peoples. Blue Mountains Cultural Centre pays respect to Elders past and present while recognising the strength, capacity and resilience of past and present Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Blue Mountains region.
CONTENTS 2
Just Below the Clouds
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A Place for Artists and Art Lovers
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InSight Membership
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Into the Blue
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
16 Exhibition Feature: Post-haste and Epicormic Growth 18 What’s On 22 Gallery Café 24 Gallery Shop 26 Braemar House & Gallery
Cover image: CLAIRE HEALY & SEAN CORDEIRO Kitchen / Pantry – Seal 2014, Lego, IKEA foot stool and plant, 103 x 110 x 60 cm, courtesy the artists
Just Below the Clouds
Paul Brinkman – Manager, Arts & Cultural Services Once again this Issue of InSight Magazine is packed full of amazing exhibitions and opportunities for you to engage in your creative side. We have a fantastic program from July to October that celebrates both our local artistic talent and the work of artists from across Australia. With a particular focus on exploring the Australian sense of nationhood, exhibitions In Cahoots and Just Not Australian are both informative and confronting, and a must see for those looking to learn more of the diverse challenges facing Australian society today. The work of local photographer Tracy Ponich brings us back to the Blue Mountains, through her sensitive depiction of upper Mountains business owners during the uncertain first months of the pandemic. From the 2nd of October we present Poste-haste by local artistic luminaries Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro. Pulling together loans from major institutions and private collections, this exhibition is an exciting opportunity to see the breadth of work that have made the artists such significant names in the contemporary Australian art world. If the exhibition program isn’t already more than enough to encourage a trip to the Cultural Centre, check out our new winter menu at the Gallery Café! Our enticing range of in-house made dumplings, soups and hot chocolates are a great way to finish a visit to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.
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A Place for Artists and Art Lovers
Applications Open for Braemar Gallery
Anita White: At the Gallery 2019, installation view, Braemar Gallery. Photo: silversalt photography
The Cultural Centre’s sister venue Braemar Gallery is now calling for submissions from artists to exhibit at this much-loved community gallery space. Applications are open until 31 July 2021. Braemar Gallery’s Exhibition Program is a great opportunity for artists and community groups based in the Blue Mountains region to exhibit at this historic venue and showcase their works to a diverse audience. Successful applications will be exhibited in the 2022 calendar year. For more information on how to apply, please download the Guidelines and Application Form from the Cultural Centre website: bluemountainsculturalcentre. com.au/braemar-gallery
Exposé Artists Announced for 2022 The Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Exposé Exhibition Program is an initiative designed to give artists, arts collectives and community groups based in the Blue Mountains the opportunity to exhibit their work the Blue Mountains City Art Gallery. Over the years, the program has exibited works from established and emerging artists, some of which have be acquired for the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Collection. We are thrilled to announce the artists selected through this year’s round of applications are Yvette Hamilton, Adrienne Richards, and Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess. We look forward to seeing their work as part of the Blue Mountains City Art Gallery Exhibition Program next year, in 2022.
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Into the Blue In 2000, the Greater Blue Mountains area was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in recognition of the exceptional diversity and integrity of its eucalypt forest communities.
The Blue Mountains Cultural Centre features Into the Blue (the Blue Mountains World Heritage Interpretive Centre), a hightech, interactive exhibition which explores the natural and social landscapes of this unique area. Audiences are invited to navigate their way through these stories in an immersive exhibition experience, introducing them to the richness and wonders of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area.
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Tracy Ponich Business Not Usual: a photographic study of an unimaginable time 26 Jun – 15 Aug
In 2020 the business community of the Blue Mountains was hit with one catastrophe after another: devastating bushfires, floods, and then the pandemic. Business Not Usual is a photographic study of 34 businesses, portraits of the proprietors faced with an unimaginable sequence of events. The year was unrelenting for them. The only certainty was that beyond autumn this community along with the rest of the world would be different. The faces in this collection tell the story of the early days of the pandemic with a new set of rules governing every interaction, and every decision. Some businesses closed shop during the shutdown; others managed to adapt quickly enough to keep going. Photographer Tracy Ponich has captured that particular moment in time. Business Not Usual is a visual record of the upper mountains, yet the portraits in this exhibition convey the collective experience of autumn 2020, everywhere. A Blue Mountians City Art Gallery Exposé Program exhibition TRACY PONICH Sian & Dwayne, Aunty Ed’s Restaurant and Bar, Katoomba 2020, digital photograph on 100% cotton fibre paper, 48 x 72 cm, courtesy the artist
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Participatory Panel: Business Not Usual Saturday 17 July 11am – 12pm
Join a panel discussion with photographer Tracy Ponich and several of the local proprietors who are represented in portraits from the exhibition Business Not Usual. They will talk about their experiences during the early days of the pandemic and what it has meant for their businesses – and their lives. You are invited to ask questions and to join in the discussion.
TRACY PONICH Nina, Stacee & Floyd, Katoomba Veterinary Hospital, Katoomba 2020, digital photograph printed on 100% cotton fibre paper, 66 x 53 cm, courtesy the artist
$10 / Members Free Ticket includes gallery entry. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
In Cahoots: Artists Collaborate Across Country 3 Jul – 8 Aug
In Cahoots began when six Aboriginal art centres across Western Australia, Northern Territory and Victoria invited leading independent Australian artists to visit their community and work with artists to produce a significant body of new work through genuine collaboration and skills exchange. In Cahoots exhibits the diverse results of these partnerships – there are largescale woven installations, sculptures made from reclaimed tin, wooden objects, contemporary furniture, photographic works, paintings and much more – which speak to the distinctness not only of each community and the issues which affect them, but to each artist’s unique perspective and skills. In Cahoots: Artists Collaborate Across Country is a Freementle Arts Centre touring exhibition
TONY ALBERT, KIERAN LAWSON AND DAVID C. COLLINS Warakurna Superhero #1 (detail) 2017, C-type print, 100 x 150 cm. Image courtesy the artists, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney and Warakurna Artists, Western Australia
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Artist Talk
Saturday 3 July 11am Meet some of the artists from the exhibition In Cahoots as they discuss the artworks, challenges and successes that emerged from collaborating across Country. Free event Registration essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Claire Healy, Sean Cordeiro and Martumili Artists
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Just Not Australian 14 Aug – 26 Sep
Just Not Australian brings together 20 artists across generations and diverse cultural backgrounds to deal broadly with the origins and implications of contemporary Australian nationhood. Showcasing the common sensibilities of satire, larrikinism and resistance so as to present a broad exploration of race, place and belonging, Just Not Australian interrogates what it means to be Australian at this challenging point in time. Just Not Australian engages with the moral and ethical undertones of the loaded rejoinder ‘unAustralian’ – a pejorative now embedded in our national vocabulary that continues to be used to further political agendas and to spread nationalistic ideals of what it means to be Australian. Far from a simple comparison, a consideration of what’s not Australian ultimately leads to questions of what is, and the artists in Just Not Australian consider this in detail. Artists include Abdul Abdullah, Hoda Afshar, Tony Albert, Cigdem Aydemir, Liam Benson, Eric Bridgeman, Jon Campbell, Karla Dickens, Fiona Foley, Gordon Hookey, Richard Lewer, Archie Moore, Vincent Namatjira, Nell, Joan Ross, Tony Schwensen, Raquel Ormella, Ryan Presley, and artistic duo Soda Jerk. Just Not Australian was curated by Artspace Sydney and developed in partnership with Sydney Festival and Museums & Galleries of NSW. The exhibition was first presented at Artspace as part of the Sydney festival 2019 and is touring nationally with Museums & Galleries of NSW.
SODA JERK TERROR NULLIUS (video still) 2018, digital video, 54 min, courtesy the artist
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Just Not Australian Opening Night Film Screening: TERROR NULLIUS by Soda Jerk Friday 20 Aug 7pm
Part political satire, part ecohorror and part road movie, TERROR NULLIUS is a political revenge fable which offers an unwriting of Australian national mythologies. The apocalyptic desert camps of Mad Max 2 become the site of refugee detention, flesheating sheep are recast as anti-colonial insurgents and a feminist motorcycle gang goes vigilante on Mel Gibson. Soda Jerk is a two-person art collective who work exclusively with sampled material and pirated cinema to make experimental documentary films. Free event Registration essential via our website or 02 4780 5410.
TOP MIDDLE: Untitled flag community made embroidery facilitated by Liam Benson, courtesy the artist TOP RIGHT: LIAM BENSON Sweet Heat 2020, courtesy the artist
Participatory Community Bad Embroidery with Liam Embroidery with Liam Benson Benson Friday 20 Aug 4pm – 7pm
Saturday 4 Sep 10:30am – 1:30pm
Saturday 18 Sep 10:30am – 1:30pm
Bad Embroidery is a workshop that allows for creative play with bead and sequin embroidery, where there is no right or wrong way to sew a sequin! Liam guides a process of experimentation with colours, textures and pattern to create a small, embroidered artwork.
Join artist Liam Benson for a drop-in creative exchange using sequins and beads. Using memory and intuitive response, Liam will guide a process of experimentation with colours, textures and pattern to create a collaborative embroidered artwork. All ages, abilities and skill levels are welcome. Free event Registration essential via our website or 02 4780 5410.
Floor Talk
Saturday 21 Aug 11am Artspace lead a discussion in the gallery about the major themes and artworks in Just Not Australian.
Bead and sequin embroidery is important to Liam as a connection to his mother, who nurtured a making practice by allowing experimental play with her textiles collection. Sequins are a symbolic medium the artist associates with queer culture, in particular drag and the costume associated with nightlife and celebration. $90 / Members $85 Includes materials, tea and coffee. Bookings essential via our website or 02 4780 5410.
$10 / Members Free Bookings essential via our website or 02 4780 5410. 11
Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Abel/Barcan/Harris/Ross/Tsai: Women from the Collection 21 Aug – 26 Sep
Abel/Barcan/Harris/Ross/Tsai: Women from the Collection highlights recent acquisitions to the collection of the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, exploring notions of contemporary landscape through film, installation, works on paper, photography and painting. The works in this exhibition ask us to examine the complex nature of our relationship to the landscape; our desire to contain and control, the unabated destruction of the natural environment, and the calamatous cultural and social impact on First Nation peoples. Inspite of these dire observations the works allude to ways forward; where we reassess these relationships and connect deeply with empathy and compassion. A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition
KAREN MIRANDA ABEL Veil of Time 2018, glass and earth samples, dimensions variable, purchased through the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Collection Acquisition Fund 2018. Photo: silversalt photography
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Gallery and Artist Studio Tour
Saturday 28 Aug 10:30am – 3:30pm Join us for a journey through selected galleries and artist studios on this special tour dedicated to female artists who explore notions of landscape. Beginning with a morning tea at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, listen to a talk about the exhibition Abel/ Barcan/Harris/Ross/Tsai: Women from the Collection, followed by visits to selected local artist studios. $20 / Members $15 Morning tea included. Participants must have own car for driving to artist studios. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Where the urban meets the trees: Drawing Landscapes with Wendy Tsai Saturday 18 Sep 1pm – 3:30pm
Thinking consciously about how people inhabit the edges of vast natural landscapes provides the groundwork for drawing in this workshop led by exhibiting artist Wendy Tsai. Take in the spectacular views over Katoomba and across the Jamison and Kedumba Valleys from the viewing platform, and create quick adventurous drawings that incorporate the urban and the natural landscape. $60 / Members $50 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
LEFT: Julie Harris in her studio, May 2021 ABOVE: WENDY TSAI The Gully 1 & The Gully 2 2019, charcoal & mixed media, 76 x 89 cm, purchased through the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Collection Acquisition Fund 2021. Photo: silversalt photography
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro: Post-haste 2 Oct – 21 Nov
CLAIRE HEALY & SEAN CORDEIRO Sumito Zaiba 2020, Iroquois aircraft panels, acrylic gouache, jute, tape, 130 x 165 x 10 cm, courtesy the artists
The exhibition Post-haste showcases the past decade of works by creative duo Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, exploring themes of obsolescence, collective endeavour, and the place of the individual within complex systems. The artists are concerned with Paul Virilio’s concept of Dromology: investigating how the speed at which something happens may change its essential nature, and that which moves with great speed quickly comes to dominate that which is slower. A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition curated by Rilka Oakley
Curator and Artist Talk Saturday 9 Oct 11am
Join Curator Rilka Oakley and artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro for a walk around the exhibition Post-haste. $10 / Members Free Bookings essential via our website or 02 4780 5410.
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WISH FOR THE SKIES Collaborative Kite Installation Weekends 2 Oct – 21 Nov
Inspired by their experiences in Sapporo at Tenjinyama artists’ studios in 2018, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro conducted workshops with children to give them the opportunity to create a large community kite. The artists now invite children and families from the Blue Mountains community to join them in the making of a giant tetrahedral kite, a replica of a massive Alexander Graham Bell design. The kite will be decorated with pictures and writing similar to Ema, the wooden wishing plaques of Japan. What is your wish? Will it fly? Gambate! Free event. Suitable for kids with adult supervision.
Epicormic growth: high school engagement project 2 Oct – 21 Nov
Artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro ran extensive workshops with senior students from five Blue Mountains high schools to create two collaborative works that will be exhibited alongside the artists’ 2011 work Par Avion. Exploring popular materials such as Lego and smart phones the artists encourage the students to reflect on the obsolescence of technology. A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition
CLAIRE HEALY AND SEAN CORDEIRO Par Avion 2011, 70 cut pieces from a Cessna 172 airplane, gaffa tape, postage paraphenalia, Museum of Contemporary Art, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artists, 2013, in recognition of Andrew and Cathy Cameron, image courtesy the artists and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artists
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Exhibition Feature
Post-haste and Epicormic Growth The exhibition Post-haste showcases the past decade of works by artist-duo Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, exploring themes of obsolescence, collective endeavour, and the place of the individual within complex systems.
CLAIRE HEALY & SEAN CORDEIRO Mayday 2021, Piper Aircraft wing, stickers, acrylic, 166 x 552 x 58 cm, courtesy the artists
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The artists are concerned with Paul Virilio’s concept of Dromology: investigating how the speed at which something happens may change its essential nature. In an epoch where speed means everything, what happens when nature pulls the handbrake? Working across a variety of mediums, including site-specific interventions, photography, sculpture, video and sound, the duo’s past art works have hinted at the impending consequences of our current actions. Reflecting on the forced stasis of the world due to COVID19 the artists question whether this may be some kind of payment that has been long overdue. Many of the works suggest future scenarios and project outcomes if we are to continue on the path we are on. Suddenly, there is a great pause for thought after a period of great immediacy. The speed and voracity in which we have consumed fossil fuels, the urgency of receiving goods, the ease of filling a shopping trolley with food no matter the distances they have travelled, extinguishing the Earth’s riches in such haste, exhausting what has taken millions of years to be created has reached a flashpoint. The exhibition Post-haste captures the essence of our current predicament. Alongside this significant body of work local high school students will exhibit works made in collaborative workshops held by the artists. This high school engagement project, Epicormic Growth, engages senior art students from five Blue Mountains schools in a number of different projects responding to Healy & Cordeiro’s practice. The first being a major Lego piece devised by the artists so that each student is able to contribute to the final result. The second element, speaking directly to the artists’ interest in obsolescence and speed, particularly in relation to new and superseded technologies, is a project using dead smart phones as the canvas. Students are invited to paint a landscape – representing the amazing beauty of our natural environment – onto dead smart phones. The resulting work is over 80 individual expressions by our local young people on an object that they would be very familiar (and valued) to them.
CLAIRE HEALY & SEAN CORDEIRO Kitchen / Pantry – Seal 2014, Lego, IKEA foot stool and plant, 103 x 110 x 60 cm, courtesy the artists
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What’s On NAIDOC 2021 Join us at the Cultural Centre for a series of events celebrating NAIDOC Week.
Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony
Friday 3 Jul 10:30am Cultural Centre Courtyard + Free Gallery entry Join us in the Cultural Centre courtyard for a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony to celebrate the start of NAIDOC Week and the opening of In Cahoots, an exhibition about collaborating across Country. Free event
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Lomandra Bracelet Weaving Saturday 10 Jul 10:30am, 11am, 11:30am & 12pm
Join Wiradjuri man and artist Darren Charlwood to learn about traditional uses for the Lomandra plant, and learn weaving techniques to create your own bracelet. Free event Registration essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Storytelling and Kids Craft workshop Saturday 10 Jul 1pm – 3pm
Boorooberongal and Darkinjung painter and illustrator Cindy Laws visits the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre to share two stories from the Hawkesbury river, Kootear the Echidna & Wargan the Crow. Join in the story by making your own animal mask or clay echidna using bush leaves and sticks to take home. Free event
Edible Garden Trail
Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 Oct The Edible Garden Trail is a celebration of the myriad ways Blue Mountains residents are creating food security, saving money and the environment, while enjoying the health benefits of home grown fruit and veg. Over the weekend of 16th and 17th October 2021, backyard growers, large and small, from Lapstone to Hartley, will open their gardens to the public to share their passion and knowledge and inspire self-reliance. The focus of the 2021 Blue Mountains Edible Garden Trail will be growing indigenous edibles and learning to use native foods. Stay tuned for the full program of participating gardens and workshop events, which will include the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’s volunteer-led veggie rooftop garden. For more information and to book tickets, please visit: ediblegardentrail.com
The Recovery Project
Saturday 9 Oct – Sunday 17 Oct Cultural Centre Seminar Room The Recovery Project is an exhibition presenting new artworks exploring the impacts of fire and climate change at eco-monitoring sites. These sites were developed by artists in collaboration with citizen scientists of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute. This project is funded by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival
Thursday 21 Oct – Sunday 24 Oct The Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival returns to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Carrington Hotel and other select venues. Book lovers, writers and thinkers will come together for live events and panel talks, digital livestreams, literary dinners, children’s events, and online and in-person workshops at the 2021 Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival. Visit the website for the full program of events: bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au
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What’s On
Creative Lino Printing with Jan Melville
Art Kintsugi Workshop with Yoko Kawada
Structures in the Landscape with Ashlee Bucholtz
Printmaker Jan Melville will introduce you to the joys of carving and printing images by hand. Participants will learn how to transfer their drawings to lino, the carving process and how it impacts on positive and negative spaces within the print. Participants will also receive information about different kinds of inks and will be taught how to ink up for the most effective results.
Kintsugi is the mindful Japanese art of golden ceramic mending to give new life to a damaged piece. Kintsugi is a century-old Japanese craftwork where broken ceramic objects are pieced back together using lacquer and gold dust based on the philosophy of Wabi Sabi, finding beauty in imperfection. It is a chance to live in a more sustainable way and to rescue objects which would otherwise be discarded.
Join artist Ashlee Bucholtz for a one-day sketching and acrylic painting workshop that highlights the human aspects of structures and how they can be represented in interesting and expressive ways. Students will take a short walk to see Katoomba’s quirky Art Deco and Victorian inspired buildings, where they will be encouraged to sketch and take photos to reference in the workshop. By using a multiple medium approach, students will then be guided through different drawing and acrylic painting techniques with a dedicated exploration of colour, and a focus on tone, light, transparency and glazing across the subject matter.
Saturday 24 Jul 10:30am – 3:30pm
Suitable for beginners, intermediates and anyone wanting to experiment with the lino printing process to make their own unique works.
Saturday 21 Aug 10:30am – 1:30pm
Students should bring their own set of carving tools. All other materials are provided.
Learn the introductory technique of “Art Kintsugi” mending, following seven essential steps and using modern accessible materials to create your own piece of Kintsugi art to take home.
$130 / Members $120 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
$160 / Members $150 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Saturday 11 Sep 10:30am – 3:30pm
Students should bring their own set of carving tools. All other materials are provided.
$130 / Members $120 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410. TOP RIGHT: ASHLEE BUCHOLTZ A Private Education, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 66 cm, courtesy the artist
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School Holiday Workshop Let’s Weave Some Magic! Friday 2 Jul 10:30am – 12:30pm Ages 7-12
Kids will love this hands-on creative weaving workshop. Re-purposing all kinds of recycled and natural materials to create a fun and unique, sculptural piece of art to take home. Book in with a friend or make new friends in this inclusive and welcoming workshop. Our friendly educator, Hannah from KIDS CRE8 will guide you though the technique in a fun and relaxed setting. A focussed activity suitable for ages 7-12; no experience necessary. All materials provided but feel free to bring along something special that you’d like to incorporate into your weave! $30 / Members $25 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Art After School Term 3 KIDS CRE8 with Hannah Surtees
Open Sessions
Thursdays 29 Jul, 19 Aug, 9 Sep, 28 Oct 4pm – 6pm Ages 13-18 Open Sessions is a free program for young people aged 13-18 wanting to share creative interests in an encouraging and inspiring environment. Make something at a drop-in activity station, chat with practising artists, develop new ideas and meet other young creatives from your community. Free event Registration essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
5 Week Term Wednesdays 4 Aug – 1 Sep 3:30pm – 5pm Ages 7-12
Exercise your kids’ inquisitive minds and unlock creative problem solving skills in our KIDS CRE8 art workshops, designed to nourish creativity in a fun and relaxed space. Each workshop will encourage kids to follow a creative process to develop their own, unique style across a range of art materials. Kids will learn about designers and artists as well as visit the gallery to take inspiration from current exhibitions. $130 / Members $120 Creative Kids Vouchers accepted. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
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Gallery Café As we move further into winter, we have curated our menu to showcase a delectable selection of dishes highlighting warm and comforting flavours, from house-made dumplings to cheese and spinach gozleme. Pair with a local wine from our current selection, sticky chai or with our fabulous tea range!
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PAN-FRIED DUMPLINGS Makes 8-10 F I L L I NG
200g softened rice vermicelli noodles 50g celery, roughly food-processed 50g carrot, roughly food-processed 80g wombok cabbage, finely shredded ¼ teaspoon sesame oil ¼ teaspoon beef stock ¼ teaspoon soy sauce ½ teaspoon Chinese cooking wine ¼ teaspoon white sugar ½ teaspoon minced garlic W R A P P ER
Pre-made dumpling wrappers D I P P I NG SAUCE
2 tablespoons sesame oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce METHOD
Take 1 teaspoon of filling and place in the middle of the dumpling wrapper. Fold Dumpling wrapper in half, creating a crescent moon shape, then fold ends of the dumpling to form a tortellini-like shaped dumpling. In a frying pan, add 1 teaspoon olive oil and fry the bottoms of the dumplings until golden. Add ½ cup of water to pan, place lid on pan and let steam until the water has evaporated. Continue to fry dumplings for another 2-3 mins to ensure bottom of the dumpling is crisp. Serve with dipping sauce and garnish with cucumber slices. 23
Gallery Shop Offering a unique retail experience, the Gallery Shop stocks a wide variety of quality Australian made gifts, books and homewares, with a focus on artisan products designed and made in the Blue Mountains. InSight Members receive a 10% discount on items in the Shop and invitations to exclusive member sales throughout the year.
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BLUNT BLUNT umbrellas combine superior engineering with beautiful design. The unique Blunt™ shape, formed by the technology within, is the only umbrella with a fully tensioned canopy for unparalleled performance. BLUNT believe the world needs better products that equally benefit the consumer experience and the sustainable choice without compromise. Available in a range of sizes and eye-catching colours, these umbrellas will stand the test of time, with unique style. from $109 / Members from $98.10
Ikuntji Artists ABOVE: Image courtesy BLUNT OPPOSITE: Image courtesy Ikuntji Artists
Ikuntji Artists is a not-for-profit Indigenousowned and run art centre in Haasts Bluff, 250km west if Alice Springs. Ikuntji Artists was the first art centre established by women in the Western Desert Art Movement in 1992. Today, Ikuntji Artists are represented in many national and international galleries and institutions. Their art is famous for bold colour choice, decisive brush strokes and a long legacy of internationally renowned artists. A range of Ikuntji Artists purses and bags are now available at the Gallery Shop. from $55 / Members from $49.50
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Braemar House & Gallery Braemar House is home to the treasured Braemar Gallery, a Council operated community exhibition space for visual artists. 104 Macquarie Rd, Springwood Thu – Sun, 10am – 4pm Free admission See the Cultural Centre website for the latest on Braemar Gallery exhibitions.
Lagoon 2.0
8 July – 1 Aug The Blue Mountains is home to some of the most fragile upland water ecosystems in the world. Glenbrook Lagoon is one of these, a rare and beautiful wetland on Sydney’s doorstep. It’s a wild place, fringed by suburbia. And despite drought, catastrophic bushfires, floods and a pandemic, it carries on inspiring the people who visit, including a group of artists, who continue to meet, draw and make art. Following on from the 2018 exhibition, A Year at Glenbrook Lagoon, Adrienne Richards, Annette Mylrea, Anthony Cahill, Di Holdsworth, Kate Robinson, Leo Robba, Louise Kerr, Peta Hinton, Rhett Brewer and Vicki Hersey, again champion the wonder of this unique and special place. 26
Janet Andersen Blue Mountains and Inland NSW Landscapes Including Colourful Native Birds 5 Aug – 29 Aug
Blue Mountains artist Janet Andersen explores the diverse landscapes of New South Wales and colourful native birds. From the rugged yet ethereal quality of the Blue Mountains to the vastly different landscapes of the Western Plains, the works reflect these unique natural environments and their changing seasons. Andersen’s oil paintings are inspired by photographs taken during her travels to the Upper Mountains and out west. These photographs inspire her to paint whilst the memories of the landscapes are fresh in her mind.
Zoe Fletcher Wingdom and Frogalik’s Star 5 Aug – 29 Aug
This exhibition of Zoe Fletcher’s fabulist Wingdom paintings and Frogalik’s Star book illustrations delight both adults and children alike. The central idea of ‘wings for all’ sets imaginations free. This playful exhibition at Braemar Gallery inspires delight in viewers, encouraging an understanding of and participation in the creative process. This art empowers adults to help children find joy in an unpredictable world.
Art Rising Out of a Pandemic Curated by Tim Newman 2 Sep – 26 Sep
Anna Di Mezza The Loved Ones 2 Sep – 26 Sep
The Loved Ones presents a series of acrylic paintings by Anna Di Mezza. Her focus is creating surrealistic paintings which contain a strong narrative thrust, from found images from the 50s and 60s. Anna introduces new elements to these found photos often removing them from their original context thus presenting conceptual ideas in a surrealistic manner. The works in this exhibition are an analysis of the sometimes nonsensical workings of human nature combined with nostalgia and are open to the viewer’s interpretation as they seem pointedly unresolved.
Eight Blue Mountains artists have been invited to exhibit work produced during the 2020-2021 pandemic period. This body of work provides a unique window into the varied responses of these artists, threading together both the differences and the shared experiences that this pandemic has brought. The art raises questions and provokes thoughts around the impact and challenges of this pandemic on a personal level and as a community. Included are paintings, sculptures, installations and photography. Exhibiting artists are Jane Lennon, Justin Morrissey, Mark Deny, Bron Newman, Kathryn Night, Julie Parkin, Tim Newman and Cath Barcan.
Liz Shreeve Light and Colour
rules, to recognise and acknowledge the patterns and order that surround us. It is a celebration of the visual, a recognition that delight really does have something to do with light.
Kaylene Brooks RAW
30 Sep – 31 Oct In this exhibition Brooks explores texture and form through contemporary fibre art. In a story of sculptural mixed media fusions, the artist brings the 13th century Arabian craft of Macramé (also made popular in the 60’s and 70’s) into the modern era by combining natural materials, manmade and industrial objects, as well as light and negative space. THIS PAGE: ANNA DI MEZZA Birth of Currency 2021, acrylic on Gessobord, 61 x 45cm, courtesy the artist OPPOSITE: ZOE FLETCHER Compassion 2005, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
30 Sep – 31 Oct
Artist Liz Shreeve’s work investigates light, colour and the mathematics of architecture and nature. Small repeating units are used to catch and colour light, to recreate, for the viewer, the sensual experience of those observations. The work is an attempt to strip things back to their simple 27
Braemar House & Gallery
Think Spring Think Leura 2021
Anna and Jennifer Gardiner: Moments Observed 13 May – 6 Jun
Moments Observed is a collection of works by Blue Mountains artists Anna Gardiner and her aunt Jennifer Gardiner. It incorporates images of the little things that we notice but others might miss: bush textures, leaf litter, a branch or insect that takes your eye, glimpses of birds through thickets, or fleeting moments of reminiscence on a bush walk. Through watercolour, collage, photography, painting, mixed fibre and printmaking their art invites you to see hidden moments in our surrounds.
2- 4 an 2-4 and d 8-10 8 -1 0 Oc O cto tob b er, 2021 9. 30a 9.30 am - 4 4..3 30 0p pm
Nepean Area Disabilities Organisation: Shifting Perspectives 13 May – 6 Jun
Shifting Perspectives is a collection of artworks by NADO Participants. People with disability are often invisible in our community and they, like the rest of us, have a story to tell and experiences to share. These paintings tell a story of extreme contrasts and images of living in the Blue Mountains, including interpretations of recent bushfire devastation, and also images of beauty and recovery.
Elizabeth Rose: Elements 10 Jun – 4 Jul
Elements draws the viewer into the worlds encapsulated in lustre glazed ceramic work. Local ceramicist Elizabeth Rose synthesises her intuitive and alchemic understanding of mineral compounds to create works that reflect the exquisite formations of rocks and crystals on structured, organic vessels.
Magnificent gardens - Stunning mountain scenery - Art show �1� single garden � ��� t�ree gardens �valid all Fes�val) � ��� all gardens �valid all Fes�val) �i��ets availa�le online later t�is year and during t�e Fes�val exhibitionat Leura features familiar form, �all; Fes� val HQ, Fitzroy Street, Leura; Everglades; and Garden No.1
The juxtaposed with the complexity of colour and Money raised helps to purchase equipment for Blue Mountains District ANZAC Memorial Hospital texture which reminds us of the ELIZABETH ROSEons Cobalt Copper 2020, stoneware ceramics andfragility other localand health related or�anisa� with lustre glaze, 6 x 12 x 12 cm, courtesy the artist innovation of the natural world. www.leuragardens�es�val.com.au - ���� ��� ��� - in�o�leuragardens�es�val.com.au
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ADMISSION:
OPENING HOURS:
Adults: $5 Australian concession card holders: $3 InSight Members: Free Children under 16: Free
Monday – Friday: 10am – 5pm Saturday + Sunday: 10am – 4pm
Your admission ticket allows entry to our permanent exhibition Into the Blue and the Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
The Gallery Café opens 9.30am weekdays. Please access via café entrance. Check the Cultural Centre website for public holiday opening hours
OUR PEOPLE:
Manager, Arts & Cultural Services: Paul Brinkman Artistic Program Manager: Diana Robson Promotion and Retail Manager: Rose Stibbard Administration Officer: Felicity Hallam Public Programs Coordinator: Katrina Noorbergen Gallery Technician: Mark Surtees Curator: Rilka Oakley Patron Services Officer: Nicole Roberts Gallery Café Coodinator: Jennifer Chapman-Paton Gallery Café: Claire G, Claire K, Martin, Michelle, Prudence, Ruby, Sheena, Timmy, Vanessa, Wade Front of House: Alison, Connie, Kate, Kellie, Nina, Ruby We thank our dedicated volunteers who provide valuable support to staff and visitors InSight Magazine is proudly designed and printed in the Blue Mountains. Original template design by Hannah Surtees, Studio ham.
BLUE MOUNTAINS CULTURAL CENTRE:
Level 1, 30 Parke St Katoomba 02 4780 5410 info@bluemountainsculturalcentre.com.au bluemountainsculturalcentre.com.au