MAR – JUN 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
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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 Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul 18 What’s On 21 Volunteer News 22 Gallery Café 24 Gallery Shop 26 Braemar House & Gallery
Cover image: ARTHUR BOYD Lovers on fire in boat with kite 1965, oil on canvas. Bundanon Trust Collection
Just Below the Clouds
Paul Brinkman – Manager, Arts & Cultural Services Welcome to the latest edition of Insight Magazine, packed full of opportunities to engage with our fabulous creative program at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre. Following on from our always popular annual Blue Mountains Portraits exhibition, we present the major show of the year, Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul from 13 March to 2 May. This exhibition, travelling from the Bundanon Trust, explores Boyd’s relationship with the landscape throughout his career. With up to 60 paintings, including masterpieces borrowed from major state art museums, the exhibition will be a rare opportunity to see up-close the art works of one of Australia’s most iconic artists. March also brings us our annual Collection fundraising exhibition, Collectors’ Edition #7. After a gap last year due to COVID we welcome back this exciting auction event. Through the generosity of some of Australia’s finest artists, over a 2-week period participants have the opportunity to bid on A5 sized original artworks, with sale proceeds going towards purchasing works for the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’s public art collection. Don’t miss this chance to snap up an original artwork while at the same time supporting our aims to build the Collection to be a great historical reference of the art practice of the Blue Mountains. I hope you enjoy the contents of our Insight Magazine and look forward to seeing you at the Cultural Centre soon.
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A Place for Artists and Art Lovers
Living Lanes Art Project Living Lanes is an exciting new public art project that will transform our laneways in Katoomba. A collaboration between Toolo, the Blue Mountains Tool Library and Blue Mountains City Council, the project is funded through the National Bushfire Recovery Agency. Through an open call process, the project is seeking submissions from artists in the Blue Mountains and Western Sydney until 31 March 2021. Keep an eye out in the second half of this year as the selected five art installations appear in our laneways. The works will enliven and reinvigorate our town as well help communicate our vision for a more sustainable Blue Mountains.
Seniors Week Free Events The Cultural Centre is hosting a range of free programs and special offers for seniors during Seniors Week. The program runs from 14 – 24 April and includes fascinating talks, an exhibition of local historical photographs, music performances and Gallery Café Specials. Seniors will also receive free admission to the City Art Gallery from 14 – 24 April. Take this opportunity to enjoy the exhibitions Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul and Sulpture Otherwise. See the full program of events page 18 or visit the Cultural Centre website.
For all the latest on the project visit the Living Lanes website: livinglanesart.com
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InSight Membership O New O Renewal O Gift Membership O I would like to receive notifications by email only O I would like to receive InSight Magazine in the post O I prefer to access InSight Magazine online via the website MEMBER DETAILS:
Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss/Dr First name: Surname: (family memberships only) Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss/Dr First name: Surname: Postal address: Suburb: Postcode: State: Phone: Mobile: Email: MEMBERSHIP PLAN:
O Individual Adult: $45 O Family (2 adults + children under 16): $60 O Concession: $35 O Individual Patron: $200 O Business (up to 7 membership cards): $250
Get to know your Cultural Centre with annual InSight Membership BENEFITS:
• UNLIMITED FREE entry to Blue Mountains City Art Gallery and Into the Blue • DISCOUNTS on Cultural Centre public programs • 10% DISCOUNT at the Gallery Shop and Gallery Café • INVITATIONS to Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition openings and InSight events
• SUBSCRIPTION to InSight Magazine, delivered three O Cash times a year O Cheque (payable to Blue Mountains City Council) O Credit card • SUBSCRIPTION to the We accept Visa and Mastercard. A merchant fee of 0.78% Cultural Centre’s monthly applies to credit card transactions. e-newsletter Card number: • ACCESS to InSight Name: Members Lounge Expiry: / CCV: (Wednesday – Friday, subject to availability) PAYMENT:
Signature: Completed applications can be brought to the Cultural Centre reception or posted to: Blue Mountains Cultural Centre InSight Membership Application Locked Bag 1005, Katoomba NSW 2780 4
• DISCOUNTS on selected Blue Mountains Theatre shows • NO BOOKING FEE for tickets purchased at Blue Mountains Theatre
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
Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul 13 Mar – 2 May
Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul is Bundanon Trust’s nationally touring exhibition exploring a lifetime of landscape paintings by renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd. Curated by Barry Pearce the exhibition is drawn principally from Bundanon Trust’s own collection of the artist’s work. The exhibition features 60 paintings, including a group of masterpieces borrowed from major state art museums, as well as 20 works on paper, letters, photographs and sketchbooks spanning almost half a century and featuring works from his adolescence through to his final years. ARTHUR BOYD Lovers on fire in boat with kite 1965, oil on canvas. Bundanon Trust Collection
Landscape of the Soul focuses on Boyd’s diverse notions of landscape and traces one of the most celebrated careers in the history of Australian art through this lens. Presenting a number of never-before-seen works created by Boyd as a teenager, the exhibition offers the first in depth look at the artist’s powerful early grasp of the landscape as a subject. Bookended by Boyd’s youthful paintings of the Mornington Peninsula in the 1930s and the final phase of his career depicting the Shoalhaven area in southern New South Wales in the mid-1970s, Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul considers not only the topographic landscape, but also the landscape Boyd carried within himself. Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul is a Bundanon Trust touring exhibition
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Floor Talk
Saturday 13 Mar 11am Join Jennifer Thompson, Collections & Exhibitions Manager from Bundanon Trust, and discover a lifetime of landscape paintings by renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd, who explored and captured not only the topographical landscape but also, and sometimes unbeknown to himself, the landscape he carried within. $10 / Members Free Ticket includes gallery entry. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Gallery Tour & Painting Workshop
Thursday 15 Apr 10am – 12pm & 1pm – 3pm Friday 16 Apr 10am – 12pm & 1pm – 3pm Enjoy a tour of Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul and learn about the development of Arthur Boyd as a painter of landscapes from boyhood through to his major works from the 60’s to 90’s. The exhibition tour will provide inspiration for an outdoor painting workshop, where different brushes, textures, and colours will be used to create an impression of the Katoomba skyline in gouache. $10 / Seniors Special $8 (use promo code SENIOR for online bookings) Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Children’s Tour & Workshop Saturday 17 Apr 1pm – 3pm Ages 5– 11
Take a journey through the lives of Arthur Boyd, his parents, and grandparents to discover the links between their artworks and painting styles. Discover the hidden details, symbols, and subject matter in the paintings with a focus on artworks depicting the Shoalhaven River. After the exhibition visit, students will participate in an artmaking workshop imagining their own mythical river using watercolour. $10 / Members $8 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
ARTHUR BOYD Pulpit rock, kite and skull c.1981, oil on canvas, Bundanon Trust Collection
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Collectors’ Edition 13 Mar – 28 Mar
Collectors’ Edition #7 makes its much anticipated return in 2021. Now in its seventh year, this fundraiser exhibition supports the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’s Collection Acquisition Fund. Over 80 original artworks by prominent artists will be for sale through silent auction. Take this opportunity to start your own collection while supporting the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Collection. Funds raised from Collectors’ Edition #7 will be put towards the purchase of a selection of work from Wendy Tsai’s drawing series, The Gully, 2019. The drawings were exhibited in Wendy Tsai: Drawing Kedumba at the Cultural Centre in 2019 as part of the Exposé Program. A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition
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Fundraising Acquisition: The Gully by Wendy Tsai The Collectors’ Edition annual funsdraising event has helped grow the Cultural Centre’s public art collection, building a repository of exceptional art that tells the unique stories of the Blue Mountains for current and future generations to enjoy. In 2021, we are seeking to purchase work by local artist Wendy Tsai exhibited in Drawing Kedumba at Blue Mountains City Art Gallery in October 2019. Tsai is a Katoomba-based painter who has been exhibiting since the early 1990s. Acquiring Tsai’s work for the collection will greatly build on our holdings of landscape based artworks by female artists. Tsai’s drawings consider some of the multi-layered complexities of biodiversity, aboriginal displacement, colonisation, and current land management practices, as well as a solemn recognition of the area’s natural beauty. In discussing her process she says: I began somewhat naively, assuming that the drawings would simply visually map the Kedumba Catchment, but found over time that the underlying stories and the messiness of urban contamination inevitably shaped my representations. I would like to acknowledge the custodians and former residents of the Gully and their families, and hope that in some way the drawings give evidence of the special place the Gully is, and has been to those who have known it as home, or as a place of nourishment in the journey between places. WENDY TSAI The Gully (detail) 2019, charcoal and mixed media, dimensions variable. Image: silversalt
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Sculpture Otherwise 3 Apr – 2 May
Sculpture Otherwise is an exhibition of small sculpture by artists participating in Sculpture at Scenic World in 2021. The indoor exhibition provides an opportunity for collectors and the public to engage with work by emerging, mid-career and established Australian and international artists including, small sculpture, installation and maquettes. Set amongst the extraordinary Blue Mountains landscape Sculpture at Scenic World 2021 (1 Apr – 2 May) explores the themes of sustainability and the environment. Selected from over 100 entries the exhibition will present the work of 30 artists from across Australia, including the Blue Mountains alongside a number of international entries. Sculpture Otherwise is presented in partnership with Sculpture at Scenic World
Installation view Sculpture Otherwise 2019, JANNY GRANT Major Myna (front), JODY GRAHAM Drawn from the discarded (back), Blue Mountains Cultural Centre. Image: silversalt
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Curator and Artist Panel Saturday 10 Apr 11am
Justin Morrissey, Exhibition Manager and Curator of Sculpture at Scenic World and Sculpture Otherwise, will facilitate a panel of participating artists and discuss how their sculptural works, both in the environment and in the gallery, have taken on new meanings after the year that was 2020. $10 / Members and Scenic World wristband holders free. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Twist n Shout 1 Apr – 2 May
This exhibition of outdoor scultpures coincides with Sculpture at Scenic World and Sculpture Otherwise in 2021. Get down and jive to a lively array of public artworks presented at multiple venues across the Blue Mountains, including Braemar Gallery in Springwood and the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre courtyard.
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
This changes everything 8 May – 20 Jun
This changes everything is a creative response to the events that occurred in 2020. The 2019-2020 Australian summer of catastrophic bushfires ended with torrential rain and flooding, that were immediately followed by the global pandemic that unfolded over the remainder of 2020. The artists in this exhibition explore the devastation, grief, frustration and anxiety of adjusting to the constant changes to restrictions as well as playfully engaging with our new normal. A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition curated by Rilka Oakley
MARGARET ELLEN BURNS AND JULIE SUNDBERG A photo a day: notes from 2020 (detail) 2020, video installation. Courtesy the artists.
Screening Program
Curator Talk
Visit our seminar room on Saturdays during the exhibition to watch a selection of film and documentary works dealing with the unprecedented events of 2020. The program includes CANCELLED, a 10 part series shot entirely in lockdown on a mobile phone by a family of three, and locally produced documentary, In this together.
Join Curator Rilka Oakley to find out how artists have responded to the unprecedented events of 2020 through the mediums of photography and the moving image.
Weekends: 8 May – 20 Jun 10:30am – 3:30pm
Free event. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
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Saturday 8 May 11am
$10 / Members free. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Tactile Collage Workshop with Eddie Abd
Digital Collage Workshop with Eddie Abd
Saturday 5 Jun 10:30am – 12:30pm
Saturday 12 Jun 10:30am – 3:30pm
Join artist Eddie Abd for a collage making workshop inspired by the exhibition This changes everything. Participants will be encouraged to share their unique experiences of the past 12 months while exploring selfrepresentation in intimate and domestic spaces. Using photographs, paper and textiles, the participants will be supported to create their own works using tactile collage making techniques. Bring your own collection of photos in domestic settings to be printed or photocopied.
In this digital collage making workshop inspired by the exhibition, participants will create their own works using a combination of tactile and digital collage making techniques. Using the free online imaging software PIXLAR particiants wil share their unique experiences of the past 12 months, while exploring self-representation in intimate and domestic spaces. Bring your own digital device such as a tablet or laptop and save a collection of photos of yourself or your family in domestic settings for use in this full day workshop.
$40 / Members $35 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
$90 / Members $85 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
EDDIE ABD My Shrine is in My Head, 2020 (detail), courtesy the artist.
CAPTION for video still
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Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Oceans From Here 8 May – 20 Jun
Chris Bennie | Dean Cross | Julia Davis | Emma Hamilton | Honey Long + Prue Stent | Izabela Pluta | Grant Stevens | Kai Wasikowski | John Young Zerunge Oceans From Here explores the aesthetics of water, from mountain glaciers to the open seas, as it ebbs and flows as a global life force. This simple and abundant compound has the power to define planetary geography, etching the landscape and separating the continents. Oceans From Here touches on the transitory qualities of water as it courses through nature and our bodies. The artists selected for this exhibition have responded to water as a vital element, which flows through the land to the seas and fills the atmosphere of our planet. Several of the artists reinforce notions of an Australian identity so closely tied to the oceans that surround this nation island. Others immerse the viewer in a metaphorical ocean that surrounds, defines and moves through us all. Curator, Allison Holland Oceans From Here is an Australian Centre for Photography touring exhibition
KAI WASIKOWSKI Realtree #4, pure pigment print on archival paper, 90 x 115 cm, courtesy the artist
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Curator and Artists Talk Saturday 22 May 11am
Join curator Allison Holland with exhibiting artists from Oceans From Here in a discussion on contemporary photo-media practice and the enduring influence of water on the human psyche and cultural identity. $10 / Members Free Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
GRANT STEVENS The Waterfalls II 2016, archival ink on archival paper, 82.5 x 55 cm, courtesy the artist & Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney
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Exhibition Feature Arthur Boyd Landscape of the Soul Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul focuses on Boyd’s diverse notions of landscape and traces one of the most celebrated careers in the history of Australian art through this lens.
ARTHUR BOYD Hanging rocks with bathers and Mars c.1985, oil on canvas, Bundanon Trust Collection
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Presenting a number of never-before-seen works created by Boyd as a teenager, the exhibition offers the first in depth look at the artist’s powerful early grasp of the landscape as a subject. Bookended by Boyd’s youthful paintings of the Mornington Peninsula in the 1930s and the final phase of his career depicting the Shoalhaven area in southern New South Wales in the mid-1970s, Arthur Boyd: Landscape of the Soul considers not only the topographic landscape, but also the landscape Boyd carried within himself. As a personal friend of Boyd, guest curator Barry Pearce brings a unique insight to his curatorial role, allowing this exhibition to move beyond the traditional academic understanding of Boyd’s career and delve deeper into the rich personal landscape of the acclaimed Australian artist. Boyd’s profound delirium of light and dark, swinging between euphoria and apprehension through diverse notions of landscape over almost half a century, is the focus of this exhibition. The story of Arthur Boyd is one of genius evolving out of childhood innocence to which in some ways, through extraordinary complexity, it returned at the end of a long productive life. His was an artist’s odyssey through landscape both seen and imagined. Emeritus Curator of Australian Art AGNSW, Barry Pearce
The exhibition features work from four distinct periods: Prelude: works of Boyd’s parents and grandparents Genesis: Boyd’s early years from when he was an adolsecent until when he left Australia.
(1930 – 1959)
Between Worlds: Boyd’s works while he was in the UK The Shoalhaven Years: Boyd’s work from 1971 until the end
About Bundanon Trust Bundanon is a unique place for Australian art. Gifted to the Australian people in 1993 by Arthur and Yvonne Boyd the Bundanon property is located on 1,100 hectares of bush and park land overlooking the Shoalhaven River, near Nowra. The company’s mission is to operate the property (which includes the Bundanon Homestead site and the Riversdale site) as a centre for creative arts and education, to support scientific research and to maintain a working farm. Bundanon’s residency program for artists, writers, musicians, dancers, performers and scholars, and its creative arts programs for children, remain an investment in Australia’s future. Bundanon Trust is supported by the Australian Government through the Department of Communication and including the University of Wollongong, the Borland Bequest, Landcare Australia, the Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW and a range of other public and private bodies.
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What’s On Seniors Week: Free Events
The Cultural Centre is hosting a range of free programs for seniors during Seniors Week, including free admission to the Gallery. The program runs from 14 - 24 April.
Snapshot: Community and Katoomba 1950 – 60s 14 – 24 Apr Seminar Room
Visit this free exhibition of photographs recently acquired by the Blue Mountains Library Local Studies Collection. The photographs reveal a rich tapestry of Blue Mountains life ranging from weddings through to club meetings, business conventions, street processions, and work places.
Live at Lunch Time: Alan Plummer
Saturday 17 Apr, 12pm Saturday 24 Apr, 12pm Drop in for lunch to enjoy the Cultural Centre Café’s Seniors Week Specials and hear professional classical guitarist Alan Plummer’s solo recital program; an hour of
Spanish Classical and Bach to accompany your day! Follow up with a complementary afternoon visit of current exhibitions to complete a perfect afternoon of food, music and art!
Honey Bees: Up Close
Thursday 22 Apr, 10:30am Blue Mountains Beekeepers present an introduction to honey bees and the intricate ways they work together to build a thriving community. Learn a little about these remarkable creatures recently named as the most important animals on Earth, discover what it takes to become a beekeeper and pick up tips on how to help bees to thrive in your own environment. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
In Our Nature: natural health hacks for vitality and longevity Friday 23 Apr, 10:30am
Join Naturopath Sonya Byron for an interactive discussion on the dietary, exercise and other lifestyle hacks that promote health, vitality and longevity well into the senior years. Take home a goody bag generously provided by the Blue Mountains Food Co-op! Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
After School Art Lab
Wednesdays 12 May – 9 Jun (5 Weeks), 3:30pm – 5pm Explore, experiment and foster creative curiosity in this after school art program. Participants are encouraged to play with a range of mediums including drawing, painting, collage and printmaking in surprising and stimulating ways. Taking place in our spacious, light-filled workshop room and led by local artists, this program builds creative skills in a fun and engaging environment. $125/ Members $120 Creative Kids Vouchers accepted. Bookings essential on 02 4780 5410. 18
Artist-led School Holiday Program
$30 / Members $25. Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410. Creative Kids Vouchers accepted.
Cosmic Landscapes
Colourful Clackers
Friday 9 Apr 10:30am – 12:30pm Ages 10 – 16
Saturday 10 Apr 10:30am – 12:30pm Ages 7 – 12
Have you ever looked out at the natural landscapes around you and seen that it was bursting with so much magic, colour and mystery? In this workshop with local artist Nick Potts you will learn to interpret the landscape with some creative acrylic painting techniques. Take home your own colourful, cosmic landscape artwork, in this 2 hour art studio experience.
Create a colourful sound sculpture to hang on your wall or in the garden. Kids will be encouraged to tap into their creativity to colour and pattern the sticks for a unique piece of art to take home. Share this fun experience 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 workshop in a fun and relaxed setting.
All materials provided. Wear your old painting clothes, bring a snack and some water.
All materials provided. Wear your old painting clothes, bring a snack and some water.
Kids Print Lab
Saturday 17 Apr 10:30am – 12:30pm Ages 7 – 12 Get experimental with printing! This mixed media workshop with Nicole Law is all about curiosity – there are no mistakes, only happy accidents! Create amazing nature-inspired textures using block printing and mono-printing techniques, then cut and tear them up to make your own fantastic collaged artwork. We’ll print with everyday objects like bubble wrap, feathers, fruit bags, string and leaves, and draw with sticks, cardboard, fingers and more. Get set to have some messy fun on this art-venture! All materials provided. Wear your old painting clothes, bring a snack and some water.
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What’s On Wollemi Artisan Market Saturday 1 May 10am – 3pm
Join us at the Culture Centre for a special Mother’s Day Edition of the Wollemi Artisan Market! Browse a range of beautiful hand crafted gifts from talented Blue Mountains makers, including art prints, jewellery, homewares, beauty products, accessories, and more.
Landscape: Fast and Loose Weekend Workshop with Tim Allen
Flora in the Landscape Watercolour and Gouache Workshop with Tania Mason
Printing the Garden Weekend Workshop with Linda Swinfield
Saturday 24 Apr 10:30am – 3:30pm
Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 May 10:30am – 3pm
Join artist Tim Allen for an expressive and bold approach to the landscape tradition. Students will develop skills to respond creatively to the landscape in an immediate, powerful and spontaneous way. Students will gain an understanding of techniques using ink, watercolour and pastel and how these can be utilized to capture the essence of a landscape.
Have you ever looked at small details within the natural landscape like moss on a branch, an interesting piece of fungi or a dazzling piece of Australian flora and thought you would love to paint it? In this workshop, artist Tania Mason will guide you through a variety of painting techniques using watercolour and gouache to capture these beautiful details. This course will allow a beginner and intermediate student to explore all types of flora and arrange perfectly on a page.
Printing the Garden will centre on traditional monotype printmaking techniques with artist Linda Swinfield, who will assist you to make exciting, experimental and contemporary prints using textures found in our own backyards and the local landscape. Learn how to incorporate upcycled materials, stencilling and traditional painterly applications with printmaking and take home beautiful prints that can be framed or transformed into cards or stationery. This printmaking course is for everyone, including beginner and intermediate print enthusiasts.
Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 Mar 10:30am – 3.30pm
Suitable for all students with some previous painting or drawing experience (equivalent to a one term art class or more). $190 / Members $180 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
$120 / Members $110 Book online via our website or call 4780 5410.
TOP LEFT: TIM ALLEN Puzzle Creek (light that blinds), oil on linen, 122 x 122 cm, courtesy the artist TOP RIGHT: Image courtesy Tania Mason
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$150 / Members $140 Bookings essential via our website or call 02 4780 5410.
Volunteer News
Green Team Volunteer Teresa offers an update on the Cultural Centre’s Edible Rooftop Garden
I have always enjoyed having a vegetable garden, and when the chance came to participate in a project that promotes sustainability, and the great work done by the Cultural Centre, I was really interested. Meeting like minded people was also a drawcard, as was the chance to find out about growing and using bush foods. There are two parts to the project and eventually they will work together. The first part is the native bush foods garden which is spread throughout the rooftop garden. Plants like Warrigal Greens and pigface will be able to be used very soon, other plants like the fingerlime and Kangaroo Apple will take longer to establish. Our initial planting is really about looking at which plants will thrive in this particular micro climate. The second part is the more intensive vegetable and herb garden which will supplement and complement the Gallery Café menu. Already the herbs, especially the mint, parsley, perennial basil and rosemary are used extensively. More recent additions such as sage, chives and annual basil are coming along. We have also included versatile vegetables that the Café regularly uses such as spinach, silverbeet, radishes, lettuce varieties and celery. Our tomatoes, cucumbers and beans are coming on but, as you know, we haven’t had the most ideal weather conditions! Of course, being our first season, we have experimented a bit – not all our crops have been 100% successful but many are going very well. We would love to hear from those home gardeners who could share tips regarding appropriate varieties for planting, seed raising and propagating. If you would like to be involved please contact Public Programs Coodinator, Kartrina Noorbergen: knoorbergen@bmcc.nsw.gov.au
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Gallery Café As the Cultural Centre garden has been thriving over the last few months, the Café has been able to source much of its fresh produce from these garden beds, providing vibrant and fresh dishes straight from the garden to the table. Featuring aromatic herbs, fresh salad greens, vibrant seasonal vegetables as well as native greens. We look forward to bringing you more delectable treats during the upcoming season!
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PESTO PASTA SALAD Serves 1-2
I N G R E DIENTS
300g Dried spaghetti 200g fresh basil 100g fresh parsley 100g fresh rocket 50g fresh warrigal greens Zest and juice of ½ a lemon 1-2 gloves garlic ¼ cup grated parmesan Salt and pepper to taste Drizzle of olive oil All herbs, rocket and warrigal greens have been sourced from the Cultural Centre garden beds! METHOD
Set a small saucepan of water on to boil. Add a dash of salt to water to season pasta, and add pasta once water is boiling. Using a food processor, blend the herbs, rocket, warrigal greens, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice/zest, grated parmesan and salt and pepper until it forms a paste. Once the pasta has cooked, drain and place back in the saucepan. Add as much of the pesto mixture as you like and gently stir until combined. Top with extra grated parmesan and fresh basil to serve.
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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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Orbitkey Inspired by intentional living and contemporary industrial design, Orbitkey is an organisation brand helping people live better lives through clever and innovative organisation solutions. Orbitkey was founded in 2013 with a simple idea to solve the frustration of noisy pockets, cluttered bags and messy keys. Proudly designed in Melbourne, Australia, the Orbitkey product range has since continued to grow – helping people organise more than just their keys. from $32.90 / Members from $29.60
Champ Design ABOVE: Image courtesy Orbitkey OPPOSITE: Image courtesy Champ Design
Champ Design was started by Lauren Steller as a side project to her Architectural practice. Champ encapsulates Laurens keen interest in human play and the life of objects. Champ has designed a jewellery range of lightweight statement earrings made from recycled aeroplane tyre material and are handmade by the Champ team in Melbourne. from $35 / Members from $31.50
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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.
Christine Hyde: Nature’s Resilience Reimagined
Sarah Frost, Emily Lane and Mary Muss: The People We Are
In this exhibition of vivid and contemporary abstract paintings, local artist Christine Hyde explores the recovery and resilience of the fireravaged Blue Mountains bushland. Hyde’s luminous and atmospheric paintings invite the viewer into the world of nature, to contemplate and reimagine the future of our sentinel Blue Mountains habitat.
The People We Are presents a selection of figurative, landscape and portrait works by emerging artists, Emily Lane, Sarah Frost and Mary Muss. Each artist explores the spiritual connection to the figure, the concepts of fixed and forming identity over time and the connections between place, story and memory.
18 Feb – 14 Mar
18 Feb – 14 Mar
Malcolm Nash: Beyond the Horizon 18 Feb – 14 Mar
Beyond the Horizon examines the landscape as well as the world beyond what the artist sees. Nash explores a diverse range of imagery, from the autobiographical, with scenes from the artist’s own home, to landscapes that he has experienced. Featuring ink paintings, animation, cyanotypes, linocut and collagraph prints as well as cross processed photographic prints. CHRISTINE HYDE New Growth 2021, ink on mounted composite art panel, 60 x 80 cm, courtesy the artist
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Rachaeldaisy Dodd: Into the Fold
Coleen English-Thomas and Susan Ruming: Sit, Look, Listen
Into the Fold looks at finding harmony between old and new through the art of quilt-making. Traditional techniques of fabric manipulation are studied and reinterpreted in a modern context. Concentric circles of folded fabric, gathered puffs, stitched details, repetitive geometry and balanced asymmetry all explore, develop, and expand the boundaries, but always with a nod to the roots of the craft.
During one unusually challenging year, Susan and Coleen committed to weekly catch-ups in the Blue Mountains National Park, Glenbrook, creating over 100 preliminary sketches and 30 artworks. In this exhibition, they share with you a glimpse of this time they treasured, appreciating every little moment…sitting, looking, listening, chatting, laughing, drawing, sipping tea, scrambling over rocks, making marks with ink, paint, charcoal and pastel, and supporting each other through 2020.
18 Mar – 11 Apr
Kerrey Williams: 1001: Circled – Full Circle 18 Mar – 11 Apr
This exhibition showcases works from artist Kerrey Williams’ creative journey to create an artwork a day, sometimes more. Kerrey began each work by drawing a circle with a diameter of 12cm in a visual diary. Each circle was then filled with a drawing, pattern or design, taking inspiration from that day or from imagination. After two years, Kerrey had created 830 circle drawings. Then 1000. Then just one more. The 1001st freehand circle drawing was drawn in the 16th book.
15 Apr – 19 May
Laurent Rivory: Ex Machina 15 Apr – 19 May
Laurent Rivory is a local sculptor with a love for old farm machinery and implements. With weathering these often become distorted and rusty and take on a certain abstract “artness”. Presenting a series of welded steel sculptures, Ex Machina is a commentary on the unexpected beauty in decay and an attempt by the sculptor to rescue steel artefacts bound for the smelter.
Judy Thistleton Martin, Robyn Cook and Jeannie McInnes: The Lens Ladies Looking Through a Different Lens 15 Apr – 19 May
The Lens Ladies are also members of the Blue Mountains Photography Group. In this exhibition they explore their creativity beyond traditional photographic approaches. Robyn, Jeannie and Judy seek to extend the underlying principles of “good” photography by incorporating them into a variety of mediums. This has allowed them to bridge the gap between photography and other forms of artistic expression to create something unique as they “look through a different lens”.
LAURENT RIVORY Atlas 2021, found steel, 45 x 45 cm, courtesy the artist
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Braemar House & Gallery Anna and Jennifer Gardiner: Moments Observed Jennifer Murray: Pneumothorax Suite 13 May – 6 Jun
10 Jun – 4 Jul
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.
Pneumothorax Suite presents a series of gouache paintings by Jennifer Murray, created in response to events that took place over 2019 and 2020: the bushfire smoke-filled skies of Sydney and the Blue Mountains, the COVID Pandemic, and the susbequent health impacts experienced by the artist.
Nepean Area Disabilities Organisation: Shifting Perspectives 13 May – 6 Jun
The artist focuses on themes of escapism, fresh air, the joy of being among nature and the detrimental effects of high density urbanisation. The works are diverse with a common evocation of a romantic response to nature, semi-rural life, and Arcadian themes in painting.
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. The exhibition features familiar form, juxtaposed with the complexity of colour and texture which reminds us of the fragility and innovation of the natural world.
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ELIZABETH ROSE Cobalt Copper 2020, stoneware ceramics with lustre glaze, 6 x 12 x 12 cm, courtesy the artist
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 Public Holidays: 10am – 2pm
Your admission ticket allows entry to our permanent exhibition Into the Blue and the Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
Closed Good Friday and Christmas Day The Gallery Café opens 9.30am weekdays. Please access via café entrance. Café closed public holidays
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: Jennifer (Coordinator), Claire G, Claire K, Kelly, Martin, Michelle, Ruby, Sheena, Timmy, Vanessa, Wade Front of House: Connie, Giulia, 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
