Arts & Culture

As machines and forestry workers prepare for the impending removal of the Sugar Pine Walk plantation in Bago State Forest, between Tumut and Tumbarumba, there is an opportunity for creative expression of the despair felt by people with an affinity for the wilderness region. Forestry Corporation of NSW has launched a photo competition to mark the passing of the iconic tourist...

A team of directors from regional art galleries have shortlisted 38 exceptional artists for final judging in the 2020 Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award. The finalists have been selected from a field of 260 entries from around Australia, and the winner will be announced at a streamed launch event on Friday, 24 July. Bega Valley Regional Gallery (BVRG) director Iain Dawson...

For the National Gallery's visitor experience coordinator Tristan Duggan, there is both joy and profound relief in the latest announcements about opening conditions at the NGA. An easing of COVID-19 restrictions means up to 100 visitors can now pre-register for timed ticket entry every 30 minutes. Priority will be given to visitors who pre-book and walk-up entry will be allowed...

The Gallery at Mogo will reopen on Friday, 19 June, with a feature exhibition by artist Judy Lawler. Creative Arts Batemans Bay (CABBI) renovated The Gallery at Mogo during the COVID-19 shutdown and is now ready to stage its first post-bushfire exhibition. The exhibition will be open for eight weeks and includes Judy's early works, such as Beach Fun at...

In November 1910, a building that was to become the central gathering spot in Binalong was erected on an allotment in Wellington Street for £400. It was an aspirational, if not plodding, project for the small NSW town, situated 35km northwest of Yass, which had already seen plenty of colour from prospectors who sniffed for gold in the region's hills...

Eurobodalla Shire Council has approved the development application for the Narooma Arts and Community Centre, which will house three studio/workshop/meeting rooms, a gallery exhibition area with highway frontage, and a catering kitchen. “It’s time for our whole community to break out the champagne,” said Narooma School of Arts president Jenni Bourke. “We know the new building, alongside Narooma Kinema, will...

The NSW South Coast creative community is mourning after the artistic director of the Moruya Red Door Theatre Company, Linda Heald, lost her fight with cancer. Linda was also Eurobodalla Shire Council's chief librarian and an enthusiastic proponent for arts and culture on the South Coast. "Linda exited stage left," said Moruya Red Door Theatre president Anthony Mayne. "She had...

Creative Arts Batemans Bay (CABBI) has launched a community healing project called Postcards from the Fire, in which anyone affected by the past summer's bushfires can submit photos and stories. "Postcards is a virtual gallery on Instagram and Facebook of what the 2019-2020 bushfire season made of our world, as seen through the lenses of our community members," said CABBI...

Nelligen's Robynne Murphy is one of 10 finalists in the Sydney Film Festival's documentary category for her film, Women of Steel, which centres on the 1980-1994 campaign by Wollongong women for jobs in the BHP-AIS steelworks. This is the second time Robynne – who is known locally for her work as a volunteer truck driver for the Nelligen Rural Fire Service...

With COVID-19 restrictions beginning to ease, teachers and students are returning to the classroom. However, the resources discovered during recent digital learning can continue to be utilised in our increasingly online world. The National Library of Australia’s Digital Classroom is one such offering. It is a free, online teaching resource that draws on more than 10 million collection items, representing the largest source of information in the world about Australia and...

Of the three million-odd people travelling through Braidwood each year, how many have wondered just what's behind the impressive stone facade of the local Museum, or popped in to have a look? Not nearly enough, according to the Braidwood & District Historical Society (B&DHS), which plans to change that and last week unveiled an exciting multi-million dollar plan to help...

For years, Goulburn writer Nigel Featherstone has been writing about war and death. His libretto The Weight of Light was about a soldier returning to Crookwell from Afghanistan with PTSD, followed by Bodies of Men, an acclaimed novel set mostly in Egypt during World War II. For The Story of the Oars, his gaze has returned home, to a long-forgotten...

Inside the Bega Valley Regional Gallery (BVRG), an exhibition by Melbourne-based artist Eugenia Lim has been set up and expertly lit, highlighting her playful and witty take on Asian-Australian history. But, of course, no-one can see it due to COVID-19 restrictions so the gallery has organised a virtual tour of Lim's work, hoping to keep regional art alive throughout the pandemic....

To say last week was big for Harry Cleverdon would be an understatement. The singer songwriter from Young turned 18 and won the People’s Voice award in the International Songwriting Competition (ISC). The news came through last Thursday night from an elated Harry, who said he was thankful and overjoyed that his song and music video, Hit Me While I’m Down, came...

Have you ever stared into the chaotic depths of Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles and visualised its abstract lines as LEGO pieces? Karen Vincent and her children certainly have, and they brought their vision to life with a tiny, plastic recreation of the original. The National Gallery of Australia has been encouraging art-lovers to get creative in recent weeks with the Stay Home...

Times have been extremely tough for artists in the Bega Valley with the impact of drought, bushfires and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Unable to keep Bega's Spiral Gallery open during the current restrictions, local artists and craftspeople have opened an online members' shop that features paintings, mixed media, ceramics, baskets, clothing, digital prints, linocut prints, jewellery, felted and knitted textiles and recycled...