Visual arts and crafts - News and events

Events | Featured projects | Announcements

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Events

2008 Sculpture in the Park - Northern Territory

24-30 August 2008

This public art event gives the opportunity for artists and community groups to exhibit works outdoors. It is a popular biannual event attracting many local and visiting audiences and is one of the highlights of the Darwin Festival. All selected entries will receive $200 and will be in the running for the $2000 Non-Acquisitive Award and other commendation prizes.

Imagining the garden - Melbourne

6-30 August 2008

An exhibition by Andrew Cook, whose vocabulary of forms merges Persian and French formal gardens with textile and ceramic patterns. Jenny Port Gallery.

Judy Cassab - Landscapes from the collection - Sydney

29 May - 31 August 2008

This exhibition explores the Gallery’s rich collection of landscape paintings, drawings and watercolours by esteemed senior Sydney artist Judy Cassab. It is the latest in the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ ongoing series of focus exhibitions on the Australian art collection and includes fourteen works spanning over four decades, from 1959 to 2003. Art Gallery of NSW.

Shifting Perspectives 2 - Canberra

26 August - 2 September 2008

Shifting Perspectives: Round 2 is a deregulated exhibition showcasing craftily honed artistic statements of an unapologetically sociopolitical nature. This is an open exhibition for artists to have their say about Canberra, expressing a point of view in a three dimensional form. Works are accepted and added throughout the exhibition period. Craft ACT.

Landscape photography of South East Australia - Canberra

14 August - 2 September 2008

An exhibition of black and white landscape photography by David Houlder. Tuggeranong Arts Centre.

SKETCHING - designing a capital: crafting a city 2008 - Canberra

23 August - 6 September 2008

Sketching is a program which includes a line up of events and exhibitions devised by Craft ACT to stimulate unfettered artistic expression and debate. Craft ACT.

Chris Wootton, Bent Narratives - Melbourne

20 August - 6 September 2008

In this exhibition, Wootton brings the traditional crafts of basket weaving and storytelling into the realm of contemporary art through her woven wire sculptures. In this modern era the wire conjures the mesh of the world wide web and electronic media - tools of storytelling in the 21st century. Wootton's sculptures seek to function as a conduit between the stories in the mind of the artist and those of the viewer. Red Gallery.

Marley Dawson and Christopher Hanrahan, ECR. - Sydney

8 August - 6 September 2008

ECR. is a new installation commission by Sydney-based visual artists Marley Dawson and Christopher Hanrahan. Working at the intersection of conceptual art, performance and raceway culture, Dawson and Hanrahan transpose an operable dirt-bike track into the gallery environment of Bay 19 @ CarriageWorks. Replete with dust, fumes and the sounds of the speedway, ECR. mixes situational estrangement with daring machine poetics. CarriageWorks.

Road Works - Mundaring, Western Australia

8 August - 7 September 2008

Road Works is a selection of artworks exploring aspects of Western Australia’s iconic Great Eastern Highway, from the unique to the commonplace. Mundaring Arts Centre.

2008 Waterhouse exhibition - Adelaide

2 August - 7 September 2008

Now in its sixth year, the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize exhibition and the competition that accompanies it promotes excellence in natural history art. $107,500 will go to the winning artists. All 102 artworks by the finalists will be on display at the South Australian Museum and visitors will have the chance to vote for their favourite artwork in the People's Choice Competition. South Australian Museum.

The Biennale of Sydney - Sydney

18 June - 7 September 2008

The Biennale of Sydney has showcased contemporary art from Australia and around the world since 1973 and is one of the largest contemporary visual arts events. Various locations.

Our Mob - Adelaide

2 August - 7 September 2008

For the third consecutive year, Adelaide Festival Centre presents Our Mob, a state-wide celebration of remote and regional South Australian Aboriginal artists. Exhibited during the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival, the exhibition features work by over 90 different South Australian Aboriginal community artists from the state's coastal areas, mid and far north, the Flinders Ranges and the Riverland. For the first time in 2008, the exhibition also includes artwork from artists in Oak Valley and Yalata. Festival Centre Artspace.

Kate Bergin, The Collector - Melbourne

22 August - 13 September 2008

An exhibition of artworks by Kate Bergin, who works in the tradition of still life painting. 'The close up study of objects, materials and surfaces within the spaces of the domestic environment, while seemingly straightforward and objective, can be used as a vehicle for contemplation of experience and identity...' Mahoneys Galleries.

State of the Arts 2008 - Newcastle, New South Wales

27 August - 14 September 2008

State of the Arts 2008 challenges the commonly accepted notion of what an artist is and encourages entrants to experiment with innovative means, any range of subject matter and by including their own comments, thoughts and reactions to provide their own perspective on the social and political state of art in Australia today. New works that respond to the theme State of the Arts 2008 will be eligible to win, for the first time in the 17 year history of the Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize, a Travelling Scholarship worth $1,300, which will be awarded to the overall winner. This artwork will be acquired by the UoN Services Ltd and become part of their permanent art collection. Three Highly Commended Awards worth $500 each and two Framing Awards to the value of $200 each will also be awarded. Watt Space Gallery.

Richard Larter: A retrospective - Canberra

20 June - 14 September 2008

Richard Larter is considered to be one of Australia's most distinguished artists. This exhibition covers Larter's artistic practice from the late 1950s through to the present, giving viewers the opportunity to engage with a spectrum of unique, provocative and dazzling works. A number of lectures, workshops and other events coincide with this exhibit, please see the gallery website for details. National Gallery of Australia.

Julie Millowick, David Callow and Andrew Chapman: Traces of Memory, 40,000 + 40, and The Face of Italy - Canberra

10 July - 14 September 2008

Three concurrent exhibitions of photography in conjunction with Vivid, the National Photography Festival. Julie Millowick's work evokes an exquisite sense of melancholy using assemblies of botanic photograms, digital prints and diary fragments. David Callow writes: 'In 1967 a referendum was held to change the Australian Constitution ... This was to be the 'turning point' for all Australians. 40 years on ... I just wanted to see for myself'. Andrew Chapman shows us the unexpected - images of faces he has found in the patina of walls and roads.  He pays homage to his mentor, John Cato, in this work based on the theory of equivalence. Thursday to Sunday. Watson Art Centre.

Whatever Works - Germaine Woodward - Brisbane

29 August - 19 September 2008

Whatever Works features new works by local artist Germaine Woodward. This solo exhibition will present an installation comprising of a combination of domestic objects, digital photography and painting. Boxcopy.

Cherbourg Time - Young Black and Deadly Art - Brisbane

7 August to 20 September 2008

Ratartat, a collaborative art collective, has been going to Cherbourg since 2003, working with the children of the Cherbourg State School, and its broader community, to make artworks that tell yarns about Cherbourg. The children have: drawn themselves and their place; painted pictures on paper, board and walls; made many sculptures, some that travelled with them to Melbourne and back and told stories that became books through screen printing, mono-printing and collage. The Block, QUT Creative Industries Precinct.

Grace Crowley: Being modern - Perth

14 June - 21 September 2008

Grace Crowley: Being modern is a retrospective exhibition of paintings and drawings by one of Australia's most influential modern artists. This is the first exhibition of Grace Crowley's work since 1975. This touring exhibition includes several recently rediscovered paintings and the largest number of Crowley's abstract paintings ever assembled. Art Gallery of Western Australia

Swell Sculpture Festival - Currumbin, Queensland

12-21 September 2008

The Swell Sculpture Festival creates visual splendour amongst a natural coastal setting as artists create large durable artworks specifically built for the outdoor environment. The sculptures are built for the outdoor environment and utilise materials such as steel, bronze, timber, stone, glass and copper. As a major cultural event, Swell Sculpture attracts 200,000 visitors each year providing weekend activities that include a live music stage, gourmet barbeques and children's workshops. Currumbin Beach.

Robyn Walton, Limbo - Perth

15 August - 21 September 2008

Limbo features the work of artist Robyn Walton who explores the idea of a sleep of reason, or limbo, using an everyman character in the form of a Bonobo chimpanzee. Walton, who has resided in Western Australia since 2003, said she was interested in the parallels and boundaries of the human and animal worlds. 'It is a common human belief that animals other than ourselves lack rational thought,' she said. 'Many theories hold that we are the only species with the prescience of our own mortality; that is with consciousness and the ability to understand our place in the world,' she said. Heathcote Museum and Gallery.

Without Borders - Campbelltown, New South Wales

30 August - 21 September 2008

Without Borders is a signal exhibition which considers the place of 'outsider art' and situates the work of Australian and New Zealand artists in an international, trans-historical context. The exhibition includes key works by artists seminal to the history of outsider art, alongside contemporary and lesser known figures. Without Borders has been jointly produced by the Campbelltown Arts Centre and Monash University Museum of Art. Campbelltown Arts Centre.

Open studio trails of the Scenic Rim 2008 - Scenic Rim, Queensland

20-21 September 2008

See how artists work, find out what goes into creating artwork, ask the artist the question of how or why. Fifteen artists from the Scenic Rim region open their studios for one weekend, giving the opportunity to buy work direct from the studio. Various locations.

Helovanorak - Perth

14 August - 28 Sept 2008

Michelle Ussher's architectural installation Helovanorak explores the relationship between people and their surroundings. PICA's Westend Gallery will be transformed into a cathedral-like space containing a series of passages and rooms, the surfaces of which are tattooed with impressions from the artist's conscious and unconscious memory. Referencing Hector Guimard's and William Morris' Art Nouveau, and featuring ghostlike figures echoing Edvard Munch (along with untold other sources) Ussher's Helovanorak is a community-centred space in which personal and private experiences crossover. PICA.

The Blake Prize for Religious Art - Sydney

5 September - 4 October 2008

An exhibition dedicated to spirituality, religion and cultural diversity from selected work from the 2008 Blake Prize for Religious Art will be on display. The National Art School Gallery.

The Sunshine Coast Art Prize 08 - Caloundra, Queensland

20 August - 5 October 2008

The finalists in the Sunshine Coast Art Prize 08 are a selection of leading and emerging artists all of an exceptionally high standard. They will show their work in an exhibition that features paintings, drawings, printmaking, mixed media and photography. Caloundra Gallery.

Sculpture Walk - Kalbarri, Western Australia

12 September - 11 October 2008

An outdoor exhibition of sculptures, water features, wall hangings and similar artworks. Kalbarri Rainbow Jungle.

Vivid, National Photography Festival - Canberra

11 July - 12 October 2008

Vivid will be held for the first time in Canberra and will celebrate the vital role of photography in Australian life and history. Over fifty national and ACT-based institutions are collaborating to present exhibitions, conferences and a range of events for photographers, photographic historians and everyone with an interest in photography. Over one hundred exhibitions will show at fifty venues. Various locations.

STUDIO: Australian Painters photographed by R. Ian Lloyd - Sydney

23 June 2008 - 12 October 2008

STUDIO is a book, video and exhibition project that has been underway since 2002 and showcases a selection of Australia's most important artists working in their studio environment. The accompanying text reveals how each studio affects and inspires individual creativity. The exhibition consists of 61 large colour photographic studies of the artists in their studios by National Geographic photographer R Ian Lloyd accompanied with text by John McDonald, art critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and former Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia. Picture Gallery, State Library of New South Wales.

The Age 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival - Melbourne

24 September - 12 October 2008

Melbourne Fringe Festival aims to bring the most contemporary, innovative and trend-setting work created and presented by independent artists, to the broader Melbourne audience.

Jasper Knight, Rise of the Machines - Murrurundi, New South Wales

22 August - 12 October 2008

Three time Archibald Prize finalist and twice Wynne Prize finalist, Knight has exhibited extensively within Australia and internationally and has amassed an impressive tally of awards, scholarships and prizes. Michael Reid at Murrurundi.

26th Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award exhibition - Surfers Paradise, Queensland

16 August - 19 October 2008

Selected works will form an exhibition of current ceramic art practice from around the globe. This year's judge, Marea Gazzard, has made a selection of 50 works from over 288 entered, making the inclusion in the final exhibition highly competitive. The award is run by Gold Coast City Art Gallery and the whole of the $10,000 prize will be awarded to a single ceramic artist, announced on August 16, with their work entering the Gallery's collection. Gold Coast City Art Gallery.

Art Sydney - Sydney

24-26 October 2008

Art Sydney is an art fair for collectors and newcomers to the art market, featuring 80 Australian galleries and hundreds of established and emerging artists working in a variety of media. Royal Hall of Industries.

2008 Fletcher Jones Art Prize - Geelong, Victoria

16 August - 26 October 2008

An exhibition of selected entries from around Australia submitted for this $30,000 acquisitive award. Fletcher Jones has generously sponsored the award that assists with the development of the Gallery's contemporary collection. Geelong Gallery.

The Art of Making Sense - Melbourne

1 May - 1 November 2008

The Art of Making Sense is an exhibition of artworks from the Cunningham Dax Collection created by individuals who have experienced mental illness and/or psychological trauma. The exhibition features creative works on paper, paintings, collages, textiles and sculptures. The Cunningham Dax Collection.

Dobell Prize for Drawing 2008 - Sydney

5 September - 9 November 2008

This annual award brings the remarkable drawing talents of Australian artists into the public domain and on exhibition. The Dobell Prize was established in 1993 and has since attracted the very best in contemporary drawing. Art Gallery of NSW.

Countryscapes 2008 - Broken Hill, New South Wales

29 October - 30 November 2008

The Country Energy Art Prize for Landscape Painting was established to encourage and showcase the wealth of artistic talent in country and coastal New South Wales and develop the State's visual arts industry as a whole. Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery.

William Robinson collection - Brisbane

1 January - 31 December 2008

Arguably Australia's greatest living landscape painter, William Robinson's visionary compositions of Queensland's verdant rainforest have changed the way we perceive landscape and reinvigorated Australia's distinguished landscape-painting tradition. A QUT alumnus, the artist's work features throughout 2008 in a series of focus exhibitions drawn from QUT's extensive William Robinson Collection. The genres that have dominated his mature output - the farmyard, landscape, seascape and self-portraiture - are creatively explored. QUT.

Justene Williams - Sydney

6 November 2008 - 1 February 2009 (except 12 November - 21 December 2008)

Sydney-based artist Justene Williams presents a new five-channel video installation exploring her ongoing interest in the history of images, gesture and dance. Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Brett Whiteley, 9 Shades of Whiteley - Regional tour

12 July 2008 - 23 August 2009

Entitled 9 Shades of Whiteley, the exhibition will travel to six regional centres across three states over 18 months. The 'nine shades' include Whiteley's early works, abstracts, Christie & London zoo series, Lavender Bay, portraits, birds & landscapes, sculptures, late works and the Studio. The final section includes photographs of the Brett Whiteley Studio, Whiteley's last home and studio from 1985 to 1992 before it became a public gallery. Various locations.

Featured projects

The James Gleeson Oral History Collection - Canberra

July 2008

The National Gallery of Australia library's James Gleeson Oral History Collection comprises 98 interviews with prominent Australian artists accompanied by 2000 photographs of the works discussed in the interviews, as well as edited transcripts. A number of these interviews are being made available online. The Collection has considerable historic and cultural significance and in February this year was inscribed into the UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) Australian Memory of the World Register. National Gallery of Australia.

Wonderlust New journeys Your collection - Perth

Begins 23 June 2008

Wonderlust is new presentation of the State Art Collection, featuring Indigenous, Australian and International art, craft and design acquired since the gallery's inception in 1895. The aim of the exhibition is to transform the visitor's experience of, and access to, the collection through new journeys of discovery organised around five key themes: Home, Mapping, Presence, Story and Material Gesture. Wonderlust brings together painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper, craft and projections, which range in date from one of the earliest Western Australian works in the collection, Frederick Garling's 1827 views of the Swan River, to recent works from 2006-2007. Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Australian collection - Victoria

Permanent exhibition

Comprising more than 20,000 works, the NGV's collection of Australian art is one of the oldest in the country. Browse highlights from the Australian painting collection by artist name. It now includes the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists (VFLAA). VFLAA purchases significant contemporary visual artworks by Australian artists for the NGV collection and for touring and lending to the network of regional and metropolitan galleries of Victoria. National Gallery of Victoria.

The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art - A major exhibition space opens in Adelaide

In October 2007 the University of South Australia inaugurated its Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art. The building houses the Bob Hawke Prime Minister Centre, Allan Scott auditorium, Kerry Packer Civic Gallery and the University Chancellery. The multi-purpose building designed by John Wardle has given Adelaide a second venue for important exhibitions.

Announcements

Major Photo Exhibition in China for NT photographer

August 2008

Northern Territory photographer Steve Strike has been selected as a guest of the Chinese Peoples to stage a solo photo exhibition at the 2nd China International Photo Festival in the World Heritage Listed city of Chengde, just outside of Beijing. The exhibition, Expression of Colour, Creatures and Culture, is a showcase of 63 Northern Territory images which have been curated by the Director of Araluen Art Gallery, Alice Springs, Mr Tim Rollason. The images were selected from around 100 that have been taken over the past 15 years.

Melbourne artist wins $100,000 sporting art prize

August 2008

Melbourne artist Daniel Crooks has won the inaugural $100,000 Basil Sellers Art Prize for his digital video piece Static no.11 (running man). The piece, a crisp almost life-sized video work, shows champion sprinter Christopher Brown running on a treadmill with his movements seemingly stretched in a poetic taffy-pull. Meticulous computer work undertaken by Crooks has created a rhythmic serpentine-like movement across the large vertical screen. Basil Sellers, initiator and benefactor of the prize said 'I am completely delighted with the outcome. I believe it is an outstanding work of art and am very happy that Daniel has won.'

Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize 2008

August 2008

Michael McWilliams has won the overall prize in the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize 2008 for his painting Bandicoot Playground. McWilliams took home a cheque for $50,000 in Australia's richest competition for natural history art.

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund

July 2008

The Masterpieces for the Nation Fund has assisted the National Gallery of Australia to acquire five significant works of art for the national collection since its inception in 2003. This year donors have the choice of two works: Indigenous Australian artist Doreen Reid Nakamarra's Untitled 2007 and Autumn moon festival (Sharad Purnima), a eighteenth-century Indian pichhavai.

Announcement of Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2008 finalists

10 June 2008

The Melbourne Prize Trust announced ten finalists in the $60 000 Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2008, one of the most valuable prizes of its kind in Australia. The Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2008 recognises and rewards Victoria's abundant excellence and talent in sculpture. The Prize culminates in a free two-week public exhibition of finalists' works at Federation Square between 10 and 24 November 2008. Each of the ten finalists will receive a $2 000 artist fee, to assist with costs associated with displaying their entered work at Federation Square.

The Sunshine Coast Art Prize 08

June 2008

The finalists in the Sunshine Coast Art Prize 08 have been announced. The selection includes an exciting mix of leading and emerging artists including paintings, drawings, printmaking, mixed media and photography.

Australian nudes headline show

June 2008

Wayne Quilliam is one of Australia’s most prominent Aboriginal photographic artists with more than 100 solo and group exhibitions in Australia, Europe, Asia and the USA. With the controversy of photographic nudity sweeping Australia, highly respected galleries and museums throughout Europe will showcase Melbourne-based Indigenous photographer Wayne Quilliam's nude artworks. Quilliam will launch his Lowanna Emergence series at Art Centre Berlin then travel to the Museum of Young Art in Vienna as Australia’s only representative at the Global Art Saloon 2008. Traditional Aboriginal stories and tales have influenced the artist's work to become increasingly intense, mysterious, and probing. Quilliam explains, "To interpret my work is akin to demystify the link between myth and reality, the process of covering and uncovering the human element of nature; to find depth, meaning and perhaps even a revelation that we are the vision of a ‘creator’."

Key online resources

• Arts OutWest
• artsource - The Artists Foundation of WA
• Living Treasures Online Resource
• WEB-ARTS

Collection resources and online publications

• Collections Australia Network
• RedBubble
• Artists of Australia
• Arts Northern Rivers - Visual Arts Network

Institutions and government organisations

• Artbank

Peak bodies and associations

• National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)
• Craft Australia - Australian guilds, societies and associations
• National Exhibition Touring Support Australia
• Viscopy
• Photography Australia Group
• The association of Western Australian art galleries

People

• Brett Whiteley
• Fiona Hall
• Grace Cossington-Smith
• Harold Cazneaux
• Margaret Olley
• Margaret Preston
• Dictionary of Australian Artists Online

Featured websites/projects

• Major visual arts prizes