Visual arts and crafts - News and events

Events | Featured projects | Announcements

See the Call for entries news page for visual arts competitions and prizes.

Events

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.

Danie Mellor, The great creative Golden Age of long ago and here and now - Perth

19 September - 12 October 2008

The great creative Golden Age of long ago and here and now is currently being exhibited in Perth. Visitors are invited to meet the artist Danie Mellor at an evening viewing of his exhibition on 23 September 2008. Holmes à Court Gallery.

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.

Misty Moderns - Australian Tonalists 1915 - 1950 - Adelaide

14 August - 19 October 2008

Misty Moderns is the first major exhibition to tell the story of Australian Tonalism; a movement championed by the influential and often controversial painter Max Meldrum, which reached its peak during the inter-war period. Included in the exhibition are works by Meldrum's best-known pupils Clarice Beckett, Percy Leason and Colin Colahan. Art Gallery of South Australia.

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.

Basil Sellers Art Prize - Melbourne

1 August - 26 October 2008

Shortlisted entries for the Basil Sellers Art Prize, including the winning entry by Daniel Crooks titled Static No.11 (man running) 2008, are on display at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. University of Melbourne.

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.

Bill Nix, The Boys from Cockatoo - Sydney

17 September - 2 November 2008

Australian National Maritime Museum presents paintings by Bill Nix depicting the life and times of Cockatoo Island shipyard between 1950-1980 with a focus on the shipyard workers performing their daily duties: labouring, taking the ferry to work, union meetings and the various characters of Cockatoo. Darling Harbour.

2008 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize - National

25 October - 2 November 2008

The Woollahra Sculpture Prize attracts strong support from artists, collectors and critics and is one of only two national prizes that showcases the quality and diversity of sculptures of smaller dimensions. The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize offers prizes totaling $13,000. Woollahra Council Chambers.

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.

2008 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize exhibition - Canberra

26 September - 16 November 2008

An exhibition of the top entries in Australia's second most lucrative art award, The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, has opened at the National Archives in Canberra. The display showcases over 30 sculptures, paintings and drawings from across the country that feature flora and fauna. National Archives of Australia.

Under the Influence: Art and Music - Brisbane

11 September - 16 November 2008

Throughout history, artists have shown an engagement with interpreting and transmitting the ephemera of sound into the visual. Under the Influence presents the work of a group of contemporary Australian artists for whom engagement with music and sound is integral to their practice. Artists include Tony Albert, Eugene Carchesio, Danius Kesminas and The Histrionics, The Kingpins, Isobel Knowles, Susan Pickering, David Sequeira, Martin Smith, Madonna Staunton, Soda_Jerk with Sam Smith, and Ken Thaiday. QUT Art Museum.

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.

Brighton Jetty Classic Sculptures - Melbourne

23 January - 1 February 2009

The Brighton Jetty Classic Sculptures exhibition was inspired by Brighton Surf Life Saving members after experiencing 'Sculptures by the Sea' at Cottesloe Beach, WA in 2007, the latter event being modelled on the now famous 'Bondi Sculptures by the Sea'. Sculptures large and small for outdoor or indoor display will be made from multimedia including i.e.; wood, wire, glass, metals, stone, clay, plastics and cement. Brighton Jetty.

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

Arts and Disability Research Project Survey - Victoria

September 2008

The State Government through the Office for Disability, Arts Victoria and Department of Human Services has commissioned the Cultural Development Network to undertake a research project examining ways that the participation of people with a disability in the arts, as artists and as audience members, can be increased. The first stage of the research is a survey about the arts experiences of people with a disability and secondly, a series of public forums and focus groups, mapping arts and disability across Victoria.

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

Thorpe's My Pain, My Gain up for auction

25 September 2008

A painting by Australian swimming champion Ian Thorpe will go under the hammer in Hong Kong next month. My Pain, My Gain is estimated to fetch between $9,230 and $12,350 when it is offered to buyers at Sotheby's Sport in Art auction on 5 October. The acrylic on canvas measures two metres by four metre and shows Thorpe cutting through the water with tiny human figures all over him.

Amber Wallis announced as winner of Brett Whiteley travelling art scholarship 2008

17 September 2008

It was announced at the Brett Whiteley Studio in Sydney's Surry Hills, that Amber Wallis from North Fitzroy in Victoria is the winner of the tenth Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship for her work Untitled landscape, 2007, mixed media on paper. One hundred and twenty-seven entries were received from around Australia, 22 of which are included in the finalists' exhibition, on show at the Brett Whiteley Studio until 30 November 2008. Thirty year-old Wallis is studying at the Victorian College of the Arts, (part of the University of Melbourne) for her Masters in Visual Art. She is a part-time practicing artist and has participated in several group and solo exhibitions.

Basil Sellers Art Prize Exhibition - Melbourne

September 2008

Sixteen contemporary artists were selected to compete in the inaugural Basil Sellers Art Prize, a $100,000 award for an artwork on the theme of sport. Chosen by a distinguished panel of judges, artists were shortlisted and the winning entry is a video artwork by Daniel Crooks titled Static No.11 (man running) 2008. Shortlisted entries are on display at The Ian Potter Museum of Art. University of Melbourne.

Virginia Grayson wins the 2008 Dobell Prize for Drawing

September 2008

Virginia Grayson was awarded $20,000 for winning Australia's most respected award for drawing. An image of Grayson in the studio joins a collection of drawings acquired as Dobel Prize winners at the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1993. This year there were 586 drawings entered of which 49 are included in the exhibition. Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Pregnant sculptures, whirling dervishes and the first ever poet take out Australia's top award for art and faith

3 September 2008

The Blake Prize of $20,000 has been awarded to artist David Tucker for a sculptural work that depicts a procession of pregnant women and symbols of Egyptian, Christian and Hindu traditions. From over one thousand entries (more than double the previous year), Tucker's work A Local Girl Comes Home was selected for its simple, positive joy, with judges praising its technical finesse as well as its conceptual resonance across various forms of faith. All winning and short-listed works of art and poetry are on display as part of the Blake Prize Exhibition, from Friday 5th September until Saturday 4th October. National Art School Gallery.

Statue of John McDouall Stuart restored in Darwin

9 September 2008

A statue which survived Cyclone Tracy but was shattered by vandals two years ago has been restored and unveiled in Darwin's Raintree Park. The monument commemorates Scottish explorer John McDouall Stuart, whose journey from the south of Australia to the north became the route for the overland telegraph line and the Stuart Highway. Artist Geoff Todd restored the work, recast in bronze to make it stronger. ABC news.

New director for WA art gallery

29 August 2008

Dr Stefano Carboni, Curator and Administrator of the Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Visiting Professor of Islamic Art, The Bard Graduate Center for the Decorative Arts, New York, has been appointed Director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA).

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.

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