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

SALA Festival - South Australia

1-17 August 2008

The South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA) showcases South Australia's visual artists; their talent, diversity and creativity. It is also an opportunity for the audience to become involved. There are over 400 exhibitions, open studios, workshops, artist talks and screenings. Venture into the world of Moving Image at the Queens Theatre, or do something totally different by joining a night tour of projection art by cycle. Various locations.

Sidney Nolan, A Poetic Vision - Brisbane

5 June - 17 August 2008

Sidney Nolan is widely acknowledged as Australia's most inventive and influential artist of the twentieth century. A prolific painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Nolan produced some of the most iconic images in Australian art. His unique vision embraced Australian myths and legends as well as the landscape. Drawn chiefly from the collection of Melbourne scientist and art collector Dr Douglas Kagi and the QUT Art Collection, this exhibition highlights important works by the artist from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. The exhibition coincides with the Art Gallery of New South Wales' major Sidney Nolan Retrospective showing at the Queensland Art Gallery. QUT.

Uneasy: Recent South Australian Art - Adelaide

20 June - 17 August 2008

Timothy Morrell, a nationally renowned Brisbane-based visual arts professional with strong links to South Australia produces an exhibition that examines South Australian art practice from the independent viewpoint of a national perspective. Samstag museum.

Hawkesbury Artists & Artisans Studio Tour - New South Wales

16-17 August 2008

This annual showcase weekend of Hawkesbury artists includes exhibitions, sales and demonstrations at selected galleries and studios. There will be several artists and artisans exhibiting at each location and conducting demonstrations. Various locations.

Baseline: Remnant Grasslands of Weereewa/Lake George - Canberra

17 July - 23 August 2008

Sydney textile artist Beth Hatton and Canberra painter Christine James create works inspired by Weereewa/Lake George; identifying with the significance it holds for local indigenous communities and subsequent settler populations. Craft ACT.

Dialogue and Dilemmas in Contemporary Visual Art - Perth

18 & 25 August 2008

Dialogues and Dilemmas is a series of forums that will develop an engaging and provocative dialogue about the relevance of and issues with visual art. The participants are people in the visual arts from across the nation including directors of art institutions, academics, gallery owners, critics and artists. The forum topics are RE-PUBLIC ART? The next public art, exploring the future of public art, and TOO MUCH ART? examining the status of contemporary visual art, the loss of ideas, difference and excess in art. Hyde Park Hotel.

The major figures of 19th Century Australian painting, lecture series - Sydney

5-26 August 2008

A lecture series of the major figures of 19th century Australian painting include Augustus Earle, Joseph Lycett, John Glover, Benjamin Duterrau, Eugene von Guerard, Nicholas Chevalier, Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts. Throughout the history of Australian art there have been individual figures whose work stands out. These eight painters, four pairs from different periods of the 19th century, have been selected to complement and contrast with each other. Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay.

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 socio-political 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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’."

Australian contingent selected for Venice Biennale 2009

20 May 2008

The Australia Council for the Arts has announced that Artist Shaun Gladwell will present his work MADDESTMAXIMVS in the Australian Pavilion in the Giardini. The work is influenced by the Australian desert landscape, the Mad Max movies, as well as his own experiences in outback Australia. Sydney-based curator Felicity Fenner will curate a group exhibition of early career artists at The Ludoteca. The exhibition, entitled Once Removed, will present artists - Vernon Ah Kee, Ken Yonetani, and Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro - through a series of installations unified by themes of displacement, Indigenous and environmental issues.

Woodhead Brings West Australian Artists to China Design Forum

May 2008

As part of the China Design Forum, Australian-based, award-winning, international architecture and design firm, Woodhead, is sponsoring two Western Australian artists' residencies in Shanghai. The exhibition of the work produced opened on 17 May at the Shanghai Hong Miao Gallery in Nanjing Dong Lu. Woodhead, which employs over 400 staff in Asia, has set up the residency to enhance cultural exchange between Australia and China. The artists Laurie Smith and Torsten Knorr will use the five week residency in China to paint landscapes. Bay street media works.

Heath Ledger portrait wins People's Choice

May 2008

This year more than 32,000 people voted in the People's Choice for the Archibald Prize and their favourite portrait by far was Vincent Fantauzzo for his portrait of Heath Ledger called Heath. To date 130,000 people have visited the 2008 Archibald Prize, which is a record attendance for the gallery since Archibald began in 1921. The Ledger family, in particular Sally, Heath Ledger's mother and Vincent Fantauzzo have jointly decided to donate this painting to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. On view at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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

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