Image: Alex Seton, The Soloist, bronze, 95 x 75 x 70 cm, 2012

Bridging Hope Charity Foundation have issued an open invitation to an audience to attend a panel discussion on Wednesday 8 November at the new TWT creative precinct in St Leonards asking how artists professionalise their art practice? The discussion will explore varying aspects of being a professional artist, with panelists including:

Alex Seton – one of Australia’s most prominent and successful visual artists
Brianna Munting – Acting Co-Executive Director, National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)
Delwyn Everard – Everard Advisory, past Deputy Director and Director of Legal Services Arts Law Centre
Natalia Bradshaw – Art Advisor and Curator to the TWT Creative Precinct and Bridging Hope Charity Foundation, Convenor

Event Details

Admission: Free (RSVP essential to rsvp@bridginghopecf.org.au)

When: Wednesday 8 November 2017, 6pm

Where: Level 2, 63 – 65 Chandos Street, St Leonards

Image: Murat Urlali, Wattles and Flannel, 2015,oil, acrylic, enamel, rhinestones and glitter on wooden panel

The National Art School will unveil the next wave of emerging artists at the 2017 Postgraduate Opening Night (2 November) and exhibition presented from 3 until 12 November 2017. Celebrating and showcasing the achievements of 38 students completing the Master of Fine Art this year, the exhibition features diverse artworks spanning a range of mediums including ceramics, drawing, painting, photomedia, printmaking and sculpture.

This exhibition celebrates the achievements of the School’s Master of Fine Art students and offers a rare opportunity to experience the studios of the most recent cohort. Visitors gain unprecedented access to the artists’ working spaces and are able to invest in artwork from the very best emerging talent.

The Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Don Harwin, will open the exhibition, and comments “I am delighted to be able to open this exhibition of the work of National Art School Masters of Fine Arts Graduates. This ambitious two year program exemplifies the unique approach to visual arts education that takes place at the National Art School. I congratulate the Director Steven Alderton, Head of Studies Simon Cooper, the school’s staff and most of all the graduates themselves on their achievements, dedication and commitment. I look forward to watching their careers progress, and to their contributions to the cultural life of NSW.”

The National Art School will hold a special NAS Nights Event to mark the exhibition on Thursday 2 November on the campus. NAS Nights will feature a curated evening of music by FBi DJs and space-funk band, The Goods, food and pop up bars, inviting guests to explore the artist studios around the National Art School’s iconic campus.

The 2017 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize – Australia’s pre-eminent national award for small sculpture – has been awarded to Melbourne artist Sanné Mestrom. Ms. Mestrom has been awarded the $20,000 acquisitive main prize for her work, Sleeping Muse, a four-kilogram bronze sculpture of the artist’s head that has been knocked around and chewed on by Mestrom’s dog.

675 entries were submitted to the Prize this year, the second highest number of entries in prize history, with Ms. Mestrom’s sculpture being one of a selection of 47 finalists. The judging panel for the 17th annual Prize was comprised of curator, writer, artist, activist and first Indigenous judge for the Prize Djon Mundine, OAM, Executive Director, Artspace, Sydney and Curator, Encounters, Art Basel | Hong Kong Alexie Glass-Kantor, and gallerist and benefactor Roslyn Oxley, OAM.

Image by Steven Siewert depicting artists preparing for the 2017 Underbelly Arts Festival, October 7-8.

Showcasing 21 ambitious new projects, the Festival hosts 116 artists from around Australia for a two-week Lab period onsite at the National Art School as they develop their works for the Festival and culminates in a two-day, no holds barred presentation and celebration of contemporary Australian art in all its forms.

Audiences can explore 21 ambitious new projects spanning installation, performance, dance, sound, visual art, intervention, digital art, radical opera, architecture, activist and participatory practices and everything in between.