The Smith Family is providing the opportunity for high school students to take part in free workshops with Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australia’s leading First Nations dance company.

Bangarra’s Youth Program Team takes participants through a series of contemporary Indigenous Australian dance workshops, offering high school age students the opportunity to learn from the best and connect with community and culture.

Working together, the workshop participants will draw on their own personal stories and cultural identities to create a dance work for a family-and-friends performance at the end of the workshop series.

Cost: Free
Venue: The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre
Facilitators: Sidney Saltner and Sani Townson
Age: High school students year 8 to year 12
Please bring: comfortable clothing to dance in (trackpants, tights, and loose clothing), water bottle, pen and paper, hand sanitiser, snack food
Dates and times:
Postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Click here to register your interest

Photo credit
Courtesy of Bangarra Dance Theatre

Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 Young Artists Prize!

This year we celebrated the creativity of local young people with an environmentally-themed Young Artists Prize. Young people who live or study in Blacktown City and are aged 3 – 15 years were invited to enter work, with prizes up for grabs for all ages.

Artworks are displayed as part of the Blacktown City Art Prize exhibition from Saturday 28 November 2020 to Thursday 28 January 2021.

The theme for 2020 is Staying strong, as we work to recover from the rough year we have had so far. We asked young artists to make an artwork in response to one of these questions:

1. How can we recover our lost habitats after the destruction of the bushfires?
2. How can we strengthen our community and environment for the future?

2020 has been a year of challenges. In NSW, the bushfires burnt 5.4 million hectares of land and destroyed 25% of suitable koala habitat. This caused ash, debris, eroded soils and burnt matter to be washed into waterways, affecting water quality and causing fish kills.

Since the bushfires, COVID-19 has affected us all, often keeping us indoors. This helps us appreciate the importance of outdoor and natural spaces like local parks and bushland reserves. The pandemic has also sparked waste management issues, and in some cases, additional pollution, as dozens of gloves, masks and hand sanitiser bottles have been found in the ocean.

Faced with challenge after challenge, we need to become resilient and prepare for any future disruptions that may arise.

Winners

Age 3
Diyan
A flower 

Age 4
Tanisha
Keep Social Distancing

Age 5
Shauryya
A burnt tree

Age 6
Cooper
Joey

Age 7
Ekantika
Sustainable lakes to reduce heat

Age 8
Ruby
New life

Age 9
Anna
Mother Nature

Age 10
Elizaveta
A smile in the blue

Age 11
Shanyni
Peace in the flames (Butterfly survivor)

Age 12
Alveera
Covid Saviours

Age 13
Shivani
Our land after the bushfires

Age 14
Anastasia
Hope

Age 15
Jiya
Team work makes the Dream work 

Western Sydney artist Linda Brescia has won the 2020 Blacktown City Art Prize for her portrait of American patron of the arts, Peggy Guggenheim.

The winning piece, an acrylic painting titled Peggy, was painted by Ms Brescia on the day submissions closed, having decided only the day before to enter the prestigious prize. Peggy was chosen from 110 finalists and comes with a prize of $15,000.

Blacktown City Mayor, Tony Bleasdale OAM, congratulated Ms Brescia on her winning artwork, which will be acquired for the Blacktown City Art Collection.

“Now in its 25th year, the Blacktown City Art Prize is a major cultural event in western Sydney,” Mayor Bleasdale said.

“There were a record number of pieces submitted this year – almost 900 – and all the finalists selected were incredibly impressive.

“Congratulations to Linda Brescia for winning the 2020 Blacktown City Art Prize for her striking portrait of the late Peggy Guggenheim, an incredibly important patron of the arts.

Ms Brescia, who has previously been a finalist multiple times in the BCAP, said she was at first speechless to hear she had won, and then elated.

“Winning the Blacktown City Art Prize offers much appreciated encouragement and support,” Ms Brescia said.

While painting with a deadline on the day submissions were due, Ms Brescia, who lives in Abbotsbury, received the news that her good friend and fellow artist Elaine Campaner had passed away.

“Elaine then became part of the portrait. The painting in Peggy’s earring reflects one of Elaine’s artworks – Travelling North (inclement), 2009’,” Ms Brescia said.

“If Peggy knew Elaine I’d like to think she would have supported her.”

The three judges commented that Ms Brescia’s winning artwork was an ‘evocative, fierce portrait of a historical feminist icon’ which was a ‘fragment of a sophisticated practice’.

Highly Commended for the Blacktown City Art Prize is Broken Hill artist Asma D. Mather for the copperplate etching From what the River knows (a contemplation) and Lane Cove artist Debbey Watson for the ceramic artwork Ruminations II.

The winner of the Aboriginal Artist Prize is Little Bay resident Dennis Golding for his piece From home to home, made with velvet, satin fabric, acrylic and sequins.

Mr Golding is a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay man from northwest NSW, who was born and raised in Sydney.

From home to home is a superhero cape, which serves as a self-portrait of Mr Golding, that depicts visual representations of memory, lived experiences, connections to Country and superpower.

“I produce small paintings within the cape from other materials such as acrylics, sequins and satin fabrics that reference my memories of living in urban environments and travelling to and from Country,” Mr Golding said.

“Through the visual motif of the superhero cape, I present an empowering representation of culture, identity and lived experiences in both urban and rural spaces.”

Highly Commended in the Aboriginal Artist Prize is St Peters-based artist Jason Wing for Captain James Crook (Unmasked), a digital print and hand-painted silk screen with UV light-sensitive ink.

The Local Artist Prize has been awarded to Seven Hills resident Graham Cheney for his acrylic on canvas artwork Auntie Rita Wright.

Auntie Rita Wright is an Aboriginal leader, a survivor of the Stolen Generations, and a resident of Shalvey, in Blacktown City.

Mr Cheney also worked with Auntie Rita and students from Kellyville High School, where he teaches, on the prize-winning feature film ‘Barrangal Skin’, which recounts the stories of Auntie Rita and others to help raise awareness of the Stolen Generations.

“I’ve been creating art that focuses on the stories and histories of people from Sydney’s greater west for a long time, so winning the Local Artist Prize is really important to me,” Mr Cheney said.

“My painting is a portrait for Auntie Rita Wright, an Aboriginal leader who has spent her life sharing her own tragic experiences and helping create dialogue between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in western Sydney.”

Highly Commended in the Local Artist Prize is Blacktown resident Jay Wassell for Recycled Memories, using oil paint on 100 Instax Polaroid photos.

The Blacktown City Art Prize exhibition is open at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre until 28 January, 2021.

These pieces are all eligible for the People’s Choice Award, and the public is invited to vote for their favourite work in the exhibition.

Only one vote per person will be counted, and voting can be done at the exhibition or online here

Artworks are available for purchase here

Main prize

Winner

Linda Brescia
Peggy
Acrylic on canvas

Highly commended

Asma D. Mather
From what the River knows (a contemplation)
Copperplate etching

Highly commended

Debbey Watson
Ruminations II
Ceramic

Aboriginal Artist Prize

Winner

Dennis Golding
From home to home
Velvet, satin fabric, acrylic and sequins

Highly commended

Jason Wing
Captain James Crook (Unmasked)
Digital print and hand-painted silk screen with UV light-sensitive ink

Local Artist Prize

Winner

Graham Cheney
Auntie Rita Wright
Acrylic on canvas

Highly commended

Jay Wassell
Recycled memories
Oil paint on Instax Polaroid photo

Online launch

Photo credit
Jennifer Leahy