Art

2019 Young Artists Prize

The theme of the Blacktown City Young Artists Prize for 2019 is Repair & Restore, asking young artists to respond to:

Countries around the world have declared that climate change is a real emergency. As our climate becomes hotter, what positive things can we do to cool our homes, cities and natural environments?

The Blacktown City Art Prize celebrates the creativity of local young people with an environmentally-themed Young Artists Prize.

This section is open to 5 – 15 year olds who live or go to school in Blacktown City.

Entries due Saturday 16 November 2019.

Enter the Young Artists Prize here

KEY DATES

Delivery date for artworks and entry forms

10 am – 5 pm Friday 15 November 2019 and Saturday 16 November 2019

Exhibition dates

30 November 2019 – 25 January 2020

Open Tuesday – Saturday | 10 am – 5 pm

Awards Presentation

11 am Saturday 7 December 2019 at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre

Collection of entries

10 am – 5 pm Friday 31 January 2020 and Saturday 1 February 2020

Photo credit
Getty Images

16/07/2019 0 comment

Art Artist News

Entries open for the 2019 Blacktown City Art Prize!

Entries for the 2019 Blacktown City Art Prize are now open.

Now in its 24th year, the Blacktown City Art Prize is a highly valued art prize, with cash prizes of $20,000 and acquisitive awards. Local, regional and national artists are invited to submit entries in drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and mixed media.

The winner of the Blacktown City Art Prize will receive $15,000. Three supporting prizes will also be awarded:

Aboriginal Artist Prize ($2,000)
Local Artist Prize ($2,000)
People’s Choice Prize ($1,000).

The winners of the Local Artist and Aboriginal Artist prizes will have the opportunity to undertake a 2-month residency in one of Blacktown Arts’ Main Street studios.

‘The addition of a studio residency to the prize pool is an exciting opportunity for artists who want to engage with people or places in Blacktown,’ said Mayor of Blacktown City, Stephen Bali MP. ‘In 2015, Alexandra Byrne created Lucas Road at night (outside my place) during an artist residency at Blacktown Arts’ Main Street studios. This striking work went on to win the Local Artist Prize later that year.’

Mayor of Blacktown City, Stephen Bali MP also stated ‘The Blacktown City Art Prize has continued to be a significant cultural event in Blacktown for over two decades. The event reveals and promotes the extensive breadth and depth of artistic talent national, as well as in the Blacktown area. The Blacktown City Art Prize exemplifies Council’s ongoing commitment to art and culture, and its integral role in the life and community of our city.’

“The pride we get when we see it all come together as one work of art is encouraging; the enjoyment we get as a mob is very uplifting,” said the Bankstown Koori Elders Group representative, who won the Aboriginal Artist Prize in 2016 and the 2018 Blacktown City Art Prize in 2018. “For us to gather together to create art is wonderful and inspirational.”

The Blacktown City Art Prize also celebrates the creativity of local young people through an environmentally-themed Young Artists Prize. This section is open to 5 – 15 year olds who live or go to school in the Blacktown Local Government Area. The theme of the Young Artist Prize for 2019 is Repair & Restore, asking young artists to respond to:
Countries around the world have declared that climate change is a real emergency. As our climate becomes hotter, what positive things can we do to cool our homes, cities and natural environments?

Selected works will be exhibited at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre from Saturday 30 November 2019 – Saturday 25 January 2020.

Entries close at 5 pm on Tuesday 8 October 2019.

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2019 Blacktown City Art Prize Terms and Conditions

Blacktown City Art Prize Frequently Asked Questions

The 2019 Blacktown City Art Prize is proudly supported by Ford Land Company, Westlink M7, Blacktown Workers Club and Blacktown City Council’s Environmental Services.

For all enquiries, call 9839 6558 or email artscentre@blacktown.nsw.gov.au

KEY DATES

Entries close | 5pm on Tuesday 8 October 2019
Announcement of finalists | Monday 28 October 2019
Official opening | 2 pm – 4 pm on Saturday 30 November 2019
Exhibition dates | Saturday 30 November 2019 – Saturday 25 January 2020

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Image: Fozia Zahid, Country Out of the Man, 2018. Winner of the Local Artist Prize in the 2018 Blacktown City Art Prize.

09/07/2019 0 comment

Black pen drawing of a woven woman weaving herself together.

Art

Weaving workshop with Phyllis Stewart and Steven Russell | a reflection

Genevieve Stewart is a Kuku Yalanji woman and is studying a Bachelor in Design Animation at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She undertook an internship with Solid Ground and we invited her to respond to the Weaving workshop with Phyllis Stewart and Steven Russell.

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Blacktown Arts presented a series of weaving workshops hosted by artists Auntie Phyllis Stewart and Uncle Steven Russell alongside the recent exhibition kanalaritja: An Unbroken String. In these workshops, participants delved into a range of techniques to create unique woven objects.

Woven fish nets

Steven and Phyllis are part of the Jungah Weavers artists’ collective based in Gerringong, on the South Coast of NSW. Through their own creative practices, they use different materials and techniques to create functional and sculptural weavings. The have a strong connection with Blacktown Arts and have previously exhibited with Blackown Arts part of the Black Native Project artists 2014-2015.

In response to the weaving workshop, Genevieve responded with her drawing ‘Weaving Woman’.

She states: “After participating in the weaving workshop with Uncle Steven Russell and Aunty Phyllis Stewart, the motif of missing cultural identity reoccurred and also that I have not had the chance to fully explore the cultural practices from my own clan. The woman in the illustration represents that desire to apply the activities that were once banned to my everyday life. Her head signifies that her journey is not fully completed but once it is she will have the memory to pass on.”

Black pen drawing of a woven woman weaving herself together.

‘Weaving Woman’ (2019)

Connect with Genevieve Stewart

Instagram: @genevieve_antoinette

Photo credit
STEVEN RUSSELL & KRISTINE STEWART, Eel Traps, 2015
Lomandra grass, Running postman vine, red hot poker plant, 35 x 30 x 160 cm

05/06/2019 0 comment

Art

Announcement | 2019 Residents

Blacktown Arts will host a selection of local, national and international artists throughout 2019 as part of the Blacktown Arts Residency Program.

Our 2019 artists-in-residence will explore their artistic practice, experiment with new forms and produce a range of new work in and around Blacktown.

Blacktown’s 2019 artists-in-residence are:

Rosalind Stanley – Main Street Studio residency

Rosalind will prepare a body of work for an upcoming group exhibition. The studio space will be used to share ideas with a number of exhibiting artists as well as developing works.

Peter Rush – Main Street Studio residency

Peter will use the studio to draw urban spaces of Blacktown. Through the duration of the residency he will focus on capturing the life, mood and character of the busy and changing spaces around Main Street, Blacktown. Most of the completed works will be sketched on the street using a variety of media.

Kristone Capistrano – Main Street Studio residency

Kristone will use the studios in order to develop a new body of work based on the photographs and research materials gathered from his overseas research trip between July and early October.

Jane Coquillon – Main Street Studio residency

Jane will use the studio to build on her creative abilities. She will create some large-scale works with the aim of creating a cohesive body of work for a solo exhibit in 2020.

Alexander Smith – Main Street Studio residency

Alexander will develop a project of abstract expressionist paintings on canvas and board that utilizes the grid as a means of exploring colour.

Siobhan Colman – Performing Arts Residency

The Performing Arts Residency was awarded to local writer Siobhan Colman for her project Scorpion Tales 2 – short stinging monologues for angry women.

The artist will write a series of new theatre monologues with an emphasis on women’s experiences. She will workshop the monologues with an actor and dramaturge/theatre director Robert Colman.

Pat Parker Residency

The Pat Parker Residency was awarded to Mary Thi Nguyen for her project Nails Salons and hidden workplace hazard.

The artist will create installations complemented with small sculptures, paintings and drawings that respond to the lasting health impacts experienced by Vietnamese women who have migrated around the world employed in nail and beauty salons.

The Blacktown Arts Residency Program is known for supporting artistic development and emerging arts practices. The program offers both space and/or funding throughout the year to selected recipients, providing artists with an opportunity to begin, develop or finish their artistic project.

Photo credit
Peter Rush, Blacktown Laundrette, 2018.

23/05/2019 0 comment

Art

Top things to see during Sydney Design Festival

1 – 18 March 2019

The 2019 Sydney Design Festival gives audiences an opportunity to unpack design in all its forms – to understand and explore the processes, functions and narratives within design enterprise and to be inspired by the exhibitions and people involved in creating our futures.

With over 100 things to see and do, we’ve put together a short list of exhibitions, talks and workshops recommended by the Blacktown Arts team!

EXHIBITIONS

Conflicts of an Urban Age (installation detail), Arup

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String

22 February – 20 April 2019 | The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String celebrates the Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural practice of shell-stringing, and the generations of makers who have sustained the tradition.

Conflicts of an Urban Age
4 – 8 March 2019, 3.30 pm – 5 pm | Arup Sydney

An exhibition that explores the unparalleled social and environmental effects of the rapid urban growth.

Icons: From the MAAS Collection
1 – 10 March 2019, 10 am – 5 pm | Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

See over 70 objects from the MAAS collection and explore what makes a museum object an icon.

Places People Love. Image courtesy of HASSELL Studio

2019 MAAS Indigenous Design Symposium
9 March – 10 March, 10am – 4pm| Sydney Observatory

With a focus on the work of our women, the 2019 MAAS Indigenous Design Symposium provides a practical platform that demonstrates the marriage between Indigenous ways of being, ways of knowing and ways of doing as a pathway to accessing and understanding design principles that have been 60 000 years in the making.

First People – First Design
Thursday 7 March, 6 – 8pm | Winya Indigenous Furniture city centre office

The concepts of Indigenous life are now part of every successful business; it’s just that most people do not see this. Winya draws this unique vision of first Australia into today in a very hands-on lecture program for Sydney Design Festival in its new City Center showroom.

Places People Love: Arts and Built Environment
Sunday 3 March, 12 – 2pm | HASSELL Sydney Studio

How do the best cultural destinations establish a civic identity that reinforces a sense of place and creates a memorable experience?

The Long Table: Weaving Stories. Photo by Jacqui Manning.

The Long Table: Weaving Stories
9 March 2019, 12 pm – 2.30 pm | Parramatta Artist Studios

Join women of The Finishing School Writers Collective and WeAve Parramatta to weave stories and textiles that cross cultural boundaries.

Pattern & Design with Didi’s Tribe
2 March 2019, 11 am – 2 pm | Information and Cultural Exchange, Parramatta

Get hands-on as you learn about some of India’s different traditional designs and paint your own personalised calico bag.

Explore the full program and plan your week around the 2019 Sydney Design Festival:

https://sydneydesign.com.au/2019/whats-on/

2019 Sydney Design Festival
1 – 10 March 2019
https://sydneydesign.com.au/2019/

Photo credit
Places People Love: Arts and Built Environment is a talk as part of Sydney Design Festival. Pictured: Darling Harbour Public Realm by HASSELL.

22/02/2019 0 comment

Art

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String | Documentary

“We, as Aboriginal women, need to keep going with shell stringing, otherwise it could become a dying art” – Aunty Corrie Fullard, Senior Shell Stringer

From 22 February – 20 April 2019 Blacktown Arts will present kanalaritja: An Unbroken String – an exhibition and series of workshops that celebrates the generations of makers who have sustained the uniquely Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural practice of making rare and delicate shell necklaces.

Watch this short film to learn more about the project that culminated in this upcoming touring exhibition from Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Watch the video online at SBS on Demand

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String
22 February – 20 April 2019
The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre
Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm

29/01/2019 0 comment

Art

Blacktown Arts | 2019 Program

When will we see you in Blacktown?

Click on the images below to browse our 2019 program (or download the PDF) and plan your visit today.

Image
Artwork is a rendered version of an artwork by Ashlee Murray.
Design: Kevin Vo

02/01/2019 0 comment

Art

Blak Box – Four Winds | Sydney Festival 2019

9 January – 2 February 2019
6 pm and 7.15 pm
Blacktown Showground Precinct

Sydney Festival returns to Blacktown for the third year!

The voices of elders and future leaders from Blacktown’s Aboriginal community feature in Four Winds, a surround-sound ‘deep listening’ experience curated by Daniel Browning.

Blacktown Arts is partnering again with Urban Theatre Projects in this 21st century campfire experience.

Four Winds is a cross-generational dialogue between 96 year old elder Uncle Wes Marne, Senior Darug Elder Aunty Edna Watson and teens Savarna Russell and Shaun Millwood. Together they engage in an exchange that bridges the past and the future, giving audiences a deeper understanding of contemporary Aboriginality.

Respected songwoman Emma Donovan, in collaboration with violinist Eric Avery, also responds to the stories in song with Darug words gifted by Aunty Edna.

TICKETS & MORE INFORMATION

Sunset Sessions

The Sunset Sessions run every night during the Blak Box – Four Winds season at the Blacktown Showground Precinct.

Listen to live entertainment each night, enjoy refreshments from our donation bar, and grab a bite to eat at the adjacent Groundskeeper Cafe before your session inside Blak Box.

READ MORE

Blak Box – Four Winds
Dates | 9 January – 2 February 2019
Location | Blacktown Showground Precinct
Tickets | $35 + booking fee, $99 for a group of 4
BOOKINGS

Photo credit
Joshua Morris

22/12/2018 0 comment

Art

Make Art at Home | Memories

Artists often make art to celebrate and remember past experiences.

Do you have a special memory you would like to hold onto forever?

Watch this fun video and make your own artwork inspired by Hyun-Hee Lee’s artwork Lost Letters II.

Hyun-Hee Lee is an Australian-Korean artist who is interested in how our memories can change over time.

Hyun-Hee’s artwork is part of the Blacktown City Art Collection.

Hyun-Hee Lee, Lost Letters II (detail), 2011.

Lost Letters II are part of a body of work which explores personal memories of the artist’s home and country, Korea. Hyun-Hee expresses private and public events and rituals in Korean life using a traditional Korean script, written in her own style to write her own stories.

Materials
Cardboard box
Safety Scissors
Glue
Coloured or recycled paper
Coloured pencils or crayons
Blue tack
Any other props or materials that will help recreate your memory.

Artwork credit
Hyun-Hee Lee, Lost Letters II, ink on Hanji paper, each 58 x43 cam, 2011.

19/12/2018 0 comment

Art

Summer in Blacktown | What’s on?

Visit Blacktown throughout summer and experience a range of programs presented by Blacktown Arts.

Blak Box. Photograph by Barton Taylor.

Blak Box – Four Winds
9 January – 2 February 2019
Blacktown Showground Precinct

Sydney Festival returns to Blacktown for the third year running!

The voices of elders and future leaders from Blacktown’s Aboriginal community feature in Four Winds, a surround-sound ‘deep listening’ experience curated by Daniel Browning.

Presented in partnership with Urban Theatre Projects, this 21st century campfire experience is a cross-generational dialogue bridges the past and the future giving audiences a deeper and broader understanding of contemporary Aboriginality.

Cost | $35+ booking fee
Bookings | Sydney Festival website

2018 Blacktown City Art Prize. Photograph by Jennifer Leahy.

2018 Blacktown City Art Prize
1 December 2018 – 25 January 2019
The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre

View all 87 finalist artworks in the 2018 Blacktown City Art Prize!

Now in its 23rd year, the Blacktown City Art Prize is a highly valued art prize, with cash prizes of $20,000 and acquisitive awards. Local, regional and national artists are invited to submit entries in drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and mixed media.

2018 Young Artists Prize
1 December 2018 – 25 January 2019
The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre

The Blacktown City Art Prize celebrates the creativity of local young people through an environmentally-themed Young Artists Prize.

This section is open to 5 – 15 year olds who live or go to school in Blacktown City.

See how the artists responded to this year’s theme!

Ashley Murray b.1987), king marina shells, Wynyard 2016. Image: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String
22 February – 20 April 2019
The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String is an exhibition and series of workshops that celebrates the generations of makers who have sustained the uniquely Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural practice of making rare and delicate shell necklaces.

This exhibition features a variety of shell necklaces created by Tasmanian Aboriginal Ancestors in the 1800s, and acclaimed makers of today, as well as a new wave of stringers who had the opportunity to learn the tradition.

Visit The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday. 10 am – 5 pm.
Phone
02 9839 6558

Photo credit
Fozia Zahid, Country Out of the Man (detail). Winner 2018 Local Artist Prize.

17/12/2018 0 comment

THIS IS HOW WE MAKE ART

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