International Women's Day Art Exhibition

 

Head Teacher Cath Barcan speaks at Braemar Gallery 

Head Teacher of Fine Art at NADC Cath Barcan recently spoke at the annual International Women's Day Art exhibition at Braemar Gallery, Springwood. The official closing event for the exhibition was held on Sunday March 27, and the exhibiting artists and other community members came along to celebrate the success of the show. 

The exhibition was open to all women in the Blue Mountains region, giving a valuable opportunity for new, emerging and established artists to put their work on show.

Cath spoke about the nature and value of creativity, the challenges and rewards of being an artist, and told the assembled crowd a little about NADC, the centre of excellence for arts education training in Western Sydney.

2011 marked the 100th Anniversary of International Women's day.

Me, Myself, and I (the book)

Check out our book!

Our official book launch will be at the opening of the 2011 Me, Myself and I show. Join us in the Trapezium Gallery on Wednesday March 30th at 12 noon. You'll be able to look through hard copies at the opening and then order online, but if you can't wait you can order one right here, right now!

me, myself, and i by Nepean Arts and Design Centre, TAFE NSW - Western Sydney Institute
Make Your Own Book

At the moment your only option is hardcover (softcover coming soon), and you will find it cheaper if you choose to pay in $US rather than $AU. Blurb is astonishingly quick with printing and shipping (judging by the orders we've made so far you will receive your book within 7-10 days) and offers flat rate shipping for up to 3 books. Brilliant!

If you're a current NADC student, don't forget to get your entries in for this year's show - you could be in our next book!

Cath Barcan's group show

click for larger image

Fine Arts Head Teacher Cath Barcan is exhibiting in a group show at Victoria University, Melbourne. Entitled Aura: the haunted  image, the show features a range of works including photo booth snaps, polaroids and the technique of cyanotype through to manipulated video and installation work. 

As well as 5 large photographic portraits, Cath has produced a series of 12 works for the show that utilise the 19th century blue emulsion known as cyanotype.

The exhibition takes as its cue Walter Benjamin's concept of aura: the unique intensity created in visual material through the dynamic relationship between the beholder and the artifact. 

The show attempts to  expose the ghosts hidden within the works: lingering afterlives resonant with memories of past ruptures, both personal and historical.

   Cath Barcan,'F1' from the series 'Blind Faith',

        20cm 25cm, photogram on cyanotype paper, 2011

Aura: the haunted image is on display at Level 17 Artspace, Victoria University from March 15 until April 8, 2011.

Me Myself and I: the entries are coming in......

 From top to bottom: Suzanne McDonald, Tony Fogarty and Robert Musgrave 

with their self-portraits from their Diploma Fine Arts, Year 2 drawing class. 

Entries are starting to flow in for our annual A4 self-portrait show. Pictured above are some drawings, by Diploma of Fine Arts Year 2 drawing students, made in Di Holdsworth's drawing class. The aim of their drawings was to interpret themselves through a mask for the  annual “Me Myself and I” exhibition. 

Each year, the Trapezium Gallery at Nepean College is filled to over-flowing with A4 self-portraits from students and staff of the Nepean Arts and Design Centre. If you are a student or staff member of NADC and  thinking of entering our annual A4 self-portrait show, you have until 9am Monday March 28 to get your work in.

This year's exhibition will open in the Trapezium Gallery on Wednesday March 30th at 12 noon. The exhibition opening will also be an official book launch for Me Myself and I: 101 self portraits. This  stunning  publication features 101 selected works from last year's exhibition reproduced in full colour. The book has been edited by Fine Arts teacher Jo Newton. Watch this space for more details about the launch.

Student Acquisitive Art Prize in The Penrith Press!

http://penrith-press.whereilive.com.au/news/story/artistic-talent-rewarded-at-tafe-nsw-western-sydney-institute/

Catherine O'Donnell's exhibition

an installation shot of Catherine's show at the Albury  Regional Gallery

Fine arts teacher Catherine O'Donnell currently has a solo exhibition of drawings on at the Albury Regional Gallery. The exhibition is the result of a recent artist residency Catherine undertook in Venice.

"Venetian Visions at the Albury Regional Gallery (March 4-April 24) is an exhibition of drawings which explores the architecture, culture and history of the everyday Venice. I drew my inspiration and narrative for these works from the residential areas of Venice as well as the outlying island of Burano which lies in the northern part of the Venetian Lagoon, about 45 minutes from Venice by vaporetto (public ferry)."

Catherine's exhibition was produced as a result of a residency at the Scuola International di Grafica in Venice and at the conclusion of the Albury show, will tour the east coast of Australia. So if you can't make it to Albury, the exhibition may come closer to you!  Below are two of the drawings from the exhibition.

Fondamenta Tron, Venice, 2011 (83 X 83cm),Charcoal on paper

San Trovaso,Venice, 2010 (100 X 66cm, Charcoal on paper

Where are they now?: graduates Mike Moore and Jeff Lees

Mike and Jeff at the opening of HIVitrification at St Vincents Hospital

Mike Moore and Jeff Lees graduated from the Certificate IV in Ceramics at the Nepean Arts and Design Centre in 2007. Since they completed their study with us, they have followed their careers in ceramics with a passion.

After completing further study (Diploma of Ceramics at SWI)  in 2009, Jeff and Mike started running pottery classes for HIV positive people. The classes, called "Positive Pottery" are held at Pine Street Creative Arts Centre in Chippendale, and are supported by a generous grant from the City of Sydney.

On Friday the 26th of November 2010, Jeff and Mike's students held an exhibition called "HIVitrification" at St Vincent's hospital in Paddington.

" It was amazing; a fair amount of their work sold on the night. We even had Margaret Olley come along and purchase a piece from one of our guys." said Mike. 

In 2011 Mike and Jeff will undertake a Graduate Diploma in Visual Arts, Ceramics, at the Australian National University in Canberra. As part of their coursework, they will travel to China on a study tour, including a three week intensive residency in a porcelain factory, which also hosts an artist's residency and experimental design centre.  

Mike say his Mandarin is "lousy".  "Seeing as it is only women who put up translations on the net, I have been told by my travel agent I pronounce words like a girl" he laughed.

Mike and Jeff have numerous plans for networking whilst in China, and are investigating ongoing forms of cultural and professional exchange.

Both ceramic artists gained a great start to their career from their training at Nepean Arts and Design Centre. "I certainly would like to say how much Jeff & I learnt at Nepean; due to the professional staff; whether teaching or ancillary staff, as well as the professional facilities that NADC has to offer", said Mike.

Congratulations to our two graduates for their ongoing professional activities in their field. For more information on studying ceramics at The Nepean Arts and Design Centre, click here.

 Flyer for Mike and Jeff's 2011 Positive Pottery program. Click for larger image.