Blue Mountains City Art Gallery

Blue Mountains Portraits 2023

4 Feb – 2 Apr

Blue Mountains Portraits is the Cultural Centre’s annual celebration of the local community and its diverse members. The exhibiting artists portray the unique people that make up the cultural fabric of the Blue Mountains and tell the stories behind the person. Over thirty artworks in a broad range of styles and media such as painting, photography, drawing, collage and mixed media are exhibited along with a selection of local students’ work.

A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition

Sunset Portraits

Saturday 18 Mar

5 – 7 pm

A portrait drawing workshop led by artist Sean O’Keeffe. Includes a tour of the Gallery, drinks, antipasto, and live music!

All your drawing materials will be included in this social and creative evening of portraiture.

$66 / $55 InSight Members

Tickets via Eventbrite.

The semblance of things: portraits by Nick Stathopoulos 4 Feb – 2 Apr

The semblance of things is a comprehensive survey of Nick Stathopoulos’ portraits from the past 30 years documenting the evolution of his hyper-real style. The artist delves beneath the painted surface, revealing psychological insights and reaching beyond the superficial likeness of a portrait. As well as the curated selection of portraits, the exhibition includes archival photographs, sketchbooks, and video clips. Subjects include celebrities Isla Fisher, David Stratton, Barry Crocker, Shaun Tan, Grahame Bond (Aunty Jack), Mr. Squiggle, and many more. This is the first time these portraits have been exhibited together, with works ranging in scale, from the blockbuster Archibald finalists to more intimate and personal work.

A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition curated by Rilka Oakley

IMAGE: Nick Stathopoulos (left to right)

Deng (detail) 2016, acrylic & oil glaze on canvas, 138 x 138 cm. Image courtesy Art Gallery of NSW. Jenny (detail) 2015, acrylic & oil glaze on canvas, 138 x 138 cm. Image courtesy the artist. The white shirt – portrait of Tané Andrews (detail) 2021, acrylic & oil on poly-cotton, 153 x 80 cm. Image courtesy Art Gallery of NSW.

Blue Mountains City Art Gallery

ADRIENNE DOIG: IT’S ALL ABOUT ME!

11 Apr – 21 May

Through the lens of self-portraiture, Blue Mountains-based artist Adrienne Doig tackles the everyday with good humour and wit. Her survey exhibition Adrienne Doig: It’s All About Me! draws upon the past three decades of the artist’s practice, which fuses historical references and humour to respond to the everyday and reflect on now.

Using a variety of media, including embroidery, appliqué, sculpture and video, Doig playfully explores intimate aspects of her life, from having a cup of tea to performing mundane housework. Embedded within her practice are layered responses to universal themes that have social, environmental, and political narratives. By manipulating, reworking, and combining imagery from multiple sources, Doig records her own experiences within a larger context. Hence, It’s All About Me!

Artist Talk: Adrienne Doig

Saturday 15 Apr 11 am – 12 pm

Artist Adrienne Doig will lead you through her exhibition speaking about her inspiration, artistic process and what it means to have a touring exhibition.

$5.50 / FREE InSight Members

Tickets via Eventbrite.

Collectors’ Edition #9

14 Apr – 30 Apr

Now in its 9th year, this fundraiser exhibition supports the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’s Collection Acquisition Fund. This year the format is changing to a diptych (2 hinged panels). Completed works will be folded and wax-sealed for the exhibition opening. These original artworks will be for sale through silent auction. Once a bid is placed on an artwork this will allow the wax seal to be broken, revealing the artwork inside. Take this opportunity to start your own collection while supporting the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.

A Blue Mountains Cultural Centre exhibition

Collectors’ Edition #9 is supported by HopeTree Framing

Opening Night

Friday 14 Apr 6 – 8 pm

Come to the opening night to bid on your favourite artist’s work. Be the first bidder and you can break the wax seal and reveal the artwork within.

Closing Auction

Friday 28 Apr 6 – 8 pm

Don’t miss this final opportunity to bid for your chosen artwork and build your own collection.

The night will culminate in an exciting live art auction of the 5 artworks that have attracted the highest bids. Register during the exhibition or on the night to get involved in the fun.

Blue Mountains City Art Gallery

An Inside View Collection works selected by our volunteers

6 May – 18 Jun

An Inside View is an exhibition of works from our permanent Collection chosen by our volunteers, many of whom have been with us since the Collection began. Our volunteers have selected works that they resonate with and have written a short explanation about what the work means to them.

A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition selected by our volunteers

An insider’s view of the Collection

Saturday 6 May 11:30 am – 1 pm

This event is your opportunity to meet the volunteers who helped us select the works in An Inside View.

Discover the secrets behind their choices and learn a more in-depth view of the Cultural Centre. These volunteer chats are free with Gallery ticket and are open to all visitors.

For our InSight Members we have organised a special members only peak behind the scenes with our new Curator Hayley. Hayley will be stationed in the collection room to show you around and answer all your questions about how to manage an art collection.

Reservations will be essential for the members-only collection room tours. Bring a friend with you, each member will have the option to add a plus one upon booking.

FREE with Gallery entry / FREE InSight Members. Bookings for InSight Member tours essential via Eventbrite.

Artexpress

27 May – 16 Jul

ARTEXPRESS brings together a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the artmaking component of the HSC examination in Visual Arts in NSW. The exhibition celebrates student achievement and aims to connect communities through the visual arts. The works provide insights into issues that are important to the young artists, such as cultural and gender identity, mental health, notions of home, social media, globalisation and climate change.

In 2023 we are showcasing the work of 43 students from across NSW including work by students local to our region.

ARTEXPRESS is a joint project between New South Wales Department of Education and New South Wales Education Standards Authority

Ida Jaroš and Bette Misfud: Shifting Screens

24 Jun – 13 Aug

Shifting Screens is a collaboration between Ida Jaroš and Bette Mifsud containing over 60 urban and rural landscapes photographed from moving vehicles. It engages with the fleeting nature of human life, and the navigation of its uncertain terrains.

Ida Jaroš’ Commuter works are shot from Western Sydney trains. Her layered, impalpable and disconcerting urban landscapes contain transparent distortions and reflections. Bette Mifsud’s Breathing Rain is her requiem for the ravages of climate change, and recent personal loss, trauma and grief.

Q&A with Adrienne Doig

Artistic Program Leader, Rilka Oakley, chats with Adrienne Doig about her upcoming exhibition It’s All About Me! and learns how living in a World Heritage National Park influences her work and environmentalism.

Rilka Oakley: Your work is very self-referential. I know you do this playfully, but can you explain how this started? What are the benefits of portraying yourself?

Adrienne Doig: My focus on self-portraiture has evolved over time. Looking back, I realise I was making self-portraits before I was fully aware of that aspect to the work. Of course, most art is autobiographical in nature but I have dialled up the self-obsession! It’s like a gag that gets funnier each time you see it.

Also, through this repetition perhaps the work becomes less about me and more about you. How the viewer feels about the work, identifies and interprets, makes it about them.

Using a wide variety of mediums allows me to have fun and highlight the playful nature of the work. Experiments with ideas and materials show the changing nature of identity and can bring different interpretations.

RO: How does living in a world heritage area and the natural environment influence your work?

AD: The natural environment is very important in my work. I am aware of the great privilege of living and working on spectacular Dharug and Gundungurra country. Experiences in nature are part of my day to day.

My work includes the everyday and routine alongside more unexpected events like bushfires or encounters with wildlife. Quite often native species come into the picture bringing further awareness of environmental issues. Hopefully my imaginings allow viewers to recall their own experiences or feelings of being in nature.

RO: You use a lot of recycled material to make work. Is this a form of environmental activism?

AD: I’m very conscious of using materials carefully not creating waste. Reusing, recycling and repurposing has become a feature of my work.

Happily a chance find can sometimes trigger a whole new interest or way of working. Discarded needlework tapestries became the series Picture Me, where I inserted myself into other people‘s work. More recently a bag of velvet scraps has been transformed into my Self-portrait as a Goddess works.

In the large installation of Everyday Me cut-out figures are made out of fruit boxes that come from Todarellos with the weekly shop.

These small acts of consciousness sometimes combined with imagery that relates to environmental issues can become a form of activism. I make the work using materials that come to hand and from my engagement with my surroundings.