PACC 2025 Gallery Exhibitions

2025 PACC | PERFORMANCE ARTS CULTURE CESSNOCK

exhibitions

IN THE PACC

GALLERY

2025 EXHIBITION CALENDAR JAN / FEB

CONFLUENCE KIL.N. IT AND HUNTER REGION ARTISTS

MAR

REACH BEYOND SENIORS FESTIVAL

MAR

DOROTHY COMPTON

APR / MAY

LOVELY THUNDER

JUN / JUL

NICOLE CHAFFEY

JUL / SEP

SUSAN RYMAN

SEP / NOV

TED PRIOR GRUG

DEC

AHEAD OF THE CURVE CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN QUILT ART

All details are correct at the time of printing and are subject to change where necessary and without notice.

The PACC invites proposals for exhibitions, workshops, and public programs to be featured in the Gallery and the Makers Space. We encourage submissions from First Nations peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Deaf, Disabled and LGBTQIA+ practitioners. For more information, please get in touch.

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YOUR VISIT All visitors are welcome to enjoy a FREE self-directed viewing of our exhibtions in the art gallery. Entry is accessible via the Box Office.

Each new exhibition will have an opening event which will present an exclusive first look and a chance to meet with artists, makers and the local community.

STAY CONNECTED There’s always something new and exciting being added to the gallery calendar including gallery openings, artist talks and workshops in the makers space.

For the latest info, check out the WHAT'S ON page at mypacc.com.au, follow our social channels or subscribe to our e-newsletter.

SCAN FOR E-NEWS

PACC GALLERY

ONE YEAR ON Since opening our doors, we have had the privilege of welcoming 2,300 visitors who have explored the diverse range of artworks on display.

Over the course of the year, we hosted six exhibitions, featuring renowned artists like Michael Bell, Liz Williamson, Uncle Les Elvin, The Bawaka Collective and The Creator Incubator. With over 40 artists exhibiting in the space throughout the year, each exhibition brought a different perspective, allowing our community to engage with a wide variety of artistic expressions.

In addition to the exhibitions, we offered several workshops, providing hands-on creative opportunities for participants of all skill levels. These workshops allowed attendees to explore their own artistic abilities while learning from skilled practitioners. We were fortune to have Liz Williamson one of Australia’s greatest textiles practitioners teach a natural dye workshop before her passing in August this year, Vale Liz Williamson.

The connections we’ve made with both artists and visitors, and the role we’ve played in supporting creativity in our region and abroad is something we are proud to be apart of. Thank you for being a part of our journey in this first year! We look forward to an exciting year ahead (with over 60 artists set to exhibit) and look forward to building on these connections.

Joseph Turrin Exhibitions Coordinator 1 - 6: Artefact: Uncle Les Elvin (Oct/Nov 23) | 7 - 9: Liz Williamson Weaving Eucalypts Project & Alessia Sakoff

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(Dec 23/Feb 24) | 10 - 12: Michael Bell’s Parade (Feb/Apr 24) | 13 - 15: PACCd’ OUT (Apr/Jun 24) The Creator Incubator

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SAT 18 JAN - SUN 23 FEB

CONFLUENCE Sassy Park, Girl with a Rock, 2023 Photograph by Karl Schwerdtfeger

CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS FROM KIL.N.IT AND HUNTER REGION ARTISTS

CONFLUENCE brings together the dynamic works of 35 talented ceramic artists, showcasing the diverse and vibrant landscape of contemporary ceramics.

IN THE GALLERY

The exhibition features artists from kil.n.it experimental ceramics studio, based in Sydney, alongside selected artists from the Hunter region.

The convergence of these two groups in CONFLUENCE creates a dynamic dialogue between different artistic approaches and philosophies. It offers viewers an opportunity to experience a broad spectrum of ceramic artistry, celebrating both the individuality of each artist and the shared passion for the medium.

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SAT 1 MAR - SUN 30 MAR

REACH BEYOND NSW SENIORS FESTIVAL

REACH BEYOND is an compelling exhibition celebrating the lives and contributions of twelve prominent seniors from the Cessnock region. This exhibition delves into the rich tapestry of experiences, wisdom, and histories that these individuals bring to our community through a series of striking portraits and intimate interviews.

REACH BEYOND is more than an exhibition; it is a celebration of life and community. It aims to inspire future generations to reach beyond their own experiences to connect with and contribute to their own community.

This beautiful exhibition showcases the works of DOROTHY COMPTON, an artist born in Barmera, S.A, however now lives in an old wooden church in Cessnock, which is also her studio, gallery and teaching space.

Her collection of expressive landscapes, abstracts, and figurative paintings in watercolour, acrylic and oil showcase her love of natural scenery. Dorothy draws her inspiration from the rich history of the landscape.

IN THE GALLERY

Dorothy Compton, Deep Water, OIl on Canvas, 100 x 100 cm

DOROTHY COMPTON

SAT 12 APR - SUN 25 MAY

LOVELY THUNDER FIFFTEEN CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS WHOSE COMMON THREAD IS COLOUR

The title, LOVELY THUNDER hints at the physical beauty of sound, rather than colour. However this exhibition is quite definitely about colour and the effects it has as it passes into the eye and rings in the mind. We might think of it as an album that on each track shifts direction and invites your imagination to run free.

Reg Bryson, Balmoral Dawn, 2014, 76 x 61 cm

IN THE GALLERY

George Adams has selected a group of fifteen contemporary artists whose use of colour often sets up an almost synaesthetic response for the viewer. All the artists use colour as a lever, by which they open up their works.

Ranging through different palettes, subject matter and genre, the common thread here is the power of art to affect our view of the world.

Artists: Ron Adams, Reg Bryson, Chris Capper, Rod Denson, Chris Dolman, Sarah Edmondson, Emily Galicek, Jeremy Kirwan-Ward, Adrian McDonald, Darren McDonald, Adam Norton, Michael Rolfe, Nuha Saad, Helen Smith, Sherna Teperson. Curated by George Adams

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SAT 7 JUNE - SUN 13 JULY

NICOLE CHAFFEY NICOLE CHAFFEY has long drawn an art practice from her deep connection to her Biripi heritage and work with local community in Newcastle and Port Stephens.

Through her own perspectives, artistic innovations and dedication to the creative process Chaffey shares heritage, language and story as part of a growing creative community of Indigenous creators across the country working to ensure that the rich traditions of culture stories remain vibrant and protected, but accessible to all; A place where the old history can be acknowledged, and the inheritance of an essential and dependent relationship with the land can be honoured.

Nicole in her studio.

Photo by Madeline Young.

IN THE GALLERY

Her landscapes focus the formalistic; line, colour, form, balance; whilst investigating an elemental relationship in pigment and wax that mirrors her own personal history.

They explore the connections between landscape and human experience, memory and distance, and the internal and external connections to the way we live, react, interact and connect to our environment.