Newstead Open Studios

visit a creative community


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We are opening our studio doors!

Newstead Open Studios art trail is a locally inspired and crafted event, held annually since 2015 and based in and around Newstead, in the heart of Victoria’s goldfields region. This, our tenth year, features ten studios with seventeen artists participating. The venues range from a historic brick hall in Sandon, an original timber shop in Newstead, a goods shed and a variety of bespoke sheds and workspaces.

Each year we open our studios to you, our visitors. There will be plenty of beautiful and diverse art for sale at each studio. This is an opportunity to see ceramics, sculptures, paintings, prints and drawings, jewellery, glass and mixed media.

Visiting a studio is special: come inside, look around and ask questions and we’ll happily share a story or two about what we make and why. It’s a feast for the senses.

Pick up a guide to the art trail in Newstead at 12 Lyons Street, or at Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre or download from our website newsteadopenstudios.org.

Newstead Open Studios art trail is part of Arts Open, an event across the Mount Alexander Shire: full details at www.artsopen.com.au.


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Only three sleeps to go …

Only three sleeps before Newstead Open Studios art trail opens! Join us Sat & Sun 20-21, 27-28 March 10am-5pm.

Visit any 6 studios to go into the draw for one of these three prizes – all examples of the work of our wonderful artists. Pick up your prize card at the first studio you visit. Download your guide and map, or pick one up from Castlemaine Visitor Info Centre, Sarah Koschak Ceramics in Newstead, or any of our studios.

For more about each artist, head to our Artists page.


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Opening our doors … 20-21 & 27-28 March 2021

Yes, Newstead Open Studios will be open on 20-21 & 27-28 March 2021 – 10am to 5pm. Hurrah!

After nearly a year of COVID closures, we are delighted to open our doors and invite you into our studios again. We’ll have a COVID-safe plan in place to look after us all.

Twenty one artists in thirteen studios/ venues around Newstead: a record! So lots to see and enjoy as you visit our studios.

As always we have a great map and guide to help you navigate your way around. Download your copy, or pick up a guide at local venues in Newstead, the Visitor Information Centre in Castlemaine and surrounding towns. Each studio will have copies, as will Sarah Koschak Ceramics right in the centre of Newstead (6a Panmure Street) and the Newstead Arts Hub at the old railway station.

Visit 6 studios or more to go into the draw to win a selection of unique handmade pieces from Newstead Open Studio artists. Pick up your entry card at the first studio you visit.

And while you are in and around Newstead, do enjoy a coffee, lunch or a snack at one of our two cafes – DIG Cafe and New Boots Cafe, shop for some homewares at the Mud Room Store or foster your creativity at Art Supplies Castlemaine, or perhaps its a delicious drop from Welshmans Reef Winery.


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Newstead Open Studios art trail 2020 – opens this Saturday

Sat 7, Sun 8 & Mon 9 March (Labour Day weekend) plus Sat 14 & Sun 15 March 2020 – 10am to 5pm

Guides and maps are available at each studio, Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre, in Newstead at Sarah Koschak Ceramics, and lots of other places. Or its on our website too!

Newstead is home to a wealth of artists across a diverse range of media and 17 artists will have work on show at 11 studios and galleries around the town during March.

Over two weekends these artists invite you into their domains to have a look at their working life. Taking the time to visit a studio brings an immediate sense of connection with the maker and their work. It is an opportunity to discuss process and materials, and to see firsthand the environment from which many of the artists draw inspiration. Each studio bears the stamp of the artist and is completely individual.

See prints, drawings, paintings, photographs, jewellery, glass, sculpture and ceramics along with the methods each artist use to create their art. This program is a satellite event to Castlemaine Arts Open, which runs simultaneously.

For the first time this year there is an added incentive to explore Newstead. Visit six studios or more and you will go into a draw to win a selection of handmade pieces from participating artists. The prize will be drawn 29 March. For details on how to enter the draw ask at the first studio you visit.

Artists include:

Chrisanne Blennerhassett (prints) and Angie Izard (ceramics)
Carol de Graauw (silver smithing and ceramics) and Wendy Dwyer (glass)
David Golightly (mixed media)
Chris Johnston (ceramics) and Andrew Kimpton (sculpture)
Ken Killeen (drawing, painting, sculpture) and Diane Thompson (mixed media)
Sarah Koschak (ceramics)
Belinda Prest (drawing) and Trefor Prest (sculpture)
Prue McAdam (painting) and Richard Sullivan (prints)
Roger McKindley (sculpture)
Selina Wilson (painting and mixed media)
Photographers of the Goldfields (Janet Barker, Patrick Kavanagh, Geoff Park and Bronwyn Silver) – at the Newstead Arts Hub

  • Goodbye to the trees: Janet Barker


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Ceramics Studios open – 17-18 August, 10am-4pm

Next weekend – 17-18 August – many ceramics studios across Australia will be open for you to visit. In Central Victoria nine potters have created a wonderful clay trail linking Newstead, Maldon, Talbot, Creswick, Musk Vale and Porcupine Ridge. As well as seeing some beautiful ceramics, if you follow the trail an amazing landscape will open up before you. And of course, there are coffee shops, wineries and other interesting places to visit along the way.

Download our brochure here. It includes a map and details of each studio.

Visiting a maker’s studio is a wonderful opportunity to see firsthand the environment in which they work and gain an insight into what they create. The range of styles, techniques and materials used by the nine potters will intrigue you: on the trail you’ll find potters who make functional pieces, sculptures, and mosaics. Two of our regular Newstead Open Studio potters will be open – Sarah Koschak (Newstead) and Chris Johnston (Place Matters Studio, Green Gully).

Part of The Australian Ceramics Association’s annual nation-wide open studio program.


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Newstead is OPEN this weekend!

A trip to Newstead and surrounds is well worth taking, to visit the talented artists in their open studios for our second weekend of open studios this Saturday and Sunday 30 and 31 March 2019, or by appointment.

The Newstead Open Studios art trail is our offering as part of the Castlemaine State Festival.

Eighteen talented artists stretching over thirteen studios open to the public. Their amazing artwork will be on display and for sale.

Come meet, chat and support these enthusiastic individuals. See them in action and be awed by their talent.

Enjoy a feast of gifted art work lovingly created:  paintings, ceramics, sculptures, photography, fibre art, mosaics, printmaking, mixed media, steel, resin and drawings. This will be an artistic banquet for all those who hunger for a relaxed and inspiring arts experience.

Your pocket guide and map to Newstead Open Studios arts trail 2019, is available throughout Newstead venues, surrounding townships and find us on Facebook, Instagram and at http://www.newsteadopenstudios.org where you can download the pocket guide and/or map.

As well, enjoy a coffee or lunch at Dig, visit the Art Salon’s Eat My Art at the Community Centre and The End of Night at the Arts Hub gallery in our beautiful railway station – its all on the Open Studios art trail map!


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Follow the flags and open our doors!

Red flags and door-sized signs will help you find your way around the Newstead Open Studios Art Trail this March. Pick up your copy of our pocket-sized Art Trail guide (with map) from any one of our studios, from Sarah Koschak’s ceramics studio (6a Panmure Street, Newstead) or from Dig Cafe.

Take time out from the hectic Castlemaine State Festival and visit some of your local open studios, especially if you haven’t ventured into a studio before! You’ll find friendly faces, open doors and a story or two about what we make and why. It really is a feast for the senses. And you might even find someone printing or potting or painting!

This year our Art Trail extends from Green Gully (3 open studios – 6 artists) to Welshman’s Reef (2 studios) and Strangways (for Trefor & Belinda Prest). In Newstead central, there are 6 studios open plus Eat My Art at the Community Centre.

West of the Loddon is Roger McKindley’s ever-changing Antares Art Garden, and The End of Night exhibition by Australian print makers Diana Orinda Burns, Jackie Gorring, Sandra Starkey Simon and Nepalese Artist Ragini Upadhya at the Arts Hub.

Best to leave pooch at home, or at least attached to a lead – most studios will have a shady spot and water.

Newstead Open Studios Art Trail 2019: Studios open 10am-5pm on 23-24 and 30-31 March; some studios are open daily. Or ring your favourite studio and ask for a private viewing.

Download our full colour guide and map from our website: https://newsteadopenstudios.org. Each artist is featured on the website to help you plan your visits.

Share us and like us: Newstead Open Studios is on Facebook and Instagram (newstead_open_studios).

Many thanks to our sponsors: Dig Café; Art Supplies Castlemaine; Maldon & District Community Bank; Newstead Arts Hub.


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Opening the door on Newstead’s studios

Local artists are getting creative in preparation for this year’s Newstead Open Studios on two weekends – 23- 24 & 30-31 March, 10am-5pm. Running as part of the Castlemaine State Festival, it promises a rich creative experience for locals and visitors alike.

Thirteen studios – and 18 contributing artists – will open their doors to friends, neighbours and visitors – a chance to peek inside and experience first-hand the creative process.

Our artists 2019

Studios offer intriguing and intensely private spaces where imagination and intuition take flight, rich with concept, ideas and passion. For an artist, their studio is a place where they are free to express and create, often in solitude. Opening the studio door offers a great opportunity to experience these intensely intimate spaces, laden with deep reflection, and experimental practice. And practically, you get to talk to the artist, understand their ideas and processes as well as buy something special from the hand of the maker.

For me, the first 2018 Newstead Open Studio planning meetings at the Railway Hotel coincided with my arrival to the area. My house was in a state of disorder, my life was packed in boxes; but opening my studio became the priority! I loved the idea of open studios and I really wanted to be a part of it. I’m a printmaker: printmaking is a magical process and opening my studio door last year meant delightful days where I shared this ancient and mysterious craft with visitors.

This year, new artists will be joining our open studios program along with many favorites from previous years: Norm Close and Leone Wallace in Welshmans Reef; Diane Thompson, Ken Killeen, Frances Guerin, Chrisanne Blennerhassett, George Duckett, Chris Johnston in Green Gully; Trefor and Belinda Prest in Strangways; and Mary Caspar, David Golightly, Sarah Koschak, Prue McAdam, Roger McKindley, Kristin Scherlies, Richard Sullivan and Selina Wilson in Newstead.

With 18 contributing artists and 13 studios open, Newstead Open Studios 2019 promises to be a rich and diverse experience for all those seeking to visit artists at work. Look out for our postcards and pocket guide, and follow us for updates on Facebook and on our website https://newsteadopenstudios.org

Chrisanne Blennerhassett


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Newstead Open Studios 2019 – Be part of it!

Planning has started for our Newstead Open Studios as part of the 2019 Castlemaine State Festival.

Would you be interested in opening your studio during the festival as part of Newstead Open Studios (NOS)?

The Newstead Open Studios group has gone from strength to strength over the last 4 years since we started. Have a look at our Newstead Open Studios website – https://newsteadopenstudios.org/ – plus Facebook and Instagram. Together we do a lot of great publicity – and it’s been fun!

Time is short! We need to book our advert by Thurs 6 September.

Interested? Send me a preliminary expression of interest by email – canj@bigpond.com – if you are interested.

 


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Open ‘The Tangram’ – Join us Saturday 10 March 2pm

You’re invited to the opening of The Tangram – exploring the puzzle: an exhibition by the Studio Paradiso printmakers at the Newstead Railway Arts Hub at 2:00pm on Saturday, 10th March. Everyone welcome.

Paul Northam will open the exhibition. Paul was the Managing Curator at the La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre from 2007 to 2016. Currently Paul is engaged with practice led research on The Principle of Emptiness: In Search of a New Abstractionism as a PhD Candidate in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University.

The exhibition –The Tangram – exploring the puzzle – reflects the intrigue of the printmakers with this ancient Chinese ‘reverse puzzle’ of seven geometric pieces forming a square, that, traditionally, are then dissembled, and reassembled to create any number of thousands of possible shapes. This exhibition is an exploration of this puzzle by eight artists – variously exploring the process of dissembling and reassembling, the concept of the puzzle, and how we each see the world. Enjoy the work of printmakers Erika Beilharz, Diana Orinda Burns, Robyn Gibson, Anna Havir, Jane Marriott, Richard Sullivan, Anne-Marie Taylor, and Annette Ward.

The Tangram – exploring the puzzle is on at the Railway Arts Hub, 8a Tivey St, Newstead throughout Arts Open: 10-12 March (Labour Day long weekend) and 17-18 March, 10am to 4pm, and then through to the end of March.