Newstead Open Studios

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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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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.


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Take a peek behind the curtain!

Newstead Open Studios Art Trail is on again – 10-12th March (Labour Day weekend) and 17-18th March, 10 am – 4 pm.

Have you ever wanted to get up close to a potter’s wheel, a painter’s brushes or the sculptor’s lathe? Have you wanted to see how an etching is made or where a ceramicist gets her clay? As many of you know Newstead has an extraordinary community of artists! Here is your chance to meet some of them, this March in Newstead and surrounds, when 12 local artists will throw open their studio doors and invite people to share their intimate and creative work space.

Download our new Pocket Guide with artist and studio listings plus a map, or check out each open studio and artist at www.newsteadopenstudios.wordpress.com.

Part of Arts Open, Meet the Makers.


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Join us for Arts Open 2018?

Join us for Arts Open 2018? Labour Day Weekend March 11, 12, 13 and March 18 & 19th   2018.

Arts Open presents visual arts through open studios and group exhibitions across Castlemaine, Newstead, Maldon into Chewton and beyond. Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum will be the Arts Open festival headquarters, presenting an exhibition of some of the outstanding work of the region.

For 2018 the Newstead Open Studios group will present an Arts Trail, linking open studios across Newstead and surrounding areas (Green Gully, Sandon, Strangways, Welshmans Reef etc.). Right now we are keen to hear from people who want to open their studio or share someone else’s studio to present their work.

Then we will organise a group advertisement, update our website with all the studios that are part of our Arts Trail, organise an Arts Trail map, and more. We will share the costs across all participating studios and artists. This will be our 4th year of working together to promote Newstead Open Studios.

Please email Chris or Sarah and let us know if you are interested in being part of our Arts Trail – no later than 30 September 2017.

Newstead Open Studios: https://newsteadopenstudios.wordpress.com/

 


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Open Easter Sunday – Place Matters Ceramics

Our Open Studios program is over for now, but Chris is opening her studio on Easter Sunday afternoon – noon to 5pm – in case you missed out on visiting during our ‘opens’. She’ll be starting to throw some new pieces as well as having fired ceramics available for you to enjoy. Want to visit at another time? Contact Chris through her details on our Newstead Open Studios website.

 


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Enjoying our Open Studios

Two days of glorious sunny weather, a relaxed time to enjoy Newstead and surrounds, visiting studios. Time to slow down, have a chat, learn about intriguing techniques, admire beautiful finished work. Here are some snaps from our first weekend of Newstead ‘opens’. Hoping you will come and visit more studios  next weekend – 25-26 March. Many of the works on show aren’t normally available, so snap up something beautiful.

Large spinifex basket with feathers
Sally’s baskets on show
Slips and stencils on stoneware

 


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Opening soon!

During the Castlemaine State Festival eight studios will open their doors providing access to a divine selection of passionately created artworks on the weekends of 18th & 19th and 25th & 26th March 2017. You can download the guide here.

The artists are looking forward to sharing stories of their artistic journeys. They want to inspire visitors with their endeavours and hope guests appreciate the uniqueness of their artwork and support their efforts with a purchase that has an intriguing story attached.

  • Chris Johnston’s medium is clay; sculptural and functional, which reflects her connection to place and the land.
  • Roger McKindley’s Antares Iron Art Garden is where broken and discarded objects morph together to live once again.
  • Brass and copper are manipulated by Trefor Prest to create intricate, organic and mechanical oddities – with a touch of Steampunk.
  • Delicate wheel thrown porcelain pottery is gently created by Sarah Koschak. Her functional pieces are simply elegant.
  • Sally Roadnight explores the landscape through the artistry of various found objects and media including drawing, sewing, printing, sculpture and basketry.
  • Printmaker Richard Sullivan is influenced by his environment which is reflected in the artist books, collage and altered books he creates.
  • Prue McAdam’s special love of abstraction and gestural marks is explored in her paintings. Prue paints using a variety of media.
  • Striving for the highest quality of woodwork of which his hands and mind are capable, Lachlan Park makes ‘things’ from wood.
  • Krissy Scherlies is currently allowing her imagination to take control as she paints colourful, contemporary canvases using paint and sand.
  • Julie Patey utilizes printmaking and mixed media to explore the process of art making through the use of colour, shape and texture to echo her connection to the landscape of central Victoria.
  • Stunning nature photographs of the bush reserve surrounding the Old Walmer School are captured by photographer Bronwyn Silver.

This is only a glimpse of what will be waiting for you. Check us out in Trouble – the brilliant Newstead-based arts guide – on Facebook, or better still come and see! We will welcome you with open arms.