Keep up to date with what exhibitions and prizes feature our talented Alumni, Students and Staff.
Bachelor of Fine Art
Master of Fine Art
Doctor of Fine Art
Short Courses
Upcoming Events
Current Month
may, 2022
04may12:45 pm1:45 pmArt Forum: Carol McGregor
Event Details
Wednesday 4 May 12.45–1.45pm Cell Block Theatre Carol McGregor is of Wadawurrung, (Kulin Nation) and Scottish descent and works with multimedia including ephemeral natural fibres, paint, clay, metal, and paper. Her studio-based
more
Event Details
Wednesday 4 May
12.45–1.45pm
Cell Block Theatre
Carol McGregor is of Wadawurrung, (Kulin Nation) and Scottish descent and works with multimedia including ephemeral natural fibres, paint, clay, metal, and paper. Her studio-based research rationale is a desire to unearth and to visually activate histories and memories to further inform an Australian Aboriginal sense of belonging. McGregor’s recent art practice revives the traditional possum skin cloak as an art form and a way to strengthen community and individual identities. With her practice McGregor has worked extensively with Indigenous communities facilitating workshops, teaching and sharing the knowledge and skills around possum skin cloak making. McGregor has exhibited widely and her work features in national and international collections. She is currently the Program Director of the Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art unit at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.
Mcgregor facilitated the making of Myall Creek Gathering Cloak, currently showing as part of the 23rd Biennale of Sydney: rīvus, in the National Art School Gallery. The collaborative work responds to the 180th anniversary of the Myall Creek massacre. Local Ngarrabul, Gamilaraay, Yuwaalaraay, Kooma artists Adele Chapman-Burgess and Avril Chapman continued the completion of the cloak with help from Gamilaraay, Ngarabul, Bidjigal, Dharawal, Ngoongar artist Jolea Isaacs working with community participants, completing the skins and stitching. Carol McGregor says ‘Making a possum skin cloak is an empowering form of un-silencing — asserting a voice and having continued presence in today’s world. The need to tell our own stories is an important form of resistance and this art form celebrates our memories and cultural survival. The Myall Creek Gathering Cloak enables a continuation of cultural practices that connect to living culture whilst holding on to knowledge and inherited memory.’
Image: Carol McGregor, Skin Country (detail), 2018, possum skins, cotton, ochre, charcoal, binder, 290 x 210 cm.
Time
(Wednesday) 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Location
Cell Block Theatre
Forbes St Darlinghurst NSW 2010
05may6:00 pm10:00 pmNAS NEO PRESENTS: THE BIG DRAW
Event Details
NAS NEO THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND THURSDAY 5 MAY 6–10PM The National Art School is
more
Event Details
NAS NEO
THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND
THURSDAY 5 MAY
6–10PM
The National Art School is excited to announce NAS NEO, a new after-hours program that will bring together critical and progressive arts practice across inclusive and diverse platforms.
NAS NEO is a series of weekly multidisciplinary, artist-driven cultural events in collaboration with the next generation of change-makers, innovators and creators.
Every Thursday night.
NAS NEO presents:
THE BIG DRAW
COLLABORATIVE DRAWING
CENTRAL COURTYARD
5-9pm
With the shadow play of the evening as stimulus, take up a pen and contribute to a collaborative drawing with artist facilitators Melinda Hunt and Aaron McGarry. Greek myth has it that representation began with the tracing of a sleeping lover’s shadow on a candlelit wall, and our projected light will cast a panoply of still and moving forms into a night-long drawing.
PANEL DICUSSION
CELL BLOCK THEATRE
6.15-7.15pm
Drawing is direct action; a form of release. It enables us to transmit ideas and feelings, to escape the dictates of written language and dive into a process of visual discovery. Our panel of artists, Luke Thurgate, Skye Wagner, Aude Parichot, will reflect on their experiences of the many processes by which drawings evolve – the rapid and the gradual, the rough and the refined – and will share their delight in the act of drawing.
DJ DIOLA
7.15-8.15pm
Plutonic Lab feat. Natalie Slade and DJ DIOLA
8.15-10.00pm
Plutonic Lab is an award winning Australian music producer, engineer, artist & performer. Sometimes known as Pluto, he is also one half of soul/pop duo “SoundsLike FRANCO” with vocalist Natalie Slade, one third of Canadian/Australian rap group “SHWING” with BBRC members Roshin & Bronze as well as the international tour drummer for multi platinum selling/award winning group Hilltop Hoods.
23rd Biennale of Sydney: RĪVUS
Open after hours from 6-10pm
NAS Gallery
The Drawing Gallery
Chapel
Free, drop-in art workshops
6.30-8.30pm
Handmade Books and Zines with NAS Artist Educator Janet Parker-Smith*
Building 16.1 Printmaking studio
Assembling Cardboard Cities with NAS Artist Educator Monika Scarrabelotti*
Building 25 Drawing Studio (small)
Drawing into Animation with NAS Artist Educator Damian Gascoigne*
Building 25 Drawing Studio (small)
*The Art Workshops are open to everyone of all levels of experience. No bookings required.
Time
(Thursday) 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
11may12:45 pm1:45 pmArt Forum: Jacqueline Bradley
Event Details
The Tender Wednesday 11 May 12.45–1.45pm Cell Block Theatre Jacqueline Bradley is an artist concerned with bodily relationships to the outdoors. She investigates the ways human and non-human systems come together to create
more
Event Details
The Tender
Wednesday 11 May
12.45–1.45pm
Cell Block Theatre
Jacqueline Bradley is an artist concerned with bodily relationships to the outdoors. She investigates the ways human and non-human systems come together to create this imagined site – an outdoors – a construct that is permeable and flimsy but filled with expectations, mythologies, and growth.
Bradley has worked with artists and curators nationally and internationally. Her activities include curation into the European touring exhibition, FuturoTextiles, building the installation work Climbing Equipment at the National Portrait Gallery, exhibition Figure in the Landscape at the Drill Hall Gallery and artist residency with the Rooms Gallery, in Newfoundland, Canada. In early 2019 Jacqueline travelled to exhibit works from her PhD series Am I doing this right? and to develop and construct work on site at the Embassy Gallery in Washington, D.C.
This Art Forum will focus on her most recent project, The Tender, exhibited at the Canberra Glassworks Gallery in early 2022. This new body of work was developed in glass, bronze, timber, textiles and fruit as part of the Artist in Residence program at Canberra Glassworks in 2021-22, supported by the Australia Council for the Arts.
Dr Bradley is a lecturer in the Sculpture department at the National Art School and works between Sydney and Canberra.
Image: Two Fruit (2021) Peaches and kiln formed glass,150cm x 30cm x 30cm. Photographed by Jacqueline Bradley
Time
(Wednesday) 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Location
Cell Block Theatre
Forbes St Darlinghurst NSW 2010
12may6:00 pm10:00 pmNAS NEO PRESENTS: NIDA & AFTRS FILM WEEK
Event Details
NAS NEO THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND THURSDAY 12 MAY 6–10PM The National Art School is excited to announce NAS NEO, a new after-hours program that
more
Event Details
NAS NEO
THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND
THURSDAY 12 MAY
6–10PM
The National Art School is excited to announce NAS NEO, a new after-hours program that will bring together critical and progressive arts practice across inclusive and diverse platforms.
NAS NEO is a series of weekly multidisciplinary, artist-driven cultural events in collaboration with the next generation of change-makers, innovators and creators.
Every Thursday night.
Food and bar open from 5pm.
Artist Talk with Em Ingram-Shute
Cell Block Theatre
6pm
Join us at NAS NEO on Thursday, 12 May, for the unveiling of Em Ingram-Shute’s installation work, No Colour In War, followed by a Q&A with the artist in the Cell Block Theatre from 6pm.
AFTRS Film Screening
Cell Block Theatre
6.30-7.30pm
Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) presents a selection of short films from emerging storytellers and notable alumni across the years including Jane Campion and Gillian Armstrong. Features festival favourites, Oscar nominated and classics from the vault.
NIDA Kabarett 2022
Cell Block Theatre
7.45-8.45pm
A collaboration between students from the NIDA MFA Directors and the NIDA Diploma of Musical Theatre, Kabarett is a contemporary cabaret inspired by the classic entertainments of the Weimar era. Expect the irreverent, the salacious and a touch of lascivious charm. Don’t forget to bring your active wear!
DJ JACK SHIT
Central Courtyard
From 5pm
Jack Shit is the hardest working man in No Business: a free-party programmer whose radical radio show remains unrivalled for breadth and bravery. Jack is a disc-jockey for the ages: spinning songs for kids and animals one day, a Dementia Disco for otherwise-isolated older folks the next.
Mr Shit is an on-air evergreen who hosts the longest-running show on Sydney’s FBi Radio. He was the founding curator and booker of the notorious underground club Tokyo Sing Song. Jack continues to be a highly sought-after DJ at festivals from Golden Plains to Panama, Falls to Dark Mofo.
His collection spans a century of sound – on formats from shellac 10″ 78RPM records, through to vinyl platters, compact discs and digital files. He combines these relics and modern manifestations with state-of-the-art software to weave sonic stories in detailed, site-specific sets of stirring sound.
GERM | MFA1 Drawing Show
Library Stairwell Gallery
The Library Stairwell Gallery presents GERM | MFA1 Drawing show featuring Sean Crowley, Stephanie Eather, Sophie Horne, Joyce, Anna Mould, Declan Moore, Calvin Sawada-Jorgensen and Alison Smith.
Exhibition closes this Friday 13 May 2022.
23rd Biennale of Sydney: RĪVUS
Open after hours from 6-10pm
NAS Gallery
The Drawing Gallery
Chapel
Free, drop-in art workshops
6.30-8.30pm
Sensory Drawing with Aimee Gardyne *
Bldg. DS1
This workshop will explore different modes of expressive drawing from sensation in the studio, from environmental sounds to the drawers’ internal sense. Participants will collaborate on large scale works in the space.
Heatpress Printmaking with Annabelle McEwan*
Bldg. 25
Drop in to this exciting printmaking workshop! Learn the heat pressing method of printing onto fabric and walk away with your very own item designed in celebration of the centenary of The National Art School.
*The Art Workshops are open to everyone of all levels of experience. No bookings required.
NAS NEO:The Future of Now
On Gadigal Land
6–10PM
National Art School
Entry on Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
Time
(Thursday) 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
18may12:45 pm1:45 pmArt Forum: Wendy Sharpe
Event Details
Last 5 Years Wednesday 18 May 12.45–1.45pm Cell Block Theatre Wendy Sharpe is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded artists, who lives and works in Sydney and Paris. She has won a
more
Event Details
Last 5 Years
Wednesday 18 May
12.45–1.45pm
Cell Block Theatre
Wendy Sharpe is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded artists, who lives and works in Sydney and Paris.
She has won a long list of prizes, awards, scholarships and honours, including The Archibald, The Sulman Prize, The Portia Geach Memorial Award (twice), The Adelaide Perry drawing Prize, The Calleen Art Prize and many others. Major commissions include an Olympic pool size Mural at Cook and Philip Park, College St Sydney and a commission by the Australian War Memorial, as an Australian Official Artist (the first woman since WW2). Major projects include working with the Asylum Seeker Centre Sydney, The State Library of NSW, The Australian Opera and Ballet, Circus Oz, burlesque and drag performers. She has also been awarded many international residencies, eg. Antarctica, Egypt, China and Mexico. Sharpe was artist in residence and worked with Hamlin Fistula Foundation in Ethiopia. Sharpe painted the major public mural ‘Women’s Empowerment’ in Newtown and a 40m ephemeral mural at Sydney Jewish museum.
She has been a finalist in the Archibald 8 times and in the Sulman Prize 12 times (more than any other artist).
She has held over 60 solo exhibitions around Australia and internationally.
Image: Wendy Sharpe, Witches with Green Light (detail), 2022, oil on linen, 137 x 122 cm. Photo: John Fotiatis. Finalist in the Sulman Prize, 2022, Art Gallery of NSW.
Time
(Wednesday) 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Location
Cell Block Theatre
Forbes St Darlinghurst NSW 2010
19may6:00 pm10:00 pmNAS NEO PRESENTS: AINSLEY FARRELL AND COASTAL ELITE ALLSTARS
Event Details
NAS NEO THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND THURSDAY 19 MAY 6–10PM The National Art School is excited to announce NAS NEO, a new after-hours program that
more
Event Details
NAS NEO
THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND
THURSDAY 19 MAY
6–10PM
The National Art School is excited to announce NAS NEO, a new after-hours program that will bring together critical and progressive arts practice across inclusive and diverse platforms.
NAS NEO is a series of weekly multidisciplinary, artist-driven cultural events in collaboration with the next generation of change-makers, innovators and creators.
Every Thursday night.
Food and bar open from 5pm.
AINSLEY FARRELL
Cell Block Theatre
6-7pm
Ainsley Farrell is a Sydney-based artist from the United States. Since the release of Dark Hours in May 2017, the EP has received airplay from radio stations all around Australia, including national station Triple J. Her song Dark Hours was featured in the Netflix documentary, ‘Afflicted’, in 2018.
Farrell showcased as an official artist at SXSW in 2018 and Bigsound in 2019. Her single ‘Walls’ was one of FBi Radio’s Most Played Tracks of 2018.
She has supported Australian artists Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly, Middle Kids, Angie McMahon, and New Zealand artists Nadia Reid and Merk.
COASTAL ELITE ALLSTARS
Cell Block Theatre
8-10pm
Performing Yachty Disco, Blue Eyed Soul and Beachside Boogie , Sydney’s stylish indie funk mariners, Coastal Elite, have been dropping a steady stream of classic singles as part of their Music For Marinas project for a few years. From their yacht rock-styled debut classic Shorebreak (From Now On) through to the indie pop of last year’s sublime Runaway, and now we finally get a chance to see them perform live.
Expect to hear original music from the Music For Marinas Project along with a diverse range of classic tracks that have the influenced their sound, ranging from Michael McDonald and Paul Carrack to Paul McCartney to Evelyn “Champagne” King.
23rd Biennale of Sydney: RĪVUS
Open after hours from 6-10pm
NAS Gallery
The Drawing Gallery
Chapel
Free, drop-in art workshops
6.30-8.30pm
Sensory Drawing with Aimee Gardyne *
Bldg. DS1
This workshop will explore different modes of expressive drawing from sensation in the studio, from environmental sounds to the drawers’ internal sense. Participants will collaborate on large scale works in the space.
Heatpress Printmaking with Annabelle McEwan*
Bldg. 25
Drop in to this exciting printmaking workshop! Learn the heat pressing method of printing onto fabric and walk away with your very own item designed in celebration of the centenary of The National Art School.
*The Art Workshops are open to everyone of all levels of experience. No bookings required.
NAS NEO:The Future of Now
On Gadigal Land
6–10PM
National Art School
Entry on Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
Time
(Thursday) 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
26may6:00 pm10:00 pmNAS NEO PRESENTS: I KNOW LEOPARD, JANET LAWRENCE AND 902 BAND
Event Details
NAS NEO THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND THURSDAY 26 MAY 6–10PM The National Art School is excited to announce NAS NEO, a new after-hours program that
more
Event Details
NAS NEO
THE FUTURE OF NOW ON GADIGAL LAND
THURSDAY 26 MAY
6–10PM
The National Art School is excited to announce NAS NEO, a new after-hours program that will bring together critical and progressive arts practice across inclusive and diverse platforms.
NAS NEO is a series of weekly multidisciplinary, artist-driven cultural events in collaboration with the next generation of change-makers, innovators and creators.
Every Thursday night.
Food and bar open from 5pm.
LIVE MUSIC
I KNOW LEOPARD
Cell Block Theatre
On their debut album Love Is A Landmine , Sydney quartet I Know Leopard explode their emotions onto a musical kaleidoscope, finding catharsis in the ethereal bliss of pop’s plastic and proggy past.
Whittled down from over three years’ worth of demos, and written against a back drop of emotion al turmoil, which ultimately finished off with new love blossoming, Love Is A Landmine is an unashamedly romantic record that pulls you deep into the rich gamut of emotions that love will inevitably drag you through.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an album full of love songs,” says lead vocalist and chief songwriter Luke O’Loughlin. “But not always in the classic romantic sense. It reflects on experiences where attempts at love are met with confusion, pain and alienation. The record also explores the importance of learning to love yourself before you can successfully love someone else.”
Along with his bandmates, Rosie Fitzgerald (bass), Jenny McCullagh (violin and keys) and Todd Andrews (guitar), O’Loughlin and co. have created the perfect musical complement to the open and impassioned lyrics. Musically, Love Is A Landmine shines, revelling in glam, dreamy synth pop and the kind of playful, upbeat, 70s soft rock made famous by ELO, 10CC and the Alan Parsons Project. Blended seamlessly within that is the taught new wave energy of Metronomy and a glorious deep dive into vintage analogue synths.
ARTIST TALK
JANET LAWRENCE
Cell Block Theatre
Janet Laurence’s practice is embedded in an aesthetics of care and is keenly aware of our interconnection with the elemental aspects of nature. Her works offer a slow and immersive engagement with natural ecologies through materials as diverse as glass, living plant matter, video, pigments, museum archives, and taxidermy specimens. Laurence’s work is dependent upon decades of research, which helps her construct poetic encounters with biophilia that reflect on science, wonder, and environmental loss. Her practice often incorporates organic qualities of transience, vividly communicating the importance and urgency of caring for threatened environments. Her work is included in numerous institutions, museums, universities and corporate collections as well as within architectural and landscaped public places, worldwide.
Laurence lives and works in Sydney, and was the Australian representative at United Nation’s Artists 4 Paris Climate 2015, in which Laurence brought international attention to the fragility of Australia’s World Heritage Great Barrier Reef through her multi-media work ‘Deep Breathing (Resuscitation for the Reef)’. Through her multi-layered vitrine, which encloses photo and video works, sculptural objects, and natural materials, Laurence comments on the deteriorative effects of climate change on the natural planet and of aquatic life in particular. As Laurence explains, the aim of this work is ‘to create the imaginative possibility for healing our marine world’.
A recipient of both a Rockefeller and Churchill Fellowship, the Alumni Award for the Arts, UNSW, and the John Clover Art Prize, Laurence was a Trustee of the Art Gallery of NSW, on the VAB Board of the Australia Council, and is currently Visiting Fellow at COFA NSW University.
23rd Biennale of Sydney: RĪVUS
Open after hours from 6-10pm
NAS Gallery
The Drawing Gallery
Chapel
Free, drop-in art workshops
6.30-8.30pm
Sensory Drawing with Aimee Gardyne *
Bldg. DS1
This workshop will explore different modes of expressive drawing from sensation in the studio, from environmental sounds to the drawers’ internal sense. Participants will collaborate on large scale works in the space.
Heatpress Printmaking with Annabelle McEwan*
Bldg. 25
Drop in to this exciting printmaking workshop! Learn the heat pressing method of printing onto fabric and walk away with your very own item designed in celebration of the centenary of The National Art School.
*The Art Workshops are open to everyone of all levels of experience. No bookings required.
NAS NEO:The Future of Now
On Gadigal Land
6–10PM
National Art School
Entry on Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
Time
(Thursday) 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
Featured Video
#Follow us on Instagram