Kaye Shumack: Drawing Sydney
Kaye Shumack: Drawing Sydney presents a selection of drawings created over the past five years that explore motifs and traces from the urban landscapes of Sydney’s public spaces and streetscapes, revealing the beauty of the city’s lesser known, ordinary locales as well as key landmarks.
These observations, combined with memory of place, elicit the sense of the artist creating a dialogue between time and place, melding the present and the past. As Sydney continues to be re-shaped by large building and infrastructure projects, urban spaces are increasingly contested.
Shumack’s works are inhabited by the energy or spirit of each location, providing clues to the city’s layered history and the ways in which it has been shaped and loved by its inhabitants. Together, this impressive body of work reminds us not to take our city, or its history, for granted. Kaye Shumack is a much-admired member of the NAS community who very sadly passed away recently.
Melinda Hunt, one of Kaye’s fellow Drawing students in the NAS Master of Fine Art program, paid tribute to her:
“We all admired not just Kaye’s remarkable drawings but also her considered, insightful and affirming contributions to conversations about our work and theoretical concerns. Kaye loved being at NAS, her relationships with fellow students and supervisors and her light-filled studio where she could focus on making work. We’re thankful for the opportunity to know Kaye and pleased that thanks to her generosity, she will be remembered through the Kaye Shumack Sunflower Drawing Prize, an annual award of $3000 for an MFA Drawing graduate whose work contributes to broadening awareness of social issues.”
EXHIBITION DATES: Saturday 6 – Saturday 27 November 2021
EXHIBITION LOCATION: The Drawing Gallery
OPENING HOURS: Monday–Saturday, 11am–5pm
CURATORS: Katrina Cashman and Joe Frost
Last Thursday, we celebrated Maryanne Coutts, Lynda Draper and Amanda Woollard (in absentia) as this year`s recipients of the Award for Distinguished Service.
We share a heartfelt thank you to Maryanne, Lynda, and Amanda for their contribution to our School and students.
May 30
We`re excited to share that NAS Photomedia sessional Dr Jack Ball (@jack__ball_) is the winner of the $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize 2025, the nation’s most generous prize for Australian artists under forty.
Jack`s award winning work `Heavy Grit` is on display in the Ramsay Art Prize 2025 exhibition which opens tomorrow, Saturday 31 May
Jack Ball with `Heavy Grit` in Ramsay Art Prize 2025, Art Gallery of South Australia, (@agsa.adelaide) Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed
May 30
Thank you to outgoing Chair Susan Rothwell AM & welcome to incoming Chair Jeff Weeden. The National Art School would like to express its deepest gratitude to Susan Rothwell AM, whose term as Chair of the NAS Board concludes on 31 May 2025.
At the same time, we are pleased to announce and warmly welcome Jeff Weeden as the incoming Chair of the NAS Board, effective 1 June 2025.
Jeff has served as a Director on the NAS Board since 2019 and currently chairs the Finance and Audit Committee, a position he has held since 2023. For the full announcement, click the link in the bio.
May 29
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) starts today! As part of our NAS NRW program, we invite you to a special screening of the documentary `Kindred` (2023) in our Cell Block Theatre. The directors Gillian Moody and Adrian Russell Wills will be joining us for the screening.
`There`s the black world, and then there`s the white world. I felt walking in each of them was complicated enough. To bring those together would just make it even harder.` (Kindred: Trailer)
`Kindred` is a deeply personal feature-length documentary that delves into the emotional landscape of family, love, and loss through the eyes of two close friends.`
Limited capacity - click the link in bio to reserve your seats.
May 27
Congratulations to NAS alumni/staff Daniel McClellan, Jasmine Mowbray, Erin Murphy, Gemma Smith, Nicola Smith and Michael Snape, finalists of the Sulman Prize 2025.
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Daniel McClellan, ‘Jupiter’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 169.9 x 110.4 cm; Jasmine Mowbray, ‘Under an ancient tortoiseshell sky’, 2025, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 150.2 x 120 cm; Gemma Smith, ‘Windward’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint, linen and canvas on linen, 230.2 x 199.5 cm; Nicola Smith, ‘The beginning of spring’, 2025, oil on linen, 85.4 x 80.2 cm; Michael Snape, ‘Painting with fluid subject’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 91.7 x 92 cm; Image courtesy the artists and Art Gallery NSW (@artgalleryofnsw) and © the artists
May 26
Congratulations to NAS alumni/staff Mitch Cairns, Nick Collerson, Sarah Contos, Brodie Cullen, Daniel Hollier and Ildiko Kovacs, finalists of the Sulman Prize 2025.
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Mitch Cairns, ‘Narrow cast (studio mural)’, 2025, vinyl on primed linen, 91.9 x 76.4 cm; Nick Collerson, ‘Interpretation of remembrance’, 2025, oil on linen, 137.5 x 152.5 cm; Sarah Contos, ‘Hypnagogia zeitgeist’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint on cotton, screenprint on canvas, tufted Australian wool on cotton monk`s cloth, 184.2 x 169.7 cm; Brodie Cullen, Untitled (mattress painting)’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint on found mattress, 200.2 x 155 cm; Daniel Hollier, ‘Summer rains in dragon veins’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint on polyester, 90 x 100 cm; Ildiko Kovacs, ‘Tracing light’, 2025, oil and oil stick on plywood, 240 x 180 cm; Image courtesy the artists and Art Gallery NSW (@artgalleryofnsw) and © the artists
May 26
