SMH: Darlinghurst convenience store owner Peter Jia finds new opportunities as an artist, with the help of NAS alumnus Brodie Cullen

SMH: Darlinghurst convenience store owner Peter Jia finds new opportunities as an artist, with the help of NAS alumnus Brodie Cullen

Article by Lauren Ironmonger

Peter Jia, 62, owned the EzyMart convenience store in Darlinghurst for three years and came to art late in life. He started painting during the pandemic, initially to help his son with school art projects.

NAS Alumnus Brodie Cullen struck up a rapport with Jia and helped organise a series of art shows at the convenience store. Three shows were held within the walls of the EzyMart between November 2020 and April 2021. Jia’s paintings sat alongside those by students and teachers from the school, bumping up against chip packets and nestled among lolly bags.

Read the full article linked below.

#Follow us on Instagram
Introducing the National Art School Short Courses Program from July–December 2025

Whether you’re a beginner, rediscovering a past passion, refining your skills, or considering our Fine Arts degree, the short courses offer a stimulating and rewarding experience for all levels.

Our 2025 program begins in July with Winter School, followed by Term Three, Spring Weekend Workshops in September, and Term Four in October.

Learn more and enrol at the link in bio.
Making Sound is a performance event featuring four artists who make devices that make sound, including Gary Warner, Pia van Gelder, Ben Denham and Sean O’Connell, presented following Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025, Saturday 12 April 5-6pm. 

Gary Warner creates an improvised soundfield with his ‘aleatoric ensemble’ autonomous sound machines, a collection of modified turntables that spin ad-hoc bric-a-brac assemblages.

Pia van Gelder (pictured) amplifies an electronic circuit as it is built in real-time. Under the moniker of “PvG sans PCB,” in these performances, van Gelder works on a breadboard with electronic components and additional found objects to demonstrate the electronic variabilities produced in the material world.

Ben Denham and Sean O’Connell perform together with handmade synthesizer systems that sense and sonify barometric pressure and the flow of electrons through matter.

Purchase your tickets to the symposium at the link in bio.
—
Pia van Gelder, 'sans PCB', 2021, performance, Collings Creative, image courtesy and © the artist
Passionate about collections and the arts? Join us as a Digitisation Volunteer!

The National Art School Archive and Collection team is looking for enthusiastic Digitisation Volunteers to help bring our art collection to life! Your work will play a key role in making art and history more accessible—by photographing and recording our collections, enhancing our museum database, and digitising our extensive archive of photographs. Through your efforts, every stored object and artwork in our collection will have a high-quality, searchable digital record for generations to come.

Apply at the link in bio.
Loading...