Art Phoenix Opening and Fundraiser
PROGRAM
Art Phoenix Opening and Fundraiser
Friday 3 March 2023
Cell Block Theatre
Friday 3 March 2023
6pm – 8pm
Free admission
Art Phoenix Pop Up
3 – 5 March 2023
Cell Block Theatre
3 – 5 March 2023
11am – 5pm
Free admission
“I’m eleven years clean now, and I attribute these years of functional effort directly to BGF. Art heals. Art connects. Art can teach and art uplifts. BGF Art Phoenix rescued me, and today I’m surrounded by artworks that are testament to that creative fact.”
• BGF Art Phoenix Participant
In partnership with NAS, Bobby Goldsmith Foundation (BGF) presents Art Phoenix. The exhibition is the culmination of a series of drawing workshops led by acclaimed artist Luke Thurgate for members of the BGF community living with HIV.
Join us from 6-8pm on Friday 3 March to celebrate the opening of Art Phoenix, and for your chance to bid and win one of these incredible artworks! 100% of the proceeds of the artwork sales go directly to the artist who created it.
BGF is Australia’s oldest community-based HIV organisation, providing client services and health promotion programs in NSW and SA. Art Phoenix is part of BGF’s Health and Wellbeing program suite and is the longest running program. The workshops focus on helping people with HIV to not only think about their HIV in a different way, but to use art to improve their quality of life. Art Phoenix is the only contemporary art program in Australia that is fully committed to both raising the awareness of HIV through the production and presentation of visual arts projects, while assisting artists living with HIV.
Join our online information session to find out exactly what makes our Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) ideal for emerging artists.
New scholarships will be available to students entering the BFA (Hons), with further details to be shared later this year.
Oct 10
...and that`s a wrap! Congratulations to all our Year 11 Visual Arts students who participated in the 2025 HSC Intensive program, Module 2.
We loved welcoming you to our campus for the last five days of creativity and hard work.
Best wishes for all your future endeavours as budding artists. We can`t wait to see what you create next.
Oct 7
Fondly remembered by a generation of TV viewers as the creator of `Mr Squiggle`, Norman Hetherington OAM (1921-2010) was a student at the National Art School from 1937-1941.
Co-scripted by his wife, Margaret, `Mr Squiggle` ran on the ABC for 40 years becoming the longest running children’s TV program in the world.
Norman Hetherington’s daughter Rebecca Hetherington co-hosted Mr Squiggle and in 2002 helped her father with his first solo exhibition (curated by NAS alumna Toni Warburton) at the Blackheath Area Neighbourhood Centre in the Blue Mountains.
Rebecca donated many of Norman’s works to the NAS Collection, including his poster (designed and painted when he was 17 years old) for the first known film by NAS students. `Love Laughs at Death` screened at NAS from 30 September-5 October 1938, and while the film itself has been lost, a photo and newspaper article about it were kept by actor and NAS alumna Shirley Jones.
The National Museum of Australia in Canberra (@nationalmuseumofaustralia) is showing the free exhibition `Mr Squiggle and Friends` until October 13.
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Norman Hetherington
(1921-2010)
NAS student 1937-1938; 1939-1941
`Mr Squiggle`, etching, 12 x 9.5 cm, Gift of Rebecca Hetherington, 2023, National Art School Collection
Photographer unknown. Students Jim Swan, Shirley Jones and Jack Edwards from the film `Love Laughs at Death`, made and screened at NAS in 1938. This photograph was displayed on the front page of ‘The Labor Daily’, 3 September 1938. Jim Swan was the producer, Shirley Jones an actor, as was Jack Edwards who played the ‘Crazy Scientist’.
`Love Laughs at Death`, 1938 , gouache on cardboard, 63 x 55 cm , Gift of Rebecca Hetherington, 2020, National Art School Collection
`Screws`, 1937, ink on card, 11.5 x 12 cm, Gift of Rebecca Hetherington, 2022, National Art School Collection
`Man in suit`, 1937, gouache on card, 32 x 14.5 cm, Gift of Rebecca Hetherington, 2022, National Art School Collection
`Colour for men`, gouache on paper, 38 x 27 cm, Gift of Rebecca Hetherington, 2022, National Art School Collection
Oct 5
Final weeks to visit The Neighbour at the Gate, closing Saturday 18 October.
Across various mediums and perspectives, The Neighbour at the Gate charts the entangled legacies of exclusion and resilience, drawing vital parallels between the past and present, memory and nationhood.
Learn more about the exhibition and plan your visit at the link in bio.
Please note: the gallery is closed for Labour Day Monday 6 October
Oct 3
Enjoy 20% off a Summer School Short Course with code FLASHSALE20
Don’t miss this exclusive 20% off flash sale on the National Art School Summer School Short Courses (link in bio). Flash Sale starts right now and ends midnight Monday 6 October.*
*Offer begins midday Friday 3 October and ends midnight Monday 6 October. Terms and conditions apply.
Oct 3
We are pleased to share the exciting news that we are introducing a new BFA (Hons) degree at the National Art School in 2026.
The Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) is an intensive one-year program designed for graduates of the BFA who are ready to deepen their studio practice and expand their academic and professional capabilities. This course is ideal for emerging artists who want to refine their practice, build industry connections, and prepare for postgraduate study or professional opportunities in the creative sector.
New scholarships will be available to students entering the BFA (Hons), with further details to be shared later this year. For more information and key dates, visit futurestudents.nas.edu.au (link in bio).
Oct 2
