Alumni
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We’ve been growing great artists for over a century. Not by accident, not by chance – by knowledge, rigour, and a proven approach that connects generations of makers on this campus. The artists who trained here didn’t just launch successful careers. They shaped Australian art. They continue to shape it today.
Our educators – many of them alumni themselves – hold decades of combined expertise. They know what it takes to develop from student to practising artist because they’ve made that journey. They understand the technical foundations, the conceptual leaps, the professional realities. This institutional knowledge isn’t abstract. It’s embedded in every studio session, every critique, every conversation that happens in these workshops and corridors.
The evidence is in the work. Our alumni have exhibited widley and are represented in the world’s most significant collections: the Tate in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, MoMA and the Solomon R. Guggenheim in New York, every Australian state gallery and the National Gallery of Australia.
But success isn’t just about major prizes and international exhibitions. It’s the artist who establishes a thriving regional studio practice. The educator who passes on skills to the next generation. The practitioner who spends decades refining their vision, never compromising. All of them are products of what we teach here: technical mastery, conceptual depth, professional resilience.
This is what over a century of institutional knowledge produces. Artists who matter. Artists who last. Artists who shape culture and push Australian art forward. We know how to grow them because we’ve been doing it, successfully, for generations.
Notable Alumni
1920s
Jean Broome, Lyndon Dadswell, Elaine Haxton AM, Frank Hinder, Arthur Murch, Joshua Smith, Barbara Tribe
1930s
Jean Appleton, Max Dupain OBE, AC, James Gleeson, Lorna Nimmo, Rosaleen Norton, Dorothy Thornhill
1940s
Tom Bass, Charles Blackman, John Coburn AO, Kevin Connor, Mollie Douglas, Bert Flugelman AM, Norman Hetherington OAM, Robert Klippel AO, Margaret Olley AC, Elizabeth Rooney, Peter Rushforth AM, Tony Tuckson, Guy Warren AM
1950s
Yvonne Audette, Les Blakebrough AM, Vivienne Binns, Ted Binder, Elisabeth Cummings OAM, Ken Done, Margaret Fink, Michael Johnson, Colin Lanceley, Keith Looby, John Olsen AO OBE, Roslyn Oxley OAM, Robert Owen, Mike Parr, Ann Thomson, Brett Whiteley, Wendy Whiteley OAM, William Wright AM
1960s
Bill Brown, Vivienne Binns OAM, Geoffrey Bardon AM, Richard Goodwin, Ian Howard, Colin Lanceley AO, Janet Mansfield OAM, Alan Oldfield, Peter Powditch AM, Bill Samuels, Ron Robertson-Swann OAM, Martin Sharp, Garry Shead, Tim Storrier AM, Ken Unsworth AM
1970s
Dr Philip Batty, Cressida Campbell, Merilyn Fairskye, Fiona Hall AO, Paul Hopmeier, Jan King, Marie McMahon, Reg Mombassa/Chris O’Doherty, Susan Norrie OAM, Julie Rrap, Michael Snape, Thancoupie AO, Anne Zalhalka
1980s
Fiona Foley, Adrienne Gaha, Peter Godwin, Ildiko Kovacs, Tim Maguire, Idris Murphy, Joan Ross, Louise Tuckwell
1990s
Lucy Culliton, Karla Dickens, Alan Jones, Fiona Lowry, Adam Rish, Luke Sciberras, Craig Waddell
2000s
Mitch Cairns, Jumaadi, Juz Kitson, Alesandro Ljubicic, Guy Maestri, Leslie Rice, Coen Young, Shonah Trescott, Justine Varga
2010 – 2015
Sophie Cape, Todd Fuller, Mason Kimber, Michael McIntyre, Lucy O’Doherty, Catherine O’Donnell, Georgia Saxelby, Elyssa Sykes-Smith
2015 – 2020
Eliza Gosse, Kirtika Kain, Dani Mackenzie, Ebony Russell, Natasha Walsh
Vale
The National Art School has been the training ground for some of Australia’s most significant and respected artists. On this page we recognise and pay homage to our alumni who have passed away recently.