Tailored workshops and presentations

On and off campus artmaking workshops

Keen to develop new skills in artmaking? Learn from our talented NAS students, staff and alumni by organising a tailored studio workshop for your students to suit the creative interests and techniques you’re looking for.

Please note: two-months notice is required for workshop bookings.

Campus history, studio and gallery tours

Learn about the history of the Darlinghurst Gaol and the National Art School campus in our tailored on-site tours. Explore the campus as it is now, observing artists and students in their studios as well as current exhibitions on view at the NAS Gallery.

Presentations and portfolio development

NAS students and staff will share their experiences to give you more information about what it’s like to study visual arts after school, and what a career in the arts might be like. You will learn about the history of the art school and its diverse alumni, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree offered, developing a professional visual arts portfolio as well as they array of professional opportunities in the arts.

For tailored presentations, tours and workshops for your students, please contact [email protected] or 02 9339 8751

Contact

Cecilia Jackson, Education Coordinator
+61 2 9339 8751
[email protected]

RSVP now - final tickets remaining!

Join us this Thursday for `Afterglow`, The Neighbour at the Gate exhibition closing party (link in bio).

Headlined by Miss Kaninna, the free 18+ concert features performances by HYLANDER, Rocky Stallone, BRINA, Kuya Hennessy, and DJ Court Jester. RSVP is essential due to limited capacity of the Cell Block Theatre.

Afterglow
Thursday 16 October
Doors: 4.30pm
Concert starts: 7.00pm
Cell Block Theatre, National Art School

Please note: if the Cell Block reaches capacity, you’re welcome to enjoy the concert from the courtyard with food trucks and pop up bar until space opens up inside.

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Oct 13

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RSVP now - final tickets remaining!

Join us this Thursday for 'Afterglow', The Neighbour at the Gate exhibition closing party (link in bio).

Headlined by Miss Kaninna, the free 18+ concert features performances by HYLANDER, Rocky Stallone, BRINA, Kuya Hennessy, and DJ Court Jester. RSVP is essential due to limited capacity of the Cell Block Theatre.

Afterglow
Thursday 16 October
Doors: 4.30pm
Concert starts: 7.00pm
Cell Block Theatre, National Art School

Please note: if the Cell Block reaches capacity, you’re welcome to enjoy the concert from the courtyard with food trucks and pop up bar until space opens up inside.

‘A beautiful place to be with a moving story underneath’
‘Eye opening and very very thoughtful’
‘[This show] evokes feelings of acceptance and peace’
– quotes from NAS Gallery visitor feedback

Last week to visit `The Neighbour at the Gate`! - closing next Saturday 18 October. Visit link in bio to learn more about the exhibition and plan your visit to see the exhibition everyone is talking about.

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Oct 11

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‘A beautiful place to be with a moving story underneath’
‘Eye opening and very very thoughtful’
‘[This show] evokes feelings of acceptance and peace’
– quotes from NAS Gallery visitor feedback

Last week to visit 'The Neighbour at the Gate'! - closing next Saturday 18 October. Visit link in bio to learn more about the exhibition and plan your visit to see the exhibition everyone is talking about.

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.

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Oct 10

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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.

...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.

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Oct 7

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...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.

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.

---
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

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Oct 5

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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.

---
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

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

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Oct 3

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Tailored workshops and presentations

On and off campus artmaking workshops

Campus history, studio and gallery tours

Presentations and portfolio development

Contact

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Acknowledgement

THE NATIONAL ART SCHOOL ACKNOWLEDGES THE GADIGAL PEOPLES OF THE EORA NATIONS, THE TRADITIONAL OWNERS ON WHOSE LANDS, WATER AND SKIES WE MEET AND SHARE.

WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO ALL GADIGAL ELDERS, PAST AND PRESENT, AND CELEBRATE THE DIVERSITY, HISTORY AND CREATIVITY OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES.