The National Art School’s Archive and Collection is hitting the road! National Art (part one) will open at Tweed Regional Gallery on Friday 13 November 2020, running until Sunday 3 January 2021.

National Art (part one) presents a dynamic selection of artworks by 50 of Australia’s most significant artists who studied at NAS. As the school approaches 100 years on its Darlinghurst site (1922 – 2022) and over 175 years in operation, this exhibition celebrates some of the extraordinary artists it has trained over the past seven decades. The exhibition features recent artworks and early formative works by key alumni, and applauds the creative drive, skill and imagination of those who have emerged from the school’s historic sandstone walls to become artists of national significance.

National Art (part one) presents diverse approaches to artmaking bound by a common grounding in studio-based practice and a passionate commitment to experimentation. The artists’ approaches vary considerably, from abstract and expressive genres to experimentation with form, to cultural landscapes and political perspectives, Dada and the surreal, interior viewpoints and the everyday. The work demonstrates the key disciplines taught at NAS – ceramics, painting, photomedia, printmaking, sculpture – as well as inter-disciplinary practices utilising digital media, assemblage, performance and artists’ books.

Seven decades, 50 artists, 80 artworks.

Charles Blackman OBE, Les Blakebrough AM, Euphemia Bostock, Bill Brown, Mitch Cairns, Sophie Cape, Kevin Connor, Lucy Culliton, Elisabeth Cummings OAM, Karla Dickens, Ken Done AM, Merilyn Fairskye, Fiona Foley, Todd Fuller, Adrienne Gaha, Peter Godwin, Sarah Goffman, Fiona Hall AO, Michael Johnson, Alan Jones, Jan King, Juz Kitson, Ildiko Kovacs, Fiona Lowry, Guy Maestri, Tim Maguire, Dani McKenzie, Marie McMahon, Reg Mombassa (Chris O’Doherty), Idris Murphy, Catherine O’Donnell, Robert Owen, Peter Powditch AM, Les Rice, Joan Ross, Julie Rrap, Bill Samuels, Jeffrey Samuels, Luke Sciberras, Garry Shead, Gria Shead , Nicola Smith, Michael Snape, Tim Storrier AM, Ann Thomson, Ken Unsworth AM, Justine Varga, Guy Warren AM, Coen Young, Anne Zahalka.

Top image: Luke Sciberras, The Road from Momba, 2017, oil on board, 125 x 162 cm (framed), NAS Collection, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2018 © the artist

Images (in order of appearance): Lucy Culliton, Bibbenluke garden snow pear trees, 2009, oil on canvas, 130 x 130 cm © the artist; Fiona Hall AO, ESTC, 1973, handmade album, 28 silver gelatin prints © the artist; Ildiko Kovacs, Edging in (detail), 2015 – 17, oil on Masonite, 160 x 120 cm © the artist; Tim Maguire, Untitled 20091108 (detail), 2009, oil on canvas, 180 x 168 cm © the artist; Joan Ross, All You Can Eat Seafood Buffet I (detail), 2017, hand painted pigment print on cotton rag paper, triptych, 72.8 x 100 cm each panel © the artist. All work National Art School Collection, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2018