SMH: Portrait of an artist as an older student
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SMH: Portrait of an artist as an older student
By Heath Gilmore
The National Art School is renowned for its bright young things bustling with brio, eager to shake up the world. Its almost 100-year history is a roll call of artists of national and international renown, including Max Dupain, John Olsen, Margaret Olley, Tim Storrier, Cressida Campbell, Fiona Hall, Lucy Culliton, Juz Kitson, Guy Maestri, Natasha Walsh and Justine Varga.
Yet the high sandstone walls of the old gaol now guard some more fragile hopes and dreams. An array of lawyers, architects, bankers, industrial chemists and plumbers who finally answered a gnawing, self admonishment. They have walked away from certainty of income and career status to chase a dream: being able to call themselves an artist.
Image: Virginia Lydiard, who was a NSW crown prosecutor, is now doing her first year of a Bachelor of Fine Art at the National Art School in Darlinghurst. Photo: Janie Barrett
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Friday 29 May 2026
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