The Guardian: Ken Done: ‘I’ll never be as good as a five-year-old’
:quality(82)/media/news/7588.jpg)
The Guardian: Ken Done: ‘I’ll never be as good as a five-year-old’
Article by: by Neha Kale. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian
NAS Alumni Ken Done has been alive to sensory details for as long as he can recall. As a boy, the artist spent a large part in Maclean, a small fishing town in New South Wales’s Clarence Valley. There, he pored over encyclopaedias, hypnotised by pictures of butterflies. He listened to The Argonauts Club, a long-running children’s program on ABC Radio. He observed shifts in the Clarence River, one of Australia’s largest waterways. These early impressions formed him.
“I was an only child who liked to paint and my mother was very encouraging,” says Done, now 81. “We were quite poor. If you lived in a country town as I did, you had to make a lot of your own fun. When the river was in flood, it was this wonderful khaki colour.” He grins. “It used to have big clumps of bright green and blue hyacinths floating down.”
Latest News
Thursday 09 July 2026
:quality(82)/media/100425_Dobell-Prize_Kristen-Sharpwinner_Rosemary-Lee_001_Peter-Morgan-2048x1477.jpg)
Thursday 09 July 2026
Applications are now open for The 25th Dobell Drawing Prize. The Dobell Drawing Prize is Australia’s leading prize for drawing, and an unparalleled celebration of technique, innovation and expanded practice. Presented at the National Art School in partnership with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, this biennial exhibition continues to highlight the enduring relevance and changing role of dra…
Tuesday 30 June 2026
:quality(82)/media/exhibitions/260603_LRG_BabetteRobertson_01_0051-1.jpg)
Tuesday 30 June 2026
Please see below for current and forthcoming exhibitions and events featuring our staff and alumni. Joan Ross: Solo Exhibition With her fluoro-infused imagery subverting colonial art, National Art School alum and fellow Joan Ross examines the legacy of invasion and the consuming forces of settlement in Australia. On now view across N.Smith Galley, Ross’ new exhibition continues her incisive ex…
Tuesday 30 June 2026
:quality(82)/media/news/Nick-Collerson-2026_Dithyramb_0384.jpg)
Tuesday 30 June 2026
Please see below for current and forthcoming exhibitions and events featuring our staff and alumni. Dr Carolyn McKenzie-Craig: Becoming Penguin (Act II) Head of Printmaking, Dr Carolyn McKenzie-Craig, presents Becoming Penguin (Act II) at PARKER Contemporary, Brisbane. The exhibition asks what it means to seek protection from a world that continues to decide who is seen, who is suspected, and w…