Queer Contemporary 14 February – 14 March 2020

Queer Contemporary 14 February – 14 March 2020

The National Art School’s iconic site is a part of the queer past and the queer future, from the infamous Wall to the huge success of the Museum of Love and Protest in 2018 and now the presentation of Queer Contemporary – The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Visual Arts Program. Queer Contemporary includes exhibitions, talks, workshops, performances and the boutique Moonlite pop up bar named in honour of a former inmate – Bush Ranger Captain Moonlite and his lover James Nesbitt.

Image: Deborah Kelly Venus as a Boy digital print on silk, 100 x 200 cm. Courtesy and © the artist

Exhibitions

Misfit: Collage and queer practice

LOCATION: Rayner Hoff Project Space
EXHIBITION DATES: 14 February – 14 March 2020
OPENING NIGHT:  Friday 14 February, 6–10pm, all welcome
OPENING HOURS: Monday–Saturday, 11am–5pm and open until 10pm on Fridays in February

Artists: Tony Albert, Archie Barry, Gary Carsley, Brian Fuata, Deborah Kelly, Del Lumanta, Sarah Rodigari, Tejal Shah, Tyza Stewart, Paul Yore, Guanyu Xu

Curator: Scott Elliot

Queer artists have long understood the power of collage as a tool for manipulating the singular narratives that so often exclude them. Misfit examines the idea of collage as a medium especially susceptible to embodying queer experience. Presenting works by Australian and international artists who engage with performance, video, text, photography, textile, painting, paper and sound, Misfit looks at how the radically reassembled can veer us closer to unseen truths, productive ambiguities and powerful positions of resistance.

Paul Yore, Mother Tongue 2017 (detail) mixed media textile, beads, buttons,
sequins, acrylic, enamel, watercolour and found objects, 348 x 212 cm (irreg).
Image courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Devon Ackermann
Paul Yore, Mother Tongue 2017 (detail) mixed media textile, beads, buttons, sequins, acrylic, enamel, watercolour and found objects, 348 x 212 cm (irreg). Image courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Devon Ackermann

i hate my dad

LOCATION: Library Stairwell Gallery, entry from rear of library building
EXHIBITION DATES: 14 February – 14 March 2020
OPENING NIGHT:  Friday 14 February, 6–10pm, all welcome
OPENING HOURS:
Monday – Thursday 10am–4pm
Friday 10am–3pm
Saturday 11am – 5pm

Artists: Evan ‘Bones’ Adam, Fergus Berney Gibson, Daniel Hull, Isaac Spigelman, Claire Welch

Curator: Fergus Burney-Gibson

i hate my dad is a group show by National Art School students exploring contemporary masculinity through a queer lens. The broad context we exist in is patriarchal – its power structure affects us all in different ways, in some ways we might not even be aware of. This group of artists critiques and challenges patriarchal undercurrents, asking the questions: Is masculinity inherent? Is masculinity male? Is masculinity toxic? And most principally – can we change it?

Evan ‘Bones’ Adam, There’s more than
one way to skin a dog 2019, inkjet print,
42 x 59.4cm. Courtesy and © the artist.
Evan ‘Bones’ Adam, There’s more than one way to skin a dog 2019, inkjet print, 42 x 59.4cm. Courtesy and © the artist.

Events

Moonlite pop-up bar

LOCATION: Outside Building 11
DATE: Friday 21 and 28 February
TIME: 6–10pm

Named in honour of infamous inmate Bushranger Captain Moonlite and his lover James Nesbitt. Enjoy the bar, DJ’s and extended hours of the Misfit exhibition.

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Queer words that changed my life

LOCATION: Cell Block Theatre
DATE: Friday 21 February
TIME: 6.30–10pm
TICKETS: $30 General admission, $25 Concession/NAS Student + booking fee  (SOLD OUT)

Spend an evening in our indulgent queer salon at NAS, surrounded by a family of queer orators who will delight you with short readings from their most treasured pieces of queer literature and words that changed their life.

Hear from our courageous 78ers and a host of queer celebrities, identities, advocates, heroes, young voices and our newest talents. Sip champagne and enjoy an array of sweet and savoury delights as we turn pages and invoke the literary history of queer storytelling. Join us in celebrating words that matter.

Add to your salon experience with our Moonlite pop-up bar and Print with Pride workshop.

Artist line-up

Dennis Altman
William Yang
Tommy Murphy
Alana Valentine
Bill (William) Bowtell
Vicki Harding
Nana Miss Koori
Mama Alto

Queer words that changed my life

What Matters? Queer Slam

LOCATION: Cell Block Theatre
DATE: Friday 28 February
TIME: 6.30–10pm
TICKETS: $20 General admission, $15 Concession/NAS Student

Discover Australia’s most subversive and boldly original queer poets at our raucous poetry competition. Our slammers tell us what matters as we heat up the historic Cell Block Theatre with words of protest, love, rage and power. With a special guest host and some guest performances throughout the Slam, we’ve got the night before Mardi Gras Parade completely covered.

Featuring host Kween G and special guest performer Betty Grumble.

Add on to your poetry slam experience with our Moonlite pop-up bar, Print with Pride workshop and a curator’s tour of Mistfit: Collage and queer practice and i hate my dad.

Image: Betty Grumble. Photo: Frank Lynch
Image: Betty Grumble. Photo: Frank Lynch

Talks and Tours

Artist Talks 

LOCATION: Rayner Hoff Project Space
DATES: Saturday 22 February
TIME: 1–2pm
TICKETS: Free, drop-in

Join artists from Misfit: Collage and queer practice for an insight into their practices.

Paul Yore, Mother Tongue 2017 (detail) mixed media textile, beads, buttons,
sequins, acrylic, enamel, watercolour and found objects, 348 x 212 cm (irreg).
Image courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Devon Ackermann
Paul Yore, Mother Tongue 2017 (detail) mixed media textile, beads, buttons, sequins, acrylic, enamel, watercolour and found objects, 348 x 212 cm (irreg). Image courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Devon Ackermann

Empty Selves

LOCATION: Rayner Hoff Project Space
DATE: Saturday 22 February
TIME: 3–4.30pm
TICKETS: Free, booking required (SOLD OUT)

Inspired by themes of fragmentation and transformation in Misfit: collage and queer practice, Buddist monk Bhante Akāliko will lead a discussion about queer, trans and intersex identities in Buddhism.

Discover how specific Buddhist meditation techniques use methods similar to collage by dividing the body into parts and processes in order to investigate the nature of self. These meditations help shift our familiar perspective and create new understandings about our identity.

The talk will be followed by a guided meditation with Rainbodhi LGBTQIA+ Buddhist Community.

About Rainbodhi

Rainbodhi is a community group for LGBTQIA+ Buddhists and friends. It offers meditation and Dhamma discussion in a safe, supportive environment. Rainbodhi is non-sectarian and welcome everyone regardless of gender, sexuality or faith.

All Rainbodhi events are free, find out more through their website.

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rainbodhi

Curators’ Tours

LOCATION: Rayner Hoff Project Space
DATES: Friday 28 February, 6–7pm; Saturday 29 February, 1–2pm
TICKETS: Free, drop in

Join curator Scott Elliot for an exhibition tour of Misfit: Collage and queer practice, followed by a tour of i hate my dad, led by curator and NAS third-year student Fergus Berney-Gibson

Paul Yore, Mother Tongue 2017 (detail) mixed media textile, beads, buttons,
sequins, acrylic, enamel, watercolour and found objects, 348 x 212 cm (irreg).
Image courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Devon Ackermann
Paul Yore, Mother Tongue 2017 (detail) mixed media textile, beads, buttons, sequins, acrylic, enamel, watercolour and found objects, 348 x 212 cm (irreg). Image courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Devon Ackermann

Workshops

Make History Collage Workshop

LOCATION: Meet in the Rayner Hoff Project Space
DATE: Saturday 15 February
TIME: 10am–4.30pm
TICKETS: $120 + booking fee
Suitable for all skill levels

Take the evidence of our civilisation into your own hands, and make it serve your desires. Old books are the legacy of obsolete culture: in this workshop you will learn to eviscerate them and build glorious new messages for the future from their remains.

In this one-day workshop, learn how to make collages that revisit, remix and re-imagine history with artist Deborah Kelly – currently exhibiting in Misfit: Collage and queer practice.

Participants must arrive on time, but are welcome to leave as they choose.

Materials provided

  • Glue
  • Mats
  • Brushes
  • Knives
  • Some vintage imagery from Kelly’s personal archive

Materials required

  • Heavy, acid-free paper (350GSM) in your preferred size
  • Vintage reference books/art books/magazines with images to cut up*

About Deborah Kelly

Since 2011 Kelly has been investigating the expansion of the humble, lo-fi art of collage from private into public, from solo to social, from object to process, through open workshops around Australia, in Leipzig, London, Istanbul, Zagreb, Aarhus, Berlin and Bandung. Her new collage animation, The Gods of Tiny Things, partly produced through workshops in Bundanon, premiered at Pool Festival in Berlin and in December 2019 won Mexico City’s Dulac Avant Garde Award. Her epic collaborative collage portrait series No Human Being Is Illegal (in all our glory) toured Australia for four years and recently joined the collection of London’s Wellcome Trust, where it will be exhibited until 2029.

Deborah Kelly, Michel Loves Angelo (detail),
Work in Progress, 20 x 26 cm, 2020
Deborah Kelly, Michel Loves Angelo (detail), Work in Progress, 20 x 26 cm, 2020

PRINT WITH PRIDE Workshop

LOCATION: Outside Building 11
DATE: Saturday 22 February
TIME: 11am–2pm
TICKETS: Free, entry by donation (SOLD OUT) 

Screenprinting has been used as a tool of queer rebellion since the early days of LGBTQIA+ liberation. Learn about this medium through a drop-in workshop led by third-year printmaking students at the National Art School.

Bring old clothing or paper to upcycle with a protest print for a small donation.

After the workshop, join us for a performance by Misfit artist, Brian Fuata.

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Art Club is our high school student program for 15-17 year olds, designed to enhance and extend students’ technical, conceptual, and intellectual skills, through intensive practical study in the disciplines offered at NAS as well as engaging in an experience of our studios and campus, under the expert direction of experienced artists.

Set your child on a creative path with Art Club. 

Learn more at the link in bio.
Thank you to everyone who attended the opening night of the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize and congratulations again to the prize winner NAS alumna Rosemary Lee.

The 24th Dobell Drawing Prize is now open until Saturday 21 June 2025
11am – 5pm Monday to Saturday 
NAS Gallery 
Free admission, all welcome

Learn more about the exhibition at the link in bio.
We are delighted to announce NAS alumna Rosemary Lee as the winner of the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize, Australia’s leading prize for drawing, worth $30,000.

Selected from 56 nationwide finalists, and 965 entries, Rosemary’s work will become part of the National Art School’s significant collection, built over the past 120 years. Rosemary, in her winning work 24-1 (2024), observes tonal and compositional profundity in everyday life.

The judging panel comprising acclaimed First Nations artist Vernon Ah Kee, Paula Latos-Valier AM, Trustee and Art Director of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, and Dr Yolunda Hickman, Head of Postgraduate Studies, National Art School, commented of Rosemary’s work: “The decision to award the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize to Rosemary Lee for the work ‘24-1’ was unanimous. We were most impressed by the level of visual intensity the artist has achieved in this work both through its vibrant colour and in the extraordinary detail of the composition. The artwork’s exploration of the urban landscape and gentrification of the Sydney suburbs of Ashfield and Summer Hill, has produced an image capturing a broader sense of transience and the omnipresence of construction sites in our cities today. It questions the cultural and historical value of place, through the lens of the artist’s personal connection.” 

See Lee’s work alongside the work of the other finalists in the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize, 11 April – 21 June 2025, NAS Gallery
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Left to right: NAS Director and CEO, Dr Kristen Sharp with artist Rosemary Lee, featuring winning artwork 24–1, 2024, pencil on paper, image courtesy the artist and National Art School Gallery © the artist, photograph: Peter Morgan
Introducing the National Art School Short Courses Program from July–December 2025

Whether you’re a beginner, rediscovering a past passion, refining your skills, or considering our Fine Arts degree, the short courses offer a stimulating and rewarding experience for all levels.

Our 2025 program begins in July with Winter School, followed by Term Three, Spring Weekend Workshops in September, and Term Four in October.

Learn more and enrol at the link in bio.
Making Sound is a performance event featuring four artists who make devices that make sound, including Gary Warner, Pia van Gelder, Ben Denham and Sean O’Connell, presented following Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025, Saturday 12 April 5-6pm. 

Gary Warner creates an improvised soundfield with his ‘aleatoric ensemble’ autonomous sound machines, a collection of modified turntables that spin ad-hoc bric-a-brac assemblages.

Pia van Gelder (pictured) amplifies an electronic circuit as it is built in real-time. Under the moniker of “PvG sans PCB,” in these performances, van Gelder works on a breadboard with electronic components and additional found objects to demonstrate the electronic variabilities produced in the material world.

Ben Denham and Sean O’Connell perform together with handmade synthesizer systems that sense and sonify barometric pressure and the flow of electrons through matter.

Purchase your tickets to the symposium at the link in bio.
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Pia van Gelder, 'sans PCB', 2021, performance, Collings Creative, image courtesy and © the artist
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