The light and shade behind John Olsen’s genius

The light and shade behind John Olsen’s genius

2023-04-17

“The first time John Olsen applied for Sydney’s National Art School, he failed the entry test. That was in 1945 as a teenager. In 2021, aged 93, he told this story with great relish to the opening night audience at what was to be his last major exhibition, John Olsen: Goya’s Dog. It was in the NAS Gallery at the National Art School, where he did eventually get in to study in the early 1950s, and later taught after returning from several years in Spain in the early 1960s.”

Steven Alderton, Director and CEO of NAS, writes for the Financial Review on the passing of NAS Alumus and fellow John Olsen.

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1. Sign up for any Winter School course
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Mar 31

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Introducing Sean O`Connell and Pia van Gelder, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
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Moderated by Ben Denham, Sean will explore traditional and extended practices that map connections and energetic exchange within abstracted landscapes, while Pia will discuss drawing of electronic circuits and their curious divinatory elements in 20th century radionics and their own work with electrodermal activity and audio synthesis.
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Sean O`Connell is an artist exploring the internal world of matter and the movement of electrical energy and force. He uses alternative photographic techniques, electronic circuitry, noise, energetic structures and experimental processes to visualise and sonify these spaces of interest. His work is concerned with the realms of both matter and electricity, exploring the ways they each transform, modulate, and inform one another`s nature through their interaction.
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Pia van Gelder is an electronic artist, researcher and historian at the School of Art and Design at the Australian National University. Their research investigates historical and contemporary conceptions of energy and how these shape our relationships with technologies, bodies and environments. Their scholarship has concentrated on the influence of esotericism on electronic instruments of the 20th century and their studio practice produces instruments for performance and installation contexts. Their current project *The Energies Artists Say* with co-editor Douglas Kahn, presents a methodology for understanding the polyvalence of energies in practices across the arts.
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Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
—
Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.

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Mar 28

Open

Introducing Sean O'Connell and Pia van Gelder, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
—
Moderated by Ben Denham, Sean will explore traditional and extended practices that map connections and energetic exchange within abstracted landscapes, while Pia will discuss drawing of electronic circuits and their curious divinatory elements in 20th century radionics and their own work with electrodermal activity and audio synthesis.
—
Sean O'Connell is an artist exploring the internal world of matter and the movement of electrical energy and force. He uses alternative photographic techniques, electronic circuitry, noise, energetic structures and experimental processes to visualise and sonify these spaces of interest. His work is concerned with the realms of both matter and electricity, exploring the ways they each transform, modulate, and inform one another's nature through their interaction.
—
Pia van Gelder is an electronic artist, researcher and historian at the School of Art and Design at the Australian National University. Their research investigates historical and contemporary conceptions of energy and how these shape our relationships with technologies, bodies and environments. Their scholarship has concentrated on the influence of esotericism on electronic instruments of the 20th century and their studio practice produces instruments for performance and installation contexts. Their current project *The Energies Artists Say* with co-editor Douglas Kahn, presents a methodology for understanding the polyvalence of energies in practices across the arts.
—
Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
—
Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.

We’re looking for a Facilities and Risk Manager - Application Deadline Sunday 13 April

The Facilities and Risk Manager effectively manages and organises services and resources for the facilities, workshop, security, WHS, and campus operations of National Art School in Darlinghurst. In addition, they provide strategic support and advice to senior management on all issues related to facilities and campus operations.

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Mar 27

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We’re looking for a Facilities and Risk Manager - Application Deadline Sunday 13 April The Facilities and Risk Manager effectively manages and organises services and resources for the facilities, workshop, security, WHS, and campus operations of National Art School in Darlinghurst. In addition, they provide strategic support and advice to senior management on all issues related to facilities and campus operations. Apply at the link in bio.

Introducing Kirtika Kain and Kyra Mancktelow, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
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Moderated by Chelsea Lehmann, Kirtika will be discussing the role of drawing in process, experimentation, and abstraction in material and socially-engaged practices, while Kyra will discuss the influence Dylan Mooney`s work has had on their practice, especially his most recent exhibition The Story of My People.
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Kirtika Kain is an artist practicing on Darug Country, New South Wales, Australia. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2016 and was awarded the Bird Holcomb Scholarship to complete her Master of Fine Art in 2018 at the National Art School, Sydney. She was a recipient of the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award in 2017, the Art Incubator Grant and Dyason Bequest, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and a finalist in the Churchill Fellowship and numerous art prizes including Blacktown Art Prize (2017, 2019). Kirtika has been a finalist in the Create NSW Emerging Artist Fellowship at Artspace, a recipient of the Parramatta Artist Studio (2020, 2024) and an artist in residence at the British School at Rome (2019) and the Amant Siena Summer Residency (2022).
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Kyra Mancktelow’s multidisciplinary practice investigates legacies of colonialism, posing important questions such as how we remember and acknowledge Indigenous histories. A Quandamooka artist with links to the Mardigan people of Cunnamulla, Kyra’s practice includes printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture – each applying a unique and distinct aesthetic. Kyra works with various materials to share her rich heritage, stories, and traditions to educate audiences and strengthen her connection to Country. Her printmaking explores intergenerational trauma as a result of forced integration on colonial missions, and her use of local materials in her sculpture, including clay, emu features, and Talwalpin (cotton tree), strengthens her connection to Country.
—
Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
—
Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.

View

Mar 27

Open

Introducing Kirtika Kain and Kyra Mancktelow, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
—
Moderated by Chelsea Lehmann, Kirtika will be discussing the role of drawing in process, experimentation, and abstraction in material and socially-engaged practices, while Kyra will discuss the influence Dylan Mooney's work has had on their practice, especially his most recent exhibition The Story of My People.
—
Kirtika Kain is an artist practicing on Darug Country, New South Wales, Australia. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2016 and was awarded the Bird Holcomb Scholarship to complete her Master of Fine Art in 2018 at the National Art School, Sydney. She was a recipient of the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award in 2017, the Art Incubator Grant and Dyason Bequest, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and a finalist in the Churchill Fellowship and numerous art prizes including Blacktown Art Prize (2017, 2019). Kirtika has been a finalist in the Create NSW Emerging Artist Fellowship at Artspace, a recipient of the Parramatta Artist Studio (2020, 2024) and an artist in residence at the British School at Rome (2019) and the Amant Siena Summer Residency (2022).
—
Kyra Mancktelow’s multidisciplinary practice investigates legacies of colonialism, posing important questions such as how we remember and acknowledge Indigenous histories. A Quandamooka artist with links to the Mardigan people of Cunnamulla, Kyra’s practice includes printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture – each applying a unique and distinct aesthetic. Kyra works with various materials to share her rich heritage, stories, and traditions to educate audiences and strengthen her connection to Country. Her printmaking explores intergenerational trauma as a result of forced integration on colonial missions, and her use of local materials in her sculpture, including clay, emu features, and Talwalpin (cotton tree), strengthens her connection to Country.
—
Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
—
Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.

Secure your spot in a Term Two short course today. Places are filling up, so don’t miss out!

Learn more about the courses on offer at the link in bio.

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Mar 27

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Secure your spot in a Term Two short course today. Places are filling up, so don’t miss out! Learn more about the courses on offer at the link in bio.

Introducing Anne Judell and Liz Coats, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
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Moderated by Margaret Roberts, Anne will discuss her decades-long exploration of the patterns and forces of the natural world and pay homage to the artist who first inspired her, while Liz will talk about the recent work of long-time friend and colleague, Margaret Roberts, together with a short description of her experiments with colour painting.
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Anne Judell was the 2011 winner of the Dobell Drawing Prize awarded by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Respect for Anne`s work has grown over a career spanning more than four decades, as a solo exhibitor and through her presence in selected group exhibitions. Her entries have been included on many occasions as a finalist in the Wynne Prize, the Dobell Drawing Prize and the Blake Prize as well as in other prestigious competitions including the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award and Kedumba Drawing Award.
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Liz Coats has devoted her career to the exploration of colour in abstract painting as an embodied, material practice that brings organic and formal issues into relationship. Since the mid-1970s, colour has remained her central focus, in particular how it mediates her preoccupations with dimensional insight, transition and connectedness.
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Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
—
Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.

View

Mar 26

Open

The light and shade behind John Olsen’s genius