Live at the Piggery 2

Dec 7 was our second new style open day at the Piggery. The heavy smoke laden air from the bush fires kept some from coming out but were able to open... our portrait sitter was not able to make it and we resorted to doing sketches of each other again. Followed  afterwards by a musical jam session.

Our next open day will be on February 1st.

Live at the Piggery

Saturday was our first 'hands on' open day at the Piggery, most of the resident artists participated as well as visitors,  for the 'portrait workshop' we did 20 minute sketches and changed sitters as the planned sitter couldn't make it... next time we will plan other demonstration/participation events and one portrait sitter.
The 'musical jam session' got off to a confidence building start and we will build on this for next time!

some 20 minute portrait sketches....

LIVE AT THE PIGGERY!

LIVE AT THE PIGGERY

Beginning in November The Piggery Lane Studios will now be open on the first Saturday of the month, and the resident artists will conduct demonstrations, and workshops and activities for anyone to watch or to participate in.

On Saturday mornings resident artists and or guest artists will be there to demonstrate and to discuss topics of interest.

On Saturday afternoons from approximately 2-5 pm we will be having figurative/portrait workshops. There will be a live sitter, or sitters to work from and those interested are invited to participate. There will not be a set cost for this though voluntary donations will be accepted to cover any costs for sitters.

Starting round about 5pm we will have a musical 'jam session' for anyone interested in playing or performing live music, and the invitation is there to bring along an instrument or music and just see what happens... this is aimed at anyone who wants to explore this area and not aimed at professional performances!

We we will provide tea and coffee and anyone is welcome to bring their own refreshments... this is also an opportunity for conversation... particularly for those interested in the arts... no age limits

HAWKSBURY ART FAIR

The Hawkesbury Art Fair, is on again at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery,which is in the Deerrubbin Centre in Windsor,  it is  held annually and will be open to the public until October 13th.

The Piggery Lane Studios were invited to enter and the artworks hung were by Kym Morris, Sharron Whittington and Malcolm Robertson.

Newsletter and Updates

I thought it worthwhile to post HCAW's President Josephine Blue's Newsletter which relates to our current exhibition and the Piggery Lane Studios.
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Hello,

     What a wonderful Official Opening we had for our Annual Exhibition on Friday night - although it had been such a hot day that evolved into a hot evening, we had a good number of visitors and members in attendance and a friendly ambiance to enjoy. Susan Templeman spoke very positively and from her heart about the value of the arts in society, offering her support to our organisation, and Graham Swain, HCAW Patron, shared his memories of the early days of HCAW. Both Susan and Graham encouraged us in what we have achieved and to look towards the future. 

     The Piggery Studios and Gallery looked beautiful with new artworks on display to showcase members' art making - in the form of painting, printmaking, drawing, ceramics and jewellery. It is a visual feast to browse the venue. 

     Lots of hard work and organisation went into the exhibition - preparing the venue, hanging and displaying the artwork, food and drinks, donations, signage, decorations, roster, promotion, invitations, flyers, cleaning and tidying - thank you to everyone who helped in this massive task. The exhibition is open this weekend - some of us had a chance to have an informal discussion around the food table and we agreed that it would be good to somehow get more visitors to the venue, so if you haven't visited yet, perhaps you could call in today (Sunday 20th) 10am - 4pm. Chrissy Goska and Rosa Visciano ventured to Hawkesbury Radio 89.9FM during the week, to be interviewed about HCAW and the exhibition - a new way to promote HCAW to locals. 

     Yesterday (Saturday) we welcomed some special visitors to our exhibition -  Sally and Carl Corte who are executors of Kevin Oxley's estate. Kevin Oxley was the founder of HCAW in 1978. He worked tirelessly for several years to establish a very strong foundation for the arts on campus and in the community. Sally is Kevin's ex-partner, their son is Tim Oxley. Sally and Carl were visiting from Queensland and brought a painting of Kevin's to donate to HCAW as a fitting tribute to Kevin and his work in establishing HCAW all those years ago. We are delighted and proud to have a beautiful contemporary landscape painting as an example of Kevin's work on display at the Piggery Gallery. Sally also gave us a 2017 Calendar which features some of Kevin's paintings. This will be on display and very useful at K13 next year. 

     During Sally and Carl's visit (with Carl's sister as well), we visited K13 and K3 to show Sally the places where Kevin first set up HCAW, the Old Woolshed and Feedshed. Sally had only heard about the places from Kevin so it was of special interest to see the places and take photos. We visited Stable Square and Sally noticed some familiar names on plaques on the pathway of Hawkesbury Foundation from Hawkesbury Agricultural College days. There was a definite feeling of nostalgia during this time.

     While this was happening, preparations were under way for the delivery of the new kiln to K13 where Donna and Oggy were dismantling the old kiln. We are grateful for their tireless work in assisting us in so many ways. The new kiln has come about by the combined efforts of members applying for grants from Club Grants (North Richmond Panthers), Bendigo Bank and others. Thank you to Vicki White for filling in all those application forms and writing the applications. We have changed our banking to Bendigo Bank and have been able to have use of a Community EFTPOS machine from Bendigo Bank, for the exhibition weekend, making sales more convenient for customers who can use a credit card to make purchases. 

     Coming up on Wednesday 30th November at 5pm at K13 is our special meeting to update our Constitution and to come to a final decision about new fee structures and to finalise our Licence Agreement with WSU. Our membership continues to grow which is a positive sign for the future. Malcolm has started up the Life Drawing Group on Thursday nights at K13 which has already attracted a lot of interest and new members. I'm looking for someone who would be able to use the "new" old computer at the K13 office and compile our Membership List in digital format (Microsoft Office Word). Please let me know if you have these skills and would be willing to help in this way. 

With many thanks for your continued support, 

Josephine

Photos: Graham Swain, Susan Templeman and Del Swain at the Annual Exhibition Opening Night

Myself with Sally Corte, on behalf of HCAW, receiving Kevin Oxley's landscape painting, at the Piggery Lane Studios and Gallery on Saturday

Hawkesbury Artists Fair

The Hawkesbury Artists Fair is on again at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, it was opened November by the new Hawkesbury Mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett and will run until the 4th of December.

The Piggery Lane Studios artists were represented this year by

Kym Morris

Marian Wilcox

Malcolm Robertson

Piggery Open Weekends

The Piggery Studios on the campus of Western Sydney University were open this weekend  (10th/11th September) as part of the 'Hawkesbury Artists and Artisans Trail' and as part of the Combined Art Societies of Sydney "September is Art Month"

The lambs and Spring Blossoms are out

and we had plenty of visitors throughout the weekend enjoying the artwork, refreshments and company at the Piggery Lane Studios

The Studios will also be open next Sunday 18th September to Join Western Sydney University School of Nursing and Midwifery in celebrating the 125th anniversary 'Back to the Hawkesbury,