Join us for a special morning tea

Posted on by Chris Johnston

We would love you to join us at the Newstead Arts Hub for a morning tea on Sunday 23rd June at 11am.

We are re-launching our Friends of the Arts Hub.

We would love you to become a Friend again for 2019-20 and help support the development of the Arts Hub. In return we’ll run a special Friends event every year and you’ll be invited.

Come along and become part of our Friends. Or see one of our committee members on the desk on the day.

Or if you can’t make it and want to be a Friend, please send us an email with your name, email, address and phone number, and send a donation of $20 or more to our Arts Hub account. Or print the invitation & Friend’s form here.

BSB: 633000
Account No. 155603707
Account Name: Arts Hub.

Don’t forget to include your “Name + Friend” as the reference.

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In a Different Light – Australian Native Flower Photographs in Ultraviolet Light

Posted on by Geoff Park

In a Different Light – Australian Native Flower Photographs in Ultraviolet Light … an exhibition by David Oldfield

Why would you want to take such photos in the first place? This sounds like the question “Why would you want to climb Mount Everest?” The answer is not the one given by British mountaineer George Mallory – “Because it’s there” but probably more “Because nobody else is doing that for Australian flowers”.

David Oldfield was bitten by the photo bug while at school in England long before digital cameras were available and learnt all about the wonders of darkroom work. These days you can get digital cameras modified by specialist companies so that you can take photos invisible to human eyes. There is a small band of photographers around the world who enjoy seeing what happens when you use cameras far beyond what they were designed to do.

Many flowers have dark patterns on their petals which are visible under Ultraviolet (UV) light but invisible to the naked human eye. Scientific studies of honeybee vision have shown that their eyes are sensitive to UV, blue and green light. It appears that the dark patterns visible in UV may assist pollinating insects, such as honeybees, to find the nectar or pollen on the flowers. Overseas UV photographers have reported the existence of dark “bulls-eye” patterns on yellow petals in their images.

David has found that Australian flowers show similar patterns, as you will see if you visit his exhibition at the Newstead Arts Hub between 1st and 23rd June, open every Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm. It will also be open on Queens Birthday Monday 11th June.

The official opening will be Saturday 1st of June at 2pm.

Nature Photography on the Goldfields

Posted on by Geoff Park

Nature Photography on the Goldfields

The expression “taking photographs” is a curious and revealing usage. In English, we don’t “make” photographs, we “take” them. When photographing nature – wildlife, plants, landscapes – it can seem that the photographer “captures” a beauty already there, taking something that belongs to the subject, but without diminishing the subject.

Bronwyn Silver, Geoff Park and Patrick Kavanagh roam the goldfields of Central Victoria, stealing images of the beauty they find. Birds, mammals, plants, insects. Not even mosses and lichens are safe from their pilfering ways!

While the targets of their larceny are unaffected by the process, these thieves have been profoundly altered by the images they’ve stolen from the wild, seeing more deeply into the wonders of the natural environment. They are happy to share their bounty at Newstead Arts Hub this December.

Opening Hours 10 am – 4 pm

  • Sat 1/12 & Sun 2/12
  • Sat 8/12 & Sun 9/12
  • Sat 15/12 & Sun 16/12
  • Sat 22/12 & Sun 23/12

Exhibition launch Sunday 2/12 11 am

Praying Mantis by Patrick Kavanagh
Lichenscape by Bronwyn Silver
Eastern Yellow Robin by Geoff Park

Expression of interest to exhibit – 2019

Posted on by Geoff Park

Newstead Railway Arts hub is accepting expressions of interest to exhibit in 2019.

We would be delighted to be contacted by artists who live or work in our local community or from further afield. The exhibition space is suited to solo or group shows.

The conditions of entry can be found on the website here:

Please email us newsteadartshub@gmail.com  by December 20th 2018 to indicate your interest, providing the following information:

  1. Your name and address
  2. The preferred dates to exhibit (exhibitions run monthly)
  3. Two representational images which is indicative of your work/ your groups work
  4. A short description of the work in three sentences.

A shortlist will be in accordance of the Arts Hubs priority which is:

  • Building creative networks in our region
  • Supporting arts activities in Newstead
  • Working with the Newstead community

After the expressions of interest close the management committee of the Arts Hub will shortlist the applications according to the diversity of artistic ideas, fit the creative rationale with the Arts Hub priorities and the dates proposed.

The Hubs decision will be final but some feedback will be provided if desired.

A busy spring at the Hub

Posted on by Geoff Park

The Arts Hub Committee (and Garden sub-committee) has been busy meeting and planning stages for the planned landscaping around the Railway Building. The application for Pick and Project was not successful, but we thank the 124 people who did vote for our project. It wasn’t a bad response for a small town. We are still sorting out how to move ahead to create the first part of the plan and have submitted an application to the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) to assist with implementation.

On the exhibition front things have also been busy and vibrant. We have just farewelled a wonderful exhibition called Menagerie by Tegan Wheeldon & Laura Gibbs.  The artists utilized intriguing methods of printmaking and painting to explore their interest in the natural world. Gibbs’ birds were beautifully finely painted in watercolour. Wheeldon utilized techniques of frottage and relief printing to explore a fusion of insect and textile.

The weekend of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st October will feature an exhibition inspired by Hansel and Gretel. It is called NIBBLE NIBBLE and will be open from 4pm until 8pm both days. The students from Newstead Primary School will provide a different view of the railway station. Come along and see what they have created. If you miss this visual experience you can see it again on the following Friday 26th, Saturday 27th and Sunday 27th October from 4pm until 8pm.

Closely following this there will be an exhibition called Diversity. This will feature a well-known local identity, Ellen Hansa, along with Merete Hansa, Kari Tanberg, Joan Ledwich and Sean Stanya. The opening will be at 2pm on November 3rd. Everyone is welcome to come along.

 

Menagerie: Tegan Wheeldon & Laura Gibbs

Posted on by Geoff Park

Menagerie is an exhibition of new works by Tegan Wheeldon and Laura Gibbs. The artists utilize methods of printmaking and painting to explore their interest in the natural world, with particular focus on avians and insects. Gibbs’ birds, finely painted in watercolour, are drawn from her immediate environment; the vast countryside and lakes of northern Victoria. Wheeldon utilizes techniques of frottage and relief printing to explore a fusion of insect and textile in her mandala-esque compositions. Together these artists weave a menagerie of feathers and antennae, beaks and mandibles, within the exhibition space.

Laura GIBBS, Dove 2018, pencil and watercolour on paper, 21 x 29cm.
Tegan WHEELDON, Beetle 2018, relief print on paper, 19 x 26cm.

Saturday 22 September – Sunday 14 October
Exhibition opening event: 2-4pm, Saturday 22 September

Exhibition hours: 10am – 3pm Friday, Saturday & Sunday

E: teganwheeldon@gmail.com

Live in Newstead? Love our town? It’s Time to VOTE

Posted on by Chris Johnston

Wasteland to Wellspring – A vibrant sculptural garden to inspire our community and the arts

Help fund our vision for a beautiful garden entry to the Newstead Railway Arts Hub precinct: the Station building and Goods Shed. Our project will improve parking and access, create spaces for: activities, celebrations, quiet spots to sit, sculptures, garden ‘galleries’ and more. Look at the garden design we want to implement through Pick My Project funding and then please VOTE!

The Pick My Project funding is based on the number of votes – see reverse side on how to vote for Wasteland to Wellspring. Voting closes Monday 17 September at 5pm. See How to Vote below – but if you need help come to our stall at the Community Market on Sat 15 Sept at Rotunda Park, to find out more about our project and vote on the spot!

HOW TO VOTE 

  • Go to the Pick My Project website (https://pickmyproject.vic.gov.au) and register your name and contact details.
  • Select the local community you want to vote in – choose Newstead. You can vote in any local community. Pick My Project will show you projects within 50km. You can create a short list of between 3 and 6 projects. Wasteland to Wellspring is our project – please pick it!
  • You have three votes and you need to vote for three projects. You can’t give three votes to the one project. And each vote is equal.
  • When you vote, you will need to provide your mobile phone number and then submit the 4-digit number you receive via your mobile phone. This verifies that only Victorians can vote.
  • Once your vote is in you can’t change it, so take your time!
  • And then share who you have voted for via social media.

No internet, email or mobile phone? This is how you can vote.

  • Call the Pick My Project team (1800 797 818) and they will help you vote.
  • First you need to have decided that Newstead is your local community and picked your 3 favourite projects – include Wasteland to Wellspring.
  • Or if you have an email but no mobile phone you can register at Pick My Project, choose your three favourites and then call 1800 797 818 and they will complete the final verification step for you.

Share the love – get others to vote!

Invite your neighbours, friends and relatives to vote for our project. They can vote for projects in Newstead and surrounds no matter where they live in Victoria.

Need help? Call Geoff 0418 138 632 or Chris 5476 2457

Need to know more about the project, our funding submission etc? Check out our webpage

Wasteland to Wellspring … Pick our Project!

Posted on by Geoff Park

We need you to vote for our Newstead project. Funding will go to the projects that get the most votes. There are around 150 projects across our region seeking funding (and 2500 across the state), so there is a lot of competition! You can vote for three different projects.  Voting closes at 5pm Monday 17 Sept 2018. Read our guide to voting below.

Background

Pick My Project is a new State government funding initiative. During June-July, Victorians were invited to propose a project that would benefit their community. Voting is now open on more than 2500 projects across Victoria.

The Newstead Railway Arts Hub project – Wasteland to Wellspring – proposes to create a vibrant sculptural garden at the Arts Hub to inspire our community and the arts. With the recent news from VicTrack and the Arts Salon on the restoration of the goods shed and conversion into arts-based workshops, this garden would convert the ‘wasteland’ around the station into a creative and beautiful entry to the precinct.

Now our community needs to vote to demonstrate that they are really behind the project. And, as we explain below, any Victorians over 16 can vote – so please ask your friends, relatives, colleagues – no matter where they live – to vote for our project.

Wasteland to Wellspring: a community art garden for Newstead’s Arts Hub

With VicTrack support, we now have a lovingly restored and well-used railway station building, but the surroundings remain an uninviting wasteland; muddy in winter, hot and unshaded in summer, inaccessible for wheelchairs and prams. Now, with lots of community input and working with the talented design team of Cassia and Anna Read, and a dedicated working group, we have created a garden design to inspire and connect our community. Funding through Pick My Project will enable us to realise our vision.

The design includes spaces for community celebration, cultural activities and quiet reflection. The garden will honour the many layers of our history – as Dja Dja Wurrung country through to today. And the garden will be a welcoming entry for locals and visitors alike into the evolving arts precinct at our railway station.

How to vote

The simple steps to voting are:

  • First register at https://pickmyproject.vic.gov.au – you’ll need to register your name and contact details.
  • Then, put your pin at the centre of Newstead, and look at the projects in our region. Wasteland to Wellspring is our project – please pick this one!
  • You can create a short list of up to 6 projects as you look around at the different projects in our region.
  • You need to vote for three projects, and you can’t give your three votes to the one project. Each vote is equal.
  • Then, when you are ready, you can vote for three projects. Once your vote is in you can’t change it, so take your time!

Invite your neighbours, friends and relative to vote for our project as well. They can vote for projects in Newstead and our region no matter where they live in Victoria.

And if you need help to register or vote, please let us know as we want to make sure everyone in our community can vote on this great project: Call Geoff on 0418 138 632 or Chris on 5476 2457 and we will help you lodge your vote in another way.