A unique opportunity to observe the creative process of professional artists working on outdoor sculpture will be made available to the public during the inaugural Walcha Sculpture Symposium, to be held in September.
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The artists will arrive on Sunday, September 9 and begin working with timber to create a sculpture during the seven-day event. The resulting artworks will then become permanent additions to Walcha’s notable Open Air Gallery. This permanent public outdoor exhibition of artworks and sculptures currently consists of 52 works by local, national and international artists, installed in the Walcha streetscape.
The selected colony of artists will include: Caz Haswell and Dale Miles, from Sydney; Nameer Davis and Barbara Penrose from Brisbane and Matt Pilkington from Armidale.
Matt Pilkington is a youth worker for Backtrack, a non-profit, educational and life skills initiative for young people aged 11-19 years from rural and remote communities who are simply having a hard time. The artist assistants for the symposium will include youths from the Backtrack Program, who will be mentored by the professional artists.
BackTrack has recently come to the attention of a wider audience through a documentary, produced by acclaimed director Catherine Scott, premiering at the 2018 Sydney Film Festival, taking out the coveted Audience Award.
A series of events will take place over the week-long Walcha Sculpture Symposium including a dinner on Tuesday, September 11, at which the professional artists will speak. On Thursday, Sept 13 from 2 pm there will be a free Open Studio at the showground where the sculptures are being created. Group Guided tours of the Open Air Gallery can also be arranged for this day if booked prior with Walcha Tourism.
Walcha Gallery of Art will hold an exhibition opening of previous works from the selected professional artists on Friday, September 14.
On Saturday, September 15 there will be a quality Makers Market held in conjunction with the Walcha Farmers Market at McHattan Park. Public guided tours of the Open Air Gallery will also be available. An exhibition of the newly created sculptures will take place at the showground after the markets to close the event.
For more information contact the Walcha Visitor Information Centre.