Western Sydney University Parramatta exhibition to showcase 40 years of Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop

Monica McMahon, Western Sydney University art curator, said the exhibition - which will take place at Parramatta Campus - will honour the society’s founder Kevin Oxley, as well as supporting the group’s current membership base of 70 art lovers.

“The exhibition will really contextualise what the Workshop has been for people over the last 40 years,” Ms McMahon said.

“It will showcase current members and their contemporary art practices including painting, pottery, ceramics, sculptures and printmaking.

“There will be a second area devoted to their disability support workshops, and another section will be honouring the founder, Kevin Oxley, who came up with the idea [for the society].

“We have borrowed some works from the trustees of [Mr Oxley’s] estate and we will be showcasing these. There will also be showing some news clippings from the beginning and around that time.”

Mr Oxley established Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop at Hawkesbury Agricultural College (now Western Sydney University) in Richmond in 1978, and worked there until 1983.

He was a painter, printmaker and sculptor, and held over 30 one-man exhibitions during his career.

The upcoming exhibition was a joint project between the members of the Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop and WSU, and took the better part of a year to put together.

“It’s for people to come and touch base and see what an amazing time the seventies were for art societies [like Hawkesbury],” said Ms McMahon.

“It’s one of the longest-running workshops around. Forty years is significant, and the members should be congratulated for starting it and continuing to run it - they’ve just done an amazing thing.”

The exhibition will compare the beginnings of the Workshop to their focus in modern times. For example, the society provided dance classes back in the seventies, and textiles was also very popular at the time.

“It was a really dynamic time,” said Ms McMahon.

President of the Workshop, Josephine Blue, said thousands of people have been involved with the group over the years, such is the need in the Hawkesbury for an arts workshop run by the community.

“Half our members will be represented at the exhibition. There’ll be pottery, printmaking, painting, pieces created by our disability groups – it’s appraising of everyone,” Ms Blue said.

The members – ranging from school age right up to 85 years old -meet at the old Woolshed on Hawkesbury Campus, and members can display their works in the Piggery Lane Gallery around the corner. 

The group is run by volunteers, and the facilities on the university campus are maintained using donations, fundraising, and grants. 

“We’re grateful to be here at the uni, to the various groups who have given us grants over the years,” Ms Blue said.

Regular classes at the Woolshed include watercolour, classes for adults with disability, painting, life drawing, portrait groups, printmaking, and special classes with celebrity teachers. 

Ms Blue said while the group had changed a lot from the seventies ‘crafts heydey’ of leather and calligraphy, disciplines like pottery were experiencing a resurgence.

“All creative arts are experiencing an upsurge because of depersonalisation due to the rise of technology. People want to get back to using their hands and making art,” she said.

The community is invited to attend the ‘Drawing on the past: Forty Years of Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop’ exhibition opening on Saturday, November 10 at 2pm, at Margaret Whitlam Galleries, Female Orphan Studio, Building EZ, Western Sydney University Parramatta Campus, Rydalmere (off Victoria Road).

The opening will include a keynote address from co-founder of the society, Emeritus Professor Graham Swain AM - Patron of Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop.

RSVPs are essential by Wednesday, November 7, to Monica McMahon by phone on 4620 3450 or email monica.mcmahon@westernsydney.edu.au.

The exhibition will continue until Friday, February 22, 2019. It is free to attend on Thursdays and Fridays, 10am until 4pm, or group visits can be arranged outside of those times by contacting the venue.

The Workshop is taking new members. Contact hawkesburycommunityartsworkshop@yahoo.com.au or join the Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop group page on Facebook.