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You will be able to book tickets from 9:30am on Wednesday 29th January.
Book here
Lecturers: Kim Spooner and Luke Thurgate

Location: State Library of New South Wales, Macquarie Street, Sydney

Whether you’re interested in the physical spaces of libraries, the knowledge that they store or the systems that libraries use for organising information, this project will let you spend four days in the magnificent State Library of NSW. You will have the opportunity to draw in the historic Mitchell Library as well as the intriguing modern sections of architecture that make up the complex. Library staff will introduce you to the vast wealth of geographic maps, architectural plans, historic prints, photographs and drawings as well as archives of the personal papers of significant Australian artists.

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John Bokor, drawing from the State Library Residency 2015
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If libraries are your ‘place’ here’s your opportunity to get to know this important building and collection intimately. If the ‘archive’ project in second year was (or will be) your driving force, then come and explore the depth of possibilities that research based drawing can offer. A week spent here could fuel a life long love and association with one of our most intriguing and diverse resources.

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Materials to bring on first day:

paper, eraser & dry drawing materials (eg pencils, charcoal, pens, markers).

NO BOTTLED INK, PAINT OR WATERCOLOUR ALLOWED IN LIBRARY

Resources and References:

All pictures on this page courtesy State Library of New South Wales. Photographer: Joy Lai.

To see what the collection contains, view the Library’s general website https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/

You can see curated stories about the collections at https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories

Pictorial material can be found in the manuscripts and pictures catalogue at https://acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/s/search.html?collection=slnsw. If you select the button records with images you will only see collection material that has been digitised.

There is a site on the Holtermann collection at https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/holtermann-collection – if you scroll down to the bottom of these pages, you can see images from the collection which can be zoomed in on, for their detail. You can also find these images in the pictures catalogue by searching using the words holtermann and hill end.

Lecturers: 

Lecturers: 

97. Long After Magritte
Kim Spooner, Long after Magritte, charcoal on Saunders w/c cotton rag, 350gsm, 152 x 152cm

Kim Spooner is an established artist who has had 19 Solo Exhibitions throughout Australia. She is represented by Annandale Galleries, Sydney. Her work is held in the National Collection, The German Embassy Sydney, as well as notable Private Collections in Australia and overseas. She has won the Portia Geach Memorial Award, Campbelltown Art Prize and her work has been exhibited in the Archibald, Sulman, Dobell Prize Exhibitions and many others. She is known for her incisive paintings and drawings which allude subtle narratives relating to literature and the traditions of painting, as well as a mastery of traditional mediums including egg tempera and encaustic painting. Kim’s most recent drawings are a personal conversation with iconic artists. Kim is a respected lecturer in painting and drawing at the National Art School.

Luke Thurgate, ‘Stacks on’ 2023

Luke Thurgate’s multi-disciplinary studio practice explores the construction and deconstruction of ‘identity’ in relation to masculinity, sexuality, romance and fear. His recent work uses the monster as a surrogate ’other’ to explore tensions between parody and sincerity, menace and pathos, vulnerability and power. Luke’s work borrows from a range of sources, including popular culture, pornography, and queer history.