Nolan Gallery and Nolan School of Art

16/10/2026

I'll post this again. Term 4 begins this Monday. Classes online.

I missed out on being interviewed by 7 News today because I left my phone at home. Duhhh. Anyhow the question they wanted to ask was "what do kids get out of art" ? So I'll answer it anyhow. It also applies to those of us who are not kids.
You can make art if you are not tall, not athletic, are poorly coordinated, have a tin ear, have poor social skills, are colour blind, are not academically gifted etc etc. In other words it's a forgiving activity and from experience some of these attributes( or lack of) may actually help.
Art gives you something to look forward to. Its possible to discover new things about yourself and the world every time you put pencil to paper or brush to canvas.
Art doesn't require a uniform. Even an apron is optional.
Art doesn't need expensive materials. In fact if you think that spending a lot of money on equipment makes you a better artist you are a gifted shopper instead of artist.
Art is not competitive. Despite what those who make the rules say.
Art doesn't have rules.
Art is fun. Also maddening, frustrating, addictive, joyful, (insert gamut of emotions here.)
Art is a great place to meet people who are fun to be with.
Art is not fattening. This is good.
So that's what I would have said.
The illustration is by a wonderful student of mine , Eva. She knows Art is fun.

19/09/2026

Thank you Andrew

17/09/2026

An interview with Elizabeth Barsham

Ease into your evening.

16/09/2026

Mooooo

Thanks to Nolan Gallery and Nolan School of Art my windblown cows are flying off to Chicago VIEW FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE
oil on canvas 76cm x 50cm

06/09/2026

Storytelling.

At the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, set to open in South Los Angeles later this month, the art of “Star Wars” is featured right alongside cave paintings and Norman Rockwell. CNN’s Dan Heching visited the futuristic, cloud-like building for a preview of the sprawling collection.

05/09/2026

Opens today at 2pm

03/09/2026

Fabulous.

Remedios Varo (Spanish-Mexican painter) 1908 - 1963
Taxi Acuático (Water Taxi), 1962
oil on canvas
37 x 27 cm. (14.57 x 10.63 in.)
signed low right
private collection
© photo unknown

Remedios Varo was a Spanish-Mexican surrealist painter. She was born in Anglés Cataluna, Spain in 1908 and died from a heart-attack in Mexico City in 1963. During the Spanish Civil War she fled to Paris where she was largely influenced by the surrealist movement. She met in Barcelona the french surrealist poet Benjamin Péret and became his wife. She was forced into exile from Paris during the N**i occupation of France and moved to Mexico City at the end of 1941. She initially considered Mexico a temporary haven, but would remain in Latin America for the rest of her life.

In Mexico she met native artists such as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. However, her strongest ties would be to other exiles and expatriates, and especially her extraordinary friendship with the English painter Leonora Carrington. Her last major relationship would be with Walter Gruen, an Austrian who had endured concentration camps before escaping Europe. Gruen believed fiercely in Varo, and gave her the support that allowed her to fully concentrate on her painting.

After 1949 Varo developed into her mature and remarkable style, which remains beautifully enigmatic and instantly recognizable. She often worked in oil on masonite panels she prepared herself. Although her colors have the blended resonance of the oil medium, her brushwork often involved many fine strokes of paint laid closely together - a technique more reminiscent of egg tempera. She died at the height of her career.

Her work continues to achieve successful retrospectives at major sites in Mexico and the United States.

Source: Wikipedia