02/09/2025
Some photos from the very successful opening of the MAPBM 'Aerie' Exhibition at Wentworth Falls School of Arts last Sunday 31 August by Blue Mountains Deputy Mayor Cr Romola Hollywood. Over 60 people attended the opening.
'Aerie' features five new works commissioned from MAPBM artists and five works from previous MAPBM exhibitions which like 'Aerie' were held in historically significant buildings across the Blue Mountains. A sixth new work will be performed by Katya Petetskaya on 6 and 7 September.
MAPBM would like to thank the exhibition curator Cassandra Hard Lawrie and the artists who developed or loaned works for the show: Fiona Davies, Beata Geyer, Anne Graham (with Boris Hunt), Tom Isaacs, Sean O'Keeffe, Naomi Oliver, Eloise Maree, Peachey & Mosig, Katya Petetskaya, Alan Schacher (with Sam James) and Rebecca Waterstone.
We would also like to thank Cr Hollywood and the many local residents who contributed to the oral history component of the project and the Blue Mountains City Council (especially the Cultural Development team) and the Blue Mountains City of the Arts Trust for their assistance to the exhibition. The project would also not have been possible without the support of the MAPBM Committee (in particular Committee Chair Miriam Williamson and member Fiona Davies) and other MAPBM members, especially Brad Allen Waters who managed much of the installation. Above all, MAPBM would like to thank everyone who attended our opening for their support.
'Aerie' has been a long time in the making, and stemmed from a meeting with then cultural development staff Katrina Noorbergen and Paul Brinkman over two years ago which discussed how MAPBM could support Council's project to revitalise the School of Arts with new infrastructure through a 'takeover' of the building for a few weeks as a contemporary visual, digital art and performance space.
In response I (Alex Gooding) had the idea of an exhibition linking the 1915 building's long history as a community and cultural space with MAPBM's then 10-year record as a significant producer and exhibiter of contemporary art. This became the basis for a successful Trust funding application.
Since then there have been many changes and difficulties to overcome including several delays in completing the improvements to the building, but I would personally like to thank Cassandra for developing my simple idea into the wonderful concept of 'Aerie', and all the artists who responded through the development of great new works or who have loaned their previous artworks to support the exhibition.
'Aerie' will continue to Friday 14 September and is open Friday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm. In addition there is a significant public program of events. For more information please visit https://www.modernartprojects.org/news/aerie-at-wf-school-of-arts
All photos by Alex Gooding.
