Retreat to inspire
More than 100 artists from across Australia will gather at Longerenong College this week to learn, network and create, with the natural characteristics of the Wimmera’s landscape front-of-mind.
Western Victorian not-for-profit art organisation Grampiansarts will host a five-day artist workshop and retreat at the agricultural college, near Horsham, for artists across several streams of fine art mediums.
The retreat, called ‘Summer Brushes 23’, will host 11 ‘tutors’ — leaders in various mediums from across Australia — for 120 visiting artists who will participate in their preferred intensive workshop.
Grampiansarts co-ordinator Adelle Rohrsheim said workshop tutors would incorporate the characteristics of the Wimmera’s summer landscape into their programs.
“It is a great opportunity to promote what we have in the Wimmera landscape — a landscape that will be very different for many of the visiting artists,” she said.
The retreat is the second of Grampiansarts’ Summer Brushes intensive workshops after their first attempt in 2020 finished just prior to the introduction of statewide COVID-19 restrictions.
Mrs Rohrsheim said after the 2021 and 2022 retreats were cancelled, it was ‘full steam ahead’ for ‘Summer Brushes 23’.
“We have 100 artists booked to stay on-site at the college, as well as some artists who will stay in the surrounding region. After COVD restrictions, and the realisation that we all struggled with the isolation, an artist retreat like this was needed to meet new friends and better our mental health,” she said.
She said after the five-day intensive workshops, the larger group would regather and present their work and discuss experiences.
Workshop hosts specialise in a medium, which will include pencil, water colour, oil paints, acrylic, pastel, mixed media and print.