After a week of splashing colour and creativity up and down the South Coast from Durras to Bermagui, this year’s River of Art will close on Sunday but not before a weekend of spectacular events and exhibitions.
The Garden Poet Performance in the Market Place in Batehaven on Friday and the launch of Milena Citfali’s book, Mallacoota Time on Saturday at Four Winds, Barragga Bay, are two of the big events scheduled for this closing weekend alongside a raft of exhibitions, art on parade and open studios.
Tilba Talks Heritage Walks will again be running two of its walks this weekend – one focusing on Centra Tilba taking in the geographical and cultural features of the town and area while the other is an Art on Parade walking tour around Narooma. For booking details, see https://www.riverofart.com.au/custom_events/tilba-talks-heritage-walks/ and https://www.riverofart.com.au/custom_events/art-on-parade-twilight-walk/
Bodalla is the location for a couple of the exhibitions with Reclaimed and Revived at the Artisans Nest and Exploring our Seashores at the Bodalla Dairy Shed. Photos taken by Bodalla Primary School students in the School Selfies Photo Project are on exhibition at the Narooma Library.
Just under 20 studios will be open from Surf Beach to Bermagui featuring ceramics, fabrics, paintings, printworks, jewellery and sculpture. For the full list, see the Open Studios section of the River of Art website, https://www.riverofart.com.au/art/events/open-studio/
In addition, a number of galleries, including the recently opened Mungala Bugaali Gallery at the Teapot Café in Tilba will be open throughout the festival’s closing weekend. And in many of the region’s towns and villages are shopfronts displaying local art as part of the Art on Parade feature.
But while the festival comes to a close on Sunday, the six murals which have been painted in Bateman’s Bay, Moruya, Narooma and Tilba Tilba as part of the festival’s new event, REVIVE, will be enduring artistic legacies for Eurobodalla. The final paint strokes on the murals will also take place this weekend.
Above: the mural at Woogonga Inlet, Narooma, designed by local indigenous artist, Cheryl Overton, and painted by Katungal Aboriginal health service volunteers and Tim Phibs.
The full program can be found on www.riverofart.com.au .
River of Art is funded by the NSW Government through Destination NSW and the Eurobodalla Shire Council.
