"Since our last update on the Swanpool Creative Recycled Art Prize (SCRAP) in January this year, the world has changed enormously. We are currently in the amidst of a global pandemic that nobody could have imagined, so please do your bit to stay safe. Whilst I do normally work from home in Lima South, even I am getting cabin-fever during this lock-down. Plenty of time to plan for the future…

The threat of Covid-19 is all around us, and we ask that you remain diligent; stay home over Easter and socially isolate yourself. These are the things that we can all do to bring this virus under control so that our health system does not become over-whelmed and collapse under the strain.

The Swanpool Community, whilst isolated itself within regional North-East Victoria, is fully aware of what we all need to do to stay safe. And the SCRAP Working Group is putting the health and safety of volunteers and visitors to our annual are exhibition as the number one priority right now. 
​
Earlier this week we all met via Zoom, an on-line conference call tool that allows us to not only see each other on-line, but also talk through the possibility that we might need to cancel this year’s event, scheduled for August 1 - 19, with the Gala Opening Evening on Friday July 31. The working group has decided to continue with planning this event until we next meet in four weeks - so this is good news! 

AT THIS STAGE SCRAP 2020 IS GOING AHEAD FROM AUGUST 1 TO 19 2020 AS PLANNED

If you are an artist or budding artist, we encourage you to spend the extra time at home working on an entry, so that if we do go ahead, you will be ready and not have to have a last-minute rush to get ready for this fabulous event which turns recycled materials into wonderful artworks . Visit Swanpool and District Community Development Association's   website for entry details and online entry form, and keep your creative juices flowing.

We will review our decision as we get closer to August, depending on advice from our government and health authorities. We will however, not compromise the health and safety of our volunteers and visitors. 

We will also keep you informed each month now leading up SCRAP, and you can give use feedback via our Facebook Group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/2474466172784350/ ) as well - we would love to hear from you.  

I will send out another update early in May - in the meantime, have a safe and relaxing Easter.

Peter Finney
President
Swanpool & District Community Development Association
Sunday April 12 2020

​Albury City Council is developing a Maker Space and Creative Industries Incubator at the old Pump House on Waterworks Road, Albury. and is seeking feedback from artists and craftspeople in the Albury-Wodonga Region. 

The facility will include a range of equipment and machinery to support art and craft making and production within a variety of contexts.  Albury City believes the PumpHouse will nurture the development of creative industries and provide a space not only for the creation of art but also for experimenting, learning and networking. 

A document is currently being developed to define how the PumpHouse will work including general management, access, staffing, programming and membership models etc.  

The Council would like to hear from artists and craftspeople - professional, hobby, emerging - to discover who's out there, what they need and how a facility like this can play a role in developing the cultural sector more broadly. 

The PumpHouse Artists and Craftspeople Survey is now available: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Albury_PumpHouse_Survey 

If you would like to discuss the PumpHouse in more detail, contact 

Maz McGann
Facilitator // Consultant // Adviser
Arts, Culture, Heritage and Community
Play Your Part
0438 807 973
mmcgann@internode.on.net

Hi. 

Not sure whether NEA has received this information.  We've been in touch
with Catherine about promoting our business and she was wondering whether there
are others from NEA who would also wish to.  

Regards,

Tim & Ruth Schloss

STOP PRESS!  'BUY FROM BENALLA' - NEW ONLINE MARKET PLACE COMING SOON

Council has been working hard behind the scenes to support local retailers. We have come up with a new concept for an online one stop Buy Local marketplace with deliveries straight to your customers door.

Thanks to local tech startup Issimo Markets, in partnership with Midland Freight, Regional Development Victoria and Startup Shakeup we are just about ready for it to become a reality. Benalla will trial the concept in this first to market initiative, before it's rolled out across NE Victoria.

What:

• Free for any Benalla based business to register
• You'll need the internet & a smart phone
• Simply take pics of your products (in decent lighting)
• Upload your most popular products and add more as you have time
• The silver lining is you'll have an online store with Benalla as the winner - rather than each of us trying to attract customers in a difficult time.
• Developed and managed by tech wizards so when this crisis is over, you can continue to trade in "clicks and bricks" and add more features if you'd like.

SUPPORT AVAILABLE
1. Register your Interest below
2. You'll  then receive a link from Issimo Markets with all the instructions for setting up your page - it's super easy
3. Free training, webinars and phone support is also available
4. Once we have 20 businesses loaded we'll launch and market the site to local residents via letterbox drops and social media plus good news media releases.
5. Businesses will be encouraged to cross promote via their marketing channelstoo #buyfrombenalla.
6. There will be a small delivery fee charged per transaction, which businesses can choose to either absorb or slightly increase your product prices to cover it.

Interested in finding out more?  Register your interest below.

*It will go live as soon as we have a minimum of 20 retailers on board - so the sooner we hear from you the better for everyone.

If you'd like to chat more contact Catherine Macmillan on 0418 916 180 .

#buyfrombenalla #togetherwearestronger #collaboration #community #buylocal

Interested in 'Buy from Benalla' online marketplace? 
​
catherine.macmillan@benalla.vic.gov.au  

(Added in 2016)

(Added in 2013)

What to do when coming to terms with being 'In Isolation' during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic? 

​Merv has revisited his YouTube Channel, sharing workshop ideas on Facebook and adding them to his YouTube library!   There are five new videos to date... Enjoy!

Here's Merv's latest addition - 'Mucking about in digital' - Merv describes '"....mucking around in digital with a new video editor. This is a test to see if I can get it downloaded to YouTube."

Click on  the poster image to go to the online exhibition!

​Amongst the still and quiet objects and images, the radio calls from the kitchen. Its C news. More of it ….the words which change the world.  

In isolation. Its not new. The plague, Spanish flu SARS…nothing you can see, only that what you know curbs the world and contains you in a guarded bubble. Particularly if you live alone. Although it may seem contrary, isolation has produced artworks which have led thought and feeling over time and brought people together in meditative reflection or celebration. Here are a few I’ve noted, you will know more I’m sure.

Relying only on his memory of sound, Beethoven created musical masterpieces,  These include the last five piano sonatas, the Missa solemnis, the Ninth Symphony, with its choral finale, and the last five string quartets.

Edvard Munch created the works of his sister and mother dying ….tuberculosis. and “The Scream” the cry of not knowing understanding – a psycho thriller with nature as the plot….
Goya produced the “Black Paintings” in his little farmhouse called “Quinta del Sordo” the deaf man’s house. He was alone, remote, out of work and eventually left Spain, self exiled in France.

Ian Fairweather, a Scottish born artist who moved to Australia via China and elsewhere in the East was a determined loner. He lived in the rear half of a boat washed up on the beach in Queensland for a while. The locals called him the “Rear Admiral”. He sailed solo to Indonesia on a raft of his own crude making with a kerosene tin filled with water as the major part of his supplies. He made it, by the way. Ultimately he lived in a hand made hut on Bribie Island, painting his memories. People lined up at the gallery doors days before the Official Opening of his exhibitons in Sydney (including Robert Hughes. Every show was a sell out.

Yes, all grand and shining examples of human imagination and achievements in extreme circumstances..
​
But let’s look at Chardin. Or Vermeer. Or Erik Satie. Or some Bach – the unaccompanied cello works. The limpid quietness of the images and notes. We can reflect with composure there. Carefully observed and faithfully recorded. Or Dale Hickey’s paintings of solitary cups, or the stillness and remote quality of Hans Heysen’s watercolours and pastels of the Flinders Ranges.

These strike me with a cause to stop and see. When I move on from these works I take something with me, I feel with a larger set of measures. It will be different for others I’m sure.
 
How has the Corona virus affected you? Everything is a little or a lot different. Has it changed the way you imagine and make your art or craft? This is not a formal exhibition proposal, but a chance to share your reflections, insights and feelings with fellow members on this website. We will try to include as many as possible and will concentrate on the most recent if we can’t cope with the numbers. A statement about your work could be helpful. If you like.
 
If our members like this idea, we could keep it for the whole interregnum  - our Coronavirus NEA journal.

Simon Klose
NEA Exhibitions Coordinator

Please forward images and other files as attachments to Simon Klose at simonklose@yahoo.com.  For further information, contact Simon on  0412 545 656

​From NEA's Elaine Murphy, a new work, 'Spread the Love' and message 'Do the right thing, and please everybody, stay safe!'

Cathy Pianta's oil pastel 'A Life of Colour' recently won the category ‘Oils, acrylics and mixed media’ at the Rutherglen Tastes of Art Show.   'A Life of Colour’ recognises the work of Margaret Olley and her love of colour and flowers, in particular. 

"I love Margaret Olley as a subject and have done several portraits of her, one of which won this year’s Tatong Art Show  ‘Works on paper’ category.   Margaret was a wonderful Australian artist who took time to mentor and support emerging artists.  She had an eye and a love for colour.  I’ve used oil pastel for the three portraits I’ve done of Margaret as I am constantly amazed at the way they blend to create layers and layers of unique colours whilst being able to subtly blend to create intimate shades and shadows.  I thank Mervin Beamish for getting me hooked on pastels although I work with other media as well.  

I’d love to thank the sponsors of the Rutherglen Art Show as Australia needs all the support for the arts we can have."