October 2022 marked the 40th anniversary of the month-long Women and Arts Festival, which was celebrated throughout New South Wales in 1982, as part of a State Government initiative to highlight women’s contribution to the arts.
For Sydney’s Northern Region, a voluntary committee of more than 20 local women, led by co-ordinator Jennifer Isaacs, organised a wide programme of activities with support from schools, clubs, women’s organisations, senior citizen groups and individual artists.
Over 25 workshops, exhibitions, performances, and events were organised, covering visual arts and crafts, Aboriginal arts, food, dance, literature, photography, and film. Many of North Sydney’s open spaces, community venues and commercial galleries were utilised. Over 300 women artists participated in the festival.
The major event in North Sydney was the completion of the mural – Heaven – on the wall of Stanton Library in September 1982 by Bronwen Bassett, Jenny Pitty and Katy O’Conner.
The artists led workshops with the community, including mothers at the North Sydney Leisure Centre playgroups and senior citizens at Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre, to establish key themes. Co-ordinator Bronwen Bassett described the result: ‘as an art form the mural has two messages, one is the view of North Sydney as an ideal place to live –a fantasy. The other is simply to provide some colour in the landscape. The mural depicts all kinds of women against a backdrop of homes, open spaces, birds, and native plants.’
As part of the festival, Dr B Marika, a Yirrkala woman from the Northern Territory living in North Sydney at the time, coordinated a two-week exhibition of Aboriginal women’s craft at the Seasons Gallery, entitled Miyalkgu Djama (‘women’s work’). It was the first-time traditional women’s arts had been exhibited in North Sydney. The exhibition was so successful that it was followed by annual repeat shows.
Thancoupie, Australia’s first Aboriginal potter who was also residing in North Sydney, ran children’s pottery, painting, and story workshops as part of the festival. A book on her life and work by Jennifer Isaacs, Thancoupie the Potter, was launched at Stanton Library by civil rights activist Faith Bandler and sculptor Marea Gazzard.
The success of the Women and Arts Festival led to the formation of the North Sydney Women and Arts Group. Thanks to the support of that group, North Sydney Council appointed a Community Arts Officer to continue the creative momentum which the festival had begun. Today, North Sydney offers a wide variety of inclusive arts and cultural events, the pinnacle of which is the biennial North Sydney Art Prize.
Historical Services, Stanton Library, North Sydney Council