Saturday, 22 March 2025
Randwick Town Hall
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Thank you, Kym.^[1]

I, too, acknowledge the Gadigal and Bidjigal peoples of this area of the Sydney coast and pay my respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.

Councillor Dylan Parker, Mayor of Randwick, Special Guests – all,

Thank you for the invitation to open the 33rd annual Art of Sydney Awards Exhibition. It is a great pleasure for both Dennis and I to join you as Patrons of the Combined Art Societies of Sydney.

When we think of the great names of Australian art, we might think of any of a number of artists - Margaret Preston, Margaret Olley, Brett Whiteley or, of particular relevance here in Randwick, Arthur Streeton, who was so drawn to Coogee as a young artist, that in 1890, he set sail from Melbourne for Sydney with 70 pounds in his pocket,^[2] to paint: ‘en plein air’.

Streeton would return to paint the seascapes of Coogee a number of times in later years.

What Streeton, as a young artist, discovered through painting the light and the seascapes of Coogee anew was that art is perfected as a process – through ‘doing’ - through observation, experimentation, repetition and re-working.

Art also benefits from the insights and perspectives of others – hence the importance of the artists’ society. This, too, Streeton found here in Sydney, establishing an artists’ camp at Sirius Cove.^[3]

The importance of a society of support is something that artists from Drummoyne, Ryde and St. George Art Societies realised in 1989, calling a meeting to discuss bringing Art Societies, from all over Sydney, into closer contact with one another.

The aim was: “to unite and strengthen the standing of art societies in our community, to gain greater recognition for art societies and to encourage a standard of excellence among individual artists within our Societies.”

Just over a year later, the first, highly successful Art of Sydney exhibition was held in January 1991, under the umbrella of the Sydney Festival, at the Sydney Opera House, and was officially opened by actor, Leonard Teale.

Now in its 33rd year, the Societies’ initiative has made a significant contribution to promoting art and artists in the community, through the 12 member societies, and is run entirely by volunteers from the Societies across Sydney and the wider area.

In promoting this Exhibition to member societies and, in addition, holding it here within the heart of the community at Randwick Town Hall, this Exhibition sends a strong message: that this community values art, values its creatives, and the impact that art can have on the community.

And what an impressive and inspiring exhibition it is!

In total, 89 participating artists have submitted almost 300 artworks on a wide range of subjects, representing a diversity of art styles and media.

Each of the artists represented here benefits from the encouragement and the opportunity this Awards Exhibition provides to reach a wider audience.

As someone who lives with an artist, and sculptor – I know that the opportunities to exhibit, to share your work publicly, are priceless. It can make all the difference in inspiring an artist to keep ‘taking up’ the paints, the prints, the pencils or brushes.

Thank you to the Artists for sharing their work, the Combined Art Societies of Sydney and generous supporters, and Randwick City Council and Town Hall for providing this opportunity.

To everyone here, thank you for your support of Artists in our community, and this Exhibition’s nominated registered charity, Careflight Australia.

It is my pleasure to open the Combined Art Societies of Sydney 33^rd Awards Exhibition: ‘Art of Sydney’.

[1] Kym Morris, President, Combined Art Societies of Sydney

[2] https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/now-and-then-what-s-changed-since-arthur-streeton-painted-sydney-130-years-ago-20201028-p568e7.html

[3] https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/brotherhood-of-the-brush-the-artists-who-colonised-sydney-harbour-20190729-p52bun.html