Welcome To The New Website for
THE VICTORIA PARK CENTRE FOR THE ARTS
and
THE CENTRE GALLERY
12 Kent Street, Victoria Park
9470 5520
Please bear with us as we develop the site
over the next few weeks
Exhibition Extended
We are pleased to announce that
Inspirations of Desert by Mojib Alzahrani
has been extended until Tuesday 15th of May
INSPIRATIONS OF THE DESERT
Paintings by Mojib Othman Alzahrani
On show from Friday 4th to Sunday 13th May
Open Monday to Friday 10 am to 4.00 pm
Mojib hails from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
His paintings have a great deal to do with peace between persons and nations and the possibility of universal humane decency. As one might expect he draws substantially on the brilliant Islamic tradition of formal non figurative art and the experience of the ever changing desert...Read more
A YEARNING FOR PEACE 
On view from Friday 1st of June to Friday 8th June.
Weekdays 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturdays 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm Closed Sundays
Art works by Senior Students from the Australian Islamic College Kewdale, WA.
This work from the first Islamic students to study art in Western Australian reflects their desire for peace, their need to set a distance between themselves and their earlier violent and traumatic experiences.
Art has often offered this kind of opportunity, a calm reflection on a troubled past, a yearning for peace...Read more
Ladies Style Hunter
This Sunday afternoon at the Centre volunteer Annette Wiguna held a Style Hunter for the redistribution of ladies fashions. 
The event complete with a DJ was a great success as you can see.
Annette is planning another event soon! Please contact us to find out more.
Photo courtesy of Trevor Morgan. Please see more photos of the event in Trevor's blog.
Centre Gallery presents work by Annette Peploe.
Saturday 21 April to Friday 27th, 10-4 weekdays
Opening 2.00 pm Saturday 21 April all welcome!
Annette is a self-taught artist, originally from South Africa. She is studying Divinity
and her work, whether abstract or figurative often includes reference to religious faith.
LEARN TO DRAW AND PAINT IN ONE DAY!
People are amazed at how quickly they can engage with the arts.
Malini Parker's Painting for Beginners is another one day intensive, where beginners are launched into the process of producing their own abstract paintings! This organized, supportive, structured art class teaches you Malini's personal seven step process to create good, strong, abstract paintings from scratch 'even if the last time you painted, your mum popped it on the fridge', says Malini.
Personally guided by Malini Parker, a widely exhibited abstract artist (you can see her work here), you are taken, step-by-step, through the very process that she uses to create her own art. You learn how to use a brush and prepare a canvas then progress steadily on to using texture and colour, making effective compositions, and how to finish paintings…along with many more of Malini’s personal tips to harness your creativity.
Irena Harper, the Centre's workshop's manager, herself an artist and teacher, runs a drawing class for beginners where she teaches people 'to learn to draw in one day'!
Irena has taught hundreds of students over the years and realized that she could integrate the fundamentals effectively into a one day intensive. Irena says that most people don't really believe that it's possible to achieve so much so quickly. They are surprised and delighted and feel confident to go on with their drawing or venture into other visual arts areas, such as painting, sculpture, working with pastels, watercolour or life drawing, knowing that they have foundation skills to build on.
Irena Harper has developed a unique approach to teaching drawing – in ONE day. It’s effective, comprehensive, intense and fun – all the things that I LOVE in an art workshop. Irena has taught over a thousand beginners how to draw in short courses at TAFE and Curtin, so she knows exactly what she’s doing!
She says, “I notice that some people will flourish more with one approach than another, so I use three different ones, and when combined they act synergistically! The results are well beyond what most beginners could imagine possible.”
Learn to draw in ONE day? Irena guarantees it! If you’d like to attend her workshop at the Victoria Park Centre for the Arts, there’s still a bit of space on April 21st and then again on July 21st.
As well as one day classes during the weekend for adults, the Centre offers regular weekly classes in drawing, painting, watercolour, claywork, pastels, screen acting, creative writing, knitting, crochet and guitar. For children/youth, the Centre offers arts/crafts, mixed media, cartooning, drama and creative writing.
Learn more about our art classes and workshops here!
CAGED
A series of photographs about our relationship to animals
by Kelly Hussey-Smith
7- 21 April
Kelly Hussey-Smith has long been interested in our paradoxical relationship to animals. We can recognise and respect them as our only companions in the ever more mysterious business of life. We know that they are sentient and enjoy a wide range of thought, emotion and desire. Nonetheless they are often treated with callous indifference and cruelty. Zoos and cages can bring out the best and worst in this relationship.
Hussey-Smith describes her work as follows
Caged was developed in response to the way we use animals for entertainment and decoration. Primarily developed around the subject of animals in captivity, the work has been designed to raise questions about our relationship to animals through recognizing their sentience, or capacity to feel. This work uses photography, text and video to bring forward the authors findings from fieldwork conducted in zoos in Australia, China, and Malaysia
A video work by the artist will also be presented
Rod Schaffer’s ‘Dark Series’
David Bromfield's review of the new exhibition
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“CLAYTALES” an experiment in learning through art
The Centre for the Arts, 12 Kent Street presents Clay Tale an adventure in learning in which a mixed class of intellectual disabled students from our partner, Nulsen and every enthusiast will be treated to stories from Simon James and work on ceramic sculpture under the eagle eye of Joanna Wakefield, a well known ceramic artist.
Students will listen to cultural stories from around the world with professional storyteller Simon James and then model and sculpt their own interpretation or image of the story with clay.
Simon will draw stories from all over the world including Pillywiggin (Germany) the Voyage of the Poppy kettle (Inca) and The Dragon of the Deep (China0
The clay sculptures will be fired in a sawdust kiln and exhibited at the VPCA.
Thursday mornings 9.30 -12, 8 weeks
26 April – 14 June 2012
Centre Gallery Symposium Satisfies ‘Foto’ Fans.
On Sunday afternoon, 19 March our Centre Gallery held a public symposium chaired by Director David Bromfield. Artists Peter Annand, Gary Cockburn and Matthew Haynes debated the virtues and dangers of digital photography and answered a variety of questions from a large audience whose enthusiasm was un-dampened by the 40 degree temperature in the gallery.
(for details of the exhibition see our gallery page on the VPAC website)
a Director David Bromfield (l) artists Matthew Haynes, Gary Cockburn, Peter Annand
b Pippa Tandy, Peter Annand.
c Matthew Haynes makes a point.
d Visitors to the symposium
Workshop Program Term 2 Courses 2012, April - July
Day and Evening Short Courses in
Arts, Crafts, Music & Drama
for Adults, Youth & Children
Volunteer helps out with new signage
for the Centre
Plans are afoot to improve the street front signage of the Centre.
We intend to install two low level wooden signboards, one for the Centre Gallery, one for the Centre Shop, which will be moving to the front of the building over the next few months.
Our newly arrived volunteer Starsing is a trained carpenter. As you can see here he has already completed one sign and will soon have the second ready to go.
Each sign will have relevant text and a logo. The shop logo is yet to be designed.
Both signs are to be brightly coloured welcoming and attractive.
We are looking for ideas about their final design and one or more people to paint them if you are interested, please contact David Bromfield at vicparkarts@westnet.com.au.
Staff, Members and Volunteers at the Centre's
CHRISTMAS DRINKS
FRIDAY 16TH DECEMBER
The Centre for the Arts wishes everyone
A Merry Christmas
and
A Prosperous, Happy New Year
The Centre will be closed to the public from Christmas Eve to Monday 16th of January.
Some of our workshops will commence from that date. You can check all offerings for term one on our workshop page
Meantime we will begin work on several initiatives to improve our service. Amongst them are
A digital gallery page for this website for direct sale of work.
A shop page to display new items in the Centre Shop
The Centre Shop will be moved to the front of building during the first half of 2012.
We hope to provide more gallery space and three new work stations and computers for volunteers in the current shop space.
Watch out for more information about these and other developments in the new year
Please find below details of the current exhibition in The Centre Gallery and notes on new reviews
Current Exhibition at The Centre
Members Christmas Exhibition
until 21 December
Then Gallery closed until 16th january
December Drawings
Martin Heine and Merrick Belyea
Benedict Moleta Perth Music Interviews Launch, December 10th
Kurb Gallery 312A William Street
Until 24th December
Review by David Bromfield
EWNE BELLANA opening party Friday 9th December.
Ewny Bellana 2011