A
Short History
By M. Harwood
The
Inaugural meeting of meeting of the Holroyd Art & Craft Society was held on
The
Society met weekly in a rented room in
Our
workshops continued meeting at the original venue until June 1976 when we
opened a larger workshop in an area of the Merrylands Mall by courtesy of their
management. In July 1976 our second mid-year exhibition was so successful it
gave us hope for a bright future.
Holroyd
Council approved our application for the use of a building (which has since
been demolished). Members cleaned and painted with great vigour and enthusiasm.
We occupied our room in March and added Macramé to our list of activities.
Demonstrations by the late Mr. Fred Martin, Mr. Allan Fizzell and Mr. Michael
Zaiter were enthusiastically attended. Also our members gained an insight into
sculpting with Mr. David Brodie. Our grant application to the Australia Council
realised $1000 towards the purchase of a kiln for a pottery workshop. This
necessitated the installation of three-phase wiring. However, this was done and
with our third mid-year exhibition, the most successful to date, a kiln for
China Painting was purchased, enabling students to fire their own work instead
of sending it out. Next came the purchase of two electric pottery wheels,
providing students with the opportunity for a greater variety of works.
During
the following school holidays and with a $150 donation from the Holroyd
Community Arts Association, we held two handicraft days and four painting
classes for the local children at our Mall workshop. The reactions of the
children made this effort very worthwhile. At this stage in our short history,
we had 167 financial members who were participating in oil painting,
copper-tooling, macramé, china painting and pottery.
Later it
became necessary for the Holroyd Council to demolish the existing building
which we occupied and upgrade the remaining building, so once again in 2000 we
were again on the move. This time to our present location in the space previously
occupied by the Municipal library, upstairs in the Holroyd Centre, Miller
Street Merrylands. It was no mean task to move our kilns upstairs and this was
accomplished with the aid of a crane.
Since
its inception, the Family Festival (now 'Cityfest') has featured in our
activities and the members look forward each year to staging an exhibition of
their work.
Over the
years it has given our members great pleasure in helping out with craft lessons
for some of the organisations for disabled people in the community.
The
Dunrossil Challenge Foundation in Merrylands has a special place in the hearts
of our members. Each year we have stage an exhibition of our work in their very
pleasant surroundings, making it possible for us to contribute financially to
their running expenses. Our opening nights have always been a big success and
have been attended by well-known TV and stage personalities and local identity,
Johnny Lockwood. Those who have generously given their time are Paula Duncan
and John Orcsik, Lorrae Desmond, Cecily Polson, Joanna Lockwood and Sid
(Cookie) Heylen, to name but a few.
Demonstrations
at our workshop by well-known professional artists have been held on a regular
basis for members and interested non-members.
We look
back on the good times shared and the progress we have made in providing the
opportunity for anyone to not only learn a creative activity, but to enjoy the
company of like minded friends and benefit from a stimulating and therapeutic
point of view. Thus we are grateful and express our thanks to all those who
have helped us achieve our aims, in particular to Holroyd City Council and we
know, with continued support, the future promises to be even better.