Bowral & District

Tuesday 25 February 2025
THE LEGACY OF AUSTRALIA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL GARDEN DESIGNER, EDNA WALLING
Presented by Trisha Dixon
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

Thers is no doubt she changed the face of gardening in Australia from look at me gardens to one of living in – sitting under leafy pergolas, lying on chamomile lawns, acknowledging borrowed landscapes, subtle colours, simple species rather than a collection of rare species (for harmony and tranquillity), but mostly it was her use of space as the most important element and by acknowledging and utilising space as utmost importance, she could make the smallest town gardens into a series of interlinked gardens to walk through and explore rather than an open garden that could be seen all at once. Having looked at the paper plans of all other designers worldwide of her era, no one had her indefinable and unerring artistic style that meant her plans are treasured works of art.

Tuesday 18 March 2025
PETRA AND THE NABATEANS: THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM
Presented by Sue Rollin
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

In this lecture we trace the history of the enigmatic Nabateans, desert dwellers of Arabian origin, who grew fabulously rich on trade in incense and aromatics from South Arabia and established their capital city at Petra, hidden away in the mountains south of the Dead Sea. There, from the multi-coloured sandstone of their remote desert stronghold, the Nabateans carved impressive tombs, cultic dining halls and a grand theatre. They worshipped their gods from remote and beautiful ‘high places’ in the mountains, built palaces, elegant villas and temples in the valleys and embellished their city with water courses and gardens.

Sue Rollin lives in London and holds degrees in Near Eastern archaeology, South Asian studies and conference interpreting. She has tutored and lectured at London and Cambridge Universities, been a staff interpreter at the European Commission, and currently works as a freelance interpreter, lecturer and tour guide. Sue has travelled widely for work and pleasure and has led cultural tours in Spain, Sicily, Morocco, the Middle East, Central Asia and India. She has co-authored travel guides on Jordan and on Istanbul. In the UK, Sue lectures for the Arts Society and the V&A and she has done four previous ArtsNational lecture tours.

Tuesday 8 April 2025
THE ART OF THE QIANLONG PERIOD
Presented by Jackie Menzies
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) reigned China 1736-1795 at a time of prosperity and territorial expansion. His long reign was the high point of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Qing emperors ruled from the Forbidden City in Beijing. Qianlong identified himself as the ruler of five peoples: Manchus, Chinese, Monglos, Tibetans and Uighurs. Qianlong was a brilliant strategist, an exceptional scholar, a poet and connoisseur. He amassed many works of art as a tribute to the magnificent, unique heritage successive generations of Chinese had created. Under him new artistic styles were created through interactions with the cultures of Mongolia, Tibet and the West. This lecture examines aspects of the Imperial collections under Qianlong’s reign, while acknowledging the dispersal and loss of many pieces that occurred with the 1860 sacking by French and British troops of the Yuanming Yuam Summer Palace.

Tuesday 13 May 2025
ABOUT FACE: How to Read Portraits
Presented by Alice Foster
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

The Oxford English Dictionary defines portraiture as “a representation…of a person, especially the face…”. However, this simple explanation belies the complexities of reproducing the face. Portraits are distinct from other categories in art in the way they are made, the nature of what they represent and how they work in terms of display. This lecture will explore how portraits range from the symbolic to images where concern with identity opens up character, personality, mood, status, costume, occupation, gender and age, and the relationship between sitter and painter.

Alice Foster has lectured for Oxford University Department of Continuing Education since 1998. She lectures regularly at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. Her busy freelance career includes organising History of Art study days with colleagues, and regular weekly classes in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire. In 2004 Alice joined The Arts Society and has lectured in Britain and in Europe.

Tuesday 10 June 2025
ART OF THE INFINITE SKY
Presented by Sam Bowker
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

Artists, architects and cartographers have worked with scientists to describe and predict the movements of celestial objects. Through their pursuit of knowledge they created extraordinary artworks. This lecture will survey some of the most remarkable astronomical artefacts from the early modern period, including Indigenous Australian, Indian, Islamic and Renaissance astrological charts, astrolabes, armillary spheres and orreries, as exquisite relics from the history of art and science.

Associate Professor Sam Bowker specializes in Art History and Visual Culture at Charles Sturt University, where he is also the Sub Dean of Graduate Research. Beyond developing Australia’s leading Islamic art and design subject for university students, he is a shadow puppeteer, a curator of diverse exhibitions, and has published widely on the history of Egyptian tentmaker applique. He also lectures for ‘The Art of Everywhere Else’ – a global art history survey, shared online with ArtsNational in 2024. 

Tuesday 15 July 2025
A CARPET RIDE TO KHIVA: A Personal Story of Reviving Ancient Silk Carpet Designs
Presented by Chris Aslan
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

Chris Aslan tells his own story of working with UNESCO to establish a silk carpet workshop in the desert oasis of Khiva, Uzbekistan – the most homogenous example of Islamic architecture in the world. His work took him to the bazaars of Afghanistan to purchase natural dyes, and to the great libraries and museums of Europe to track down 15th century manuscripts to revive carpet designs from their illuminations. He also saw the lives of women transformed and became the largest private employer in town.

Chris spent his childhood in Turkey and in war-torn Beirut and is currently based in Cambridge. His career extended from the sea, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Oxford. He established a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries which became the largest nongovernment employer in town. He was kicked out as part of an anti-Western purge and recorded his experiences in “A Carpet Ride to Khiva”. The lecture traces his time in Khiva and the book that followed.

Tuesday 12 August 2025
FABER AND FABER – 90 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE IN COVER DESIGN
Presented by Toby Faber
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

Faber and Faber has been one of London’s most important literary publishing houses since 1925. Its success was founded on the editorial team built by Geoffrey Faber and his successors, but also the firm’s insistence on good design. This lecture traces the firm’s history through its illustrations, covers and designs. Faber and Faber has employed some of Britain’s most celebrated artists as cover illustrators – from Rex Whistler and Barnett Freedman to Peter Blake and Damien Hirst. A grandson of the founder, Toby grew up steeped in its books, was Managing Director for five years and remains a board member

Toby Faber began his career with Natural Sciences at Cambridge, followed by investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music and a director of Liverpool University Press.

Tuesday 9 September 2025
PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN: From Monet to Matisse
Presented by Lydia Bauman
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

Monet, perhaps the most important painter of gardens, once said he owed his painting “to flowers”. But so many other artists not only created gardens but made them the subject of their work – such as Pissarro, Sargent, Tissot, Kandinsky, Klee, Van Gogh, Klimt and Matisse.
The modern garden, transformed by 19th century innovations such as hybridisation, glasshouses and foreign exploration, was part of a great social change to which artists responded from the 1860s onwards. This talk traces the appearance of the garden as a modern phenomenon and the development of new art movements adopting it as their subject.

Lydia was born in Poland and studied for her BA in Fine Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (John Christie Scholarship and the Hatton Award), and an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She has since divided her time between painting and exhibiting as well as lecturing widely to adult audiences. She has taught at London’s National Gallery for more than 35 years, and intermittently at London’s Tate Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, as well as collections such as Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Hermitage and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Tuesday 21 October 2025
THE ELEGANCE OF THE OCEAN LINER
Presented by Georgina Bexon
Venue & Time: Bowral Memorial Hall, 16-24 Bendooley Street, Bowral at 5pm

Experience the glitz and glamour of the ocean liner, from its 1920s heyday to modern times. Early ship design and décor was often utilised to resemble a British stately home or an Italian palazzo and intended to imbue passengers with a sense of high comfort, status and luxury. Designers embraced different artistic styles, from neoclassical and baroque to art nouveau and art deco to create ever more impressive and beautiful interiors. The talk will showcase exquisite gilded ballrooms, grand balustraded staircases and sumptuous panelled smoking rooms, whilst examining the fascinating social and design history of these ‘floating palaces’.

Georgina Bexon is an international art historian who has lived and worked in the UK, Europe, USA and Singapore. Her practice includes lecturing, writing, consulting and collecting and she has developed a network of gallery and artist connections in Europe, the USA and India, which she visits regularly. Consultant Art Historian at the Oriental Club in London and an official tour guide at Tate Modern.