Mudgee

Friday 7 March 2025
SECRETS OF THE SERAIL: Behind the Scenes at the Ottoman Court
Presented by Sue Rollin
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

Explore the world of the Ottoman court within the palaces of Istanbul: the Topkapi Palace with its courts, pavilions, gardens and fountains, the Dolmabahce Palace, a 19C extravaganza, and other waterfront residences along the Bosphorus. We glimpse court life and ceremonies through the eyes of European writers and artists and as recorded by the Ottomans themselves: we study the costumes, jewels, ceramics and other treasures of the sultans and enter the harem, a palace within a palace, guarded by the black eunuchs, where the Sultan’s concubines were secluded from the world outside and the Queen Mother reigned supreme.

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.

Friday 4 April 2025
CALLIGRAPHY: Looking Back, Looking Forward
Presented by Gemma Black
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

This is a lecture about the history of calligraphy & lettering, scribes and illuminators, and the importance of writing in the twenty-first century. 
Humans developed the art of communication by creating signs, symbols & images and the tools and materials to express them. Today we have three main writing systems: Middle Eastern, Oriental and Occidental. We take an in-depth look at these early writing systems and follow the evolution of writing to current day.

Gemma Black is a calligrapher, artist and teacher. Her love for and knowledge of letters as ancient symbols has seen her teach throughout Australia, Europe, UK & USA. Her work is housed in private and public collections including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK, the European Parliament, Letterform Archive San Francisco and Parliament House Canberra. She is an Honoured Fellow of the Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society, UK. Her love of calligraphic history, and the evolution of the western alphabet from the Roman period through to the 21st century, keeps her research interests switched on.

Friday 2 May 2025
DE-CODING DA VINCI
Presented by Alice Foster
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

Leonardo da Vinci epitomised Renaissance Humanism, creating some of the most influential paintings in western art. He died over 500 years ago, yet his work remains enigmatic, potent and mystifying. A gifted engineer, inventor and scientist, painting fell at the end of his line of curiosity, yet ironically it’s this for which he is remembered best. Much is unfinished; his Last Supper was the target of jokes and vandalism by French forces in Milan, while he was among the first to celebrate human imperfection in his caricatures. And just what is the draw of his Mona Lisa? This lecture revises the familiar and explores some less well-known da Vinci works.

Alice 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.

Friday 6 June 2025
I WILL LIFT MINE EYES – The Cathedrals, Abbeys and Minsters of England & Wales
Presented by John Swainston
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

In this talk John Swainston explores how Christianity spread across the Mediterranean, Augustine’s mission to England, early Saxon churches, the Norman transition, and one of the most prolific building periods of structures of a scale previously unknown in Britain. Building on the technological breakthroughs of earlier periods, the Masons and other artisans solved a myriad of construction challenges, despite initial tower collapses, lightning strikes, fires and other obstacles to completing these remarkable buildings. Along the way we learn of the struggle for power, both regal and ecclesiastical, while tracking the rise and decline of the church’s influence in society across the centuries.

John Swainston has been a photographer, writer and broadcaster for fifty years. Educated at Winchester College and later studying at Magdalen College, Oxford, he has lived in Australia since 1979. He has lectured on both the history of photography and its art and technical practice for over three decades. As a photographer his work has been exhibited in Sydney, Melbourne and the Southern Highlands (NSW). Since 2016, John has been documenting and researching the history of the Anglican Cathedrals of England and Wales. His work traces the influences on and development of church architecture over fifteen centuries, including churches in Normandy in France.

Friday 4 July 2025
HOW TO GET DOWN FROM A YAK: Adventures in Central Asian Nomadic Textiles
Presented by Chris Aslan
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

Houses made from wool that warm in the depths of winter, carpets that tell stories, woven bands that appease ancestors, embroideries that ward off evil, and kilims that store kitchenware, with everything ready to be packed and carried on a yak or camel at a moment’s notice. The little-known nomadic textile cultures of the Kyrgyz, Turkoman and Karakalpak are explored in this lecture, along with the rise and fall of nomadism and where it fits within the modern world. Chris also shares his own experience of working with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs for 3 years.

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 his book “A Carpet Ride to Khiva”.

Friday 1 August 2025
THE IMPERIAL EASTER EGGS OF CARL FABERGE
Presented by Toby Faber
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

Between 1885 – 1916, Carl Fabergé made 50 jewelled eggs – Easter presents from Russia’s last two emperors to their wives. The most famous surviving symbols of the Romanov Empire, they are supreme examples of the jeweller’s art, albeit playthings of a decadent court. Given broad artistic freedom, Fabergé had to satisfy just three rules: each gift should be egg shaped; contain some surprise to delight its recipient; and differ from any predecessor. The result? Treasures demonstrating ingenuity and creativity, with few parallels. Their maker’s relentless search for novelty also yielded a fabulously quirky illustrated history of the Romanovs’ decline ahead of the 1917 Revolution.

An experienced lecturer, 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. Toby is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music.

Friday 29 August 2025
VERMEER AND MUSIC – Art of Love & Leisure
Presented by Lydia Bauman
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

About a third of 17th century Dutch paintings feature musical instruments or scenes of music-making. Music was celebrated as a means of social or familial bonding and as an expression of love, while also feared for its seductive, immoral connotations. A strict etiquette surrounded the act of performing music by men and women and the middle and lower classes. This talk includes musical excerpts played on original period instruments, illustrating particular instruments shown in paintings.

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.

Friday 10 October 2025
LAND OF THE MONKEY GOD–THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF SRI LANKA
Presented by Georgina Bexon
Time & Venue: 6pm, Auditorium Cudgegong Valley Public School, 47-65 Madeira Road Mudgee

Shrines, stupas, cave temples, colonial grandeur and modernist architecture – a look at the history of this beautiful island through its intriguing art and culture. For much of Sri Lanka’s past, Buddhist and Hindu have lived alongside each other peaceably and much of the nation’s culture is evidence of this spirit of tolerance and generosity. This talk examines the fascinating story of Sri Lankan art and the original minds, talents and spirits that created this unique visual world.

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, Georgina also presents at leading art institutions and international art conferences in New York Paris London.