BCAC Mar/Apr 2026 Newsletter

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March-April2026 Arts News

from Bellingen and Beyond

In this issue:

BCAC AGM coming up
New Website - New Socials
Nexus Gallery Exhibitions
Women's Walk Project 2026
Golden at ArtSpace Urunga
Dorrigo Easter Art Exhibition
Flourish in Sawtell
Mantova Art Prize

Happy Edible Books Day

1 April 2026

BCAC AGM

Tuesday 7 April 2026

5pm at The Stables.

All welcome - come along and support the Bellingen Shire arts community!

New Website - New Socials

With a more modern look, easier access to information and better functionality, the new website will continue to give the BCAC an improved digital presence.

View or download the BCAC Newsletter, Members’ Exhibition Entry Forms and the Nexus Exhibition Schedule.

Sign up to our BCAC news email list, contact us via our Contact Form and Join or Renew you BCAC membership securely online. Have a look for yourself…

And BCAC Social Media now up and running! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Nexus Gallery Facebook		BCAC Website		Nexus Gallery Instagram

Hi, Iona here. I've put my hand up to help out with social media for Nexus Community Gallery. We now have a new Facebook page and Instagram account. Please follow at the links above to connect and keep up to date.

If you've got any questions or if you want to publish a post for the gallery, please send me an email: [email protected].

I'm a relatively new gallery member. My mother Barbara and I joined last year. Barbara paints in watercolour and I'm exploring oils and mixed media. I work in project management and business improvement and study art part time. When I'm not painting, I'm usually in nature with my family, running my dog or chasing after our chickens. I look forward to meeting you at a gallery event soon!

2026 Nexus Community Gallery Schedule

1 to 26 March - Opening 12pm Sun 1 Mar

Main Gallery
The Shard Sisters - HELD

In a time when the ground beneath us feels increasingly fragile, five women potters from the Mid North Coast come together in Held—an exhibition that speaks quietly, yet with profound conviction, about the power of touch, connection, and care.

The Shard Sisters. Left to Right - Jane Northway, Gloria Malone, Parma Keft, Cath O'Gorman, Anne Reilly

Studio
Robbie Pacheco

Using intentional camera movement, this body of work reimagines landscape through motion and blur, dissolving form into gesture and light to create images that sit between photography and painting. Shifting the focus from documentation toward atmosphere, emotion, and the act of seeing itself.

29 March to 23 April

Autumn Members' Exhibition

Don't let Members' Exhibitions slip past you this year. Whether you are a long-time member or new to the BCAC, all are welcome to exhibit in the Members' Shows. And we'd love to see you at the opening at 12 noon, Sunday 29 March.

Dates for the Autumn Show:

ENTRIES CLOSED: Friday 20 March by 4pm

DELIVER WORK: Friday 27 March between 10am – 12noon

OPENING: Sunday 29 March at 12noon

COLLECT WORK: Friday 24 April between 10am – 12noon

Entry forms available through the link in this newsletter, and will also be available at the Nexus Gallery when it reopens after its maintenance closure.

BCAC Exhibition Entry Forms

26 April to 21 May - Opening 12pm Sun 26 April

Main Gallery
Lisa Zanderigo - Ecce Homo: Est Unus

'Ecce Homo: Est Unus’ is an exhibition of paintings questioning toxic notions of male entitlement by Lisa Zanderigo, and is a companion body of work to ‘Ecce Femina: Agnus Dei’, exhibited at Nexus in 2022.

Studio
Julie Byers - Call and Response

Call and Response combines collage and poetry to tell the story of my escape from Hurricane Katrina. It looks back, and in, to bear witness to suffering, question inaction, and reflect on climate justice in a warming world.

Find out more about our other BCAC Activities

WOMEN’S WALK PROJECT 2026

https://www.womenswalkproject.com

Calling in the women …. mothers, daughters, aunties, grandmothers…

Beginning in 2012, Bellingen’s now highly acclaimed annual Women's Walk Project is a unique and dynamic threefold wilderness and arts-based experience. It involves a preparation phase, a ten-day walking journey through Guy Fawkes River Country and a creative integration process upon return…and so much more! This is a not-for-profit project supported by the Bellingen Community Arts Council.

DATES

WALK Thursday 17th – Saturday 26th September 2026

INTEGRATION GATHERING – Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of November 2026

FACILITATION

The Women’s Walk Project is facilitated by experienced mother and daughter team:

Kym Pitman and Jemah Schmidt

The total exchange for this project is $2300.

Please see website for detailed information www.womenswalkproject.com

Contact us ASAP by phone or email and once we have had a conversation we will send you more information and details about how to secure your place. (minimum age 17)

Enquiries to Kym [email protected] or Jemah [email protected]

Bellingen and Beyond
More Events and News for your artistic pleasure

The Arts Council of the Dorrigo is grateful to the Bellingen Shire Council and their support through the Community Grants program.

Venue: The Dorrigo Community Hall, 36 Hickory Street, Dorrigo

Opening, Tuesday 31st March, 6pm

Exhibition Dates: Wednesday 1st April - Wednesday 8th April

Times: 10am - 3pm

Inspired by a landscape of waterfalls and escarpments, breath-taking views, bold leaps and risk taking in life and art practice. The theme invites artists to explore how living on the Dorrigo Plateau influences and affects their art practice. It also references the world we are learning to live in now.

The past few months have been particularly challenging for Dorrigo Plateau residents, farmers and businesses and we would love to see the Bellingen Shire and beyond visit over the Easter break to support our community, shop at the Handmade in Dorrigo Easter Saturday Market and enjoy the creative talent we have on show.

Further enquiries please click on the QR code provided or contact;

Alex Mooney, President, Arts Council of the Dorrigo

Mobile: 0436 337 005

ACD email - [email protected]

Mantova Art Prize

Saturday 11 April – Sunday 10 May

Bellingen Gallery and Framing Studio

Following the tremendous success of the 2025 exhibition, which saw record-breaking participation and sales, the EJ Mantova Art Prize announces its return to the heart of Bellingen for 2026.

The prestigious art event will once again be hosted at the Bellingen Gallery and Framing Studio, under the enthusiastic stewardship of new owners Jude and Paul Regan.

Excitingly, the 2026 Art Prize continues with the new Miniatures category, expanding the creative possibilities for participating artists.

Sawtell Art Gallery Flourish exhibition poster

Around and About

The Arts Council of the Dorrigo

Dorrigo Easter Art Exhibition

10am-3pm, 1-8 April

Opening 6pm 31 March

Dorrigo Community Hall

More Info....

Art Space Urunga

19 Feb – 28 Mar

Golden

Artists explore the many meanings, materials and metaphors of gold. Gold not only as a precious metal or colour, but also a symbol, state of mind, cultural ideal or moment in time – sacred, alluring, elusive but also by its nature, everlasting.

Fiona Scope, Selena Dohnt, Tammie Cole, Mark Cotterill, John Holmes, Emma Gentle, Tracey Bowden, Paul Miller, Brian Purcell, Kathryn Fenton, Lesley Oliver, Will Douglas, Gail Cardow, Chris Morgan, Philjon Chapman, Brooke Engeldow, Chetan Bloemhard and Natalie Penn.

Opening 5.00 to 6.30pm Sat 21 Feb. All are welcome.

13 Bonville Street Urunga. Open every day from 10am till 3pm.

more info…

The Macleay Valley Community Art Gallery
more info...

Sawtell Art Gallery

28 Mar-24 Apr

Flourish

Nature, ecology and biophilic art

More info....

Just Do It

Bellingen Life Drawing Group
10am every Thursday Contact Sue Gorrell at 80443622 for further details.

Dorrigo Easter Art Exhibition

Entry open to residents of the Dorrigo Plateau.

More Info...

The Macleay Valley Community Art Gallery

5-15 March
International Womens’ Day Exhibition
When we give, we gain

The exhibition is noncompetitive and is open to all women artists in the Mid North Coast region.

Artists can use any artistic medium e.g. wood, ceramics, fibre, painting, jewellery etc

This is an opportunity for women to exhibit their artwork in a gallery, to meet other artists and to discuss their experience, to get feedback from their peers and to encourage and promote art making by women.
Enquiries - Rep Cheryl Fyffe 0476142784
Entry form and details

The Stables

More info….

Tamasin Pepper - Ceramic Classes for Adults
Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10.00am-1pm. $250 for a block of 5 classes or $55 casual. Includes firing and glazing pieces made in class. Phone 0400 986 655, email [email protected]

We are grateful for the support from

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The monthly BCAC Newsletter highlights activities of its member groups as well as art news from around the district; it is published one week prior to Nexus Community Gallery exhibition openings. Occasionally, and as required, shorter news items may also be sent to our email list.

Members automatically receive newsletters and non-members can join our mailing list via newsletter subscription form on the BCAC website.

Members can submit arts news for the monthly newsletter. Space is allocated first to BCAC Activities, followed by other arts news in the Bellingen Shire and then to arts news from the surrounding district.

The newsletter can be viewed and downloaded from the BCAC website.

For further information about the newsletter and how to contribute you can contact the BCAC Newsletter Editor at: [email protected]

The next BCAC Newsletter will be published on 19 April

BCAC members who wish to contribute to the next newsletter must send copy to [email protected] by 10 April

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