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Artist in Residence,  The Old School Mt Wilson
beauty, diversity, tranquility

 

The Old School, Mount Wilson commenced an Artist in Residence program in 2019. This is a volunteer based, not for profit organisation aiming to share the beauty, diversity and tranquility of Mount Wilson, providing an opportunity for artists to work, be supported by and engage with the local community.

The program provides residency, accommodation and studio, for one month for both emerging and established artists and suits musicians/composers, writers, visual and textile artists. 

Each resident will give a community engagement event.

 

Congratulations to these artists who have been awarded a one month residency during the September 2023 to March 2024 period

Ward O'Neill

Frankie Meaden

Johanna Hildebrandt

Frankie Dyson Reilly

Anna Spencer

Peter Spencer 

 

Artist in Residence on Facebook

 

 Artist in Residence on Instagram

 

Applications will open in mid-April and close at the end of May for the October 2024 to June 2025 period.

There is no residency offered for April

 

 

For more information or to be added to our email list, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

 

The Old School Mt Wilson gratefully acknowledges the commitment and generosity of our supporters.

    Anne de Salis & Martin Barge

    Nancy Fox AM & Bruce Arnold

    Steve Gracie

    Griffin Foundation

    Mary Holt OAM

    Joe & Elizabeth Montano

    Anon (1)

Please consider making a donation towards the future of the Artists in Residence program at The Old School.  Your gift, of any size, is a vital contribution to the program’s future. 

All gifts over $2 are fully tax-deductible.

To support The Old School Artists in Residence program, you can:

  • Make a direct deposit to:
    • Account name:          The Old School Mt Wilson Public Fund
    • BSB:                                  082-678
    • Account:                        31 143 7891
  • Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please include your name in the description to receive your tax-deductible receipt.

 

Residencies for November 2022 to June 2023

Belle Bregovic emerging poet/classical pianist and guitarist Eitan Muir during their residency will delve deep into their craft and develop new performance works, culminating in a premier performancefor the Mt Wilson local community
Helen Pitt is a senior writer at the Sydney Morning heraldand author of The House, the extraordinary story of the Sydney opera House and the  people who built it. This residency will be her first attempt at writing fiction, working on an idea about French female explorers in NSW
Helen Begley is a song writer, composer, performer, teacher and facilitator, currently working on a trilogyof musical performance pieces that explore the stories of femaile immigration to Australia in the 1930s, "Voyage", "Wild" and "Wrecked". During her residency she will be working on "Wild" , the story of immigrant Martha Wild.
Sharon Peoples is a textile artist oscillating between hand and machine embroidery to examine issues. She is energised and draws inspiration from gardens. For her residency she proposes to take time to researchand explore the birds that are present or migrate through the Mt Wilson 'garden'
Anna Glynn artist and Peter Dalmazzo biologist will explore the Blue Mountains basalt forest endangered ecological community creating artwork to focus attention and highlight a stunning and complex environment
Marynes Avila is a multi-award winning artist concerned with socially engaged practice who creates work that specifically responds to site and community
Read the artist statements....... 

Residencies for November 2021 to May 2022

Cadance Bell is an author, writer, producer and director.
Brad Gill is a musician and composer
Ariella Van Luyn is a writer
Natasha Dubler is a multidisciplinary artist working across sound installation, music performance and small sculpture.
Anna Glynn artist & Peter Dalmazzo biologist
Jennifer Keeler-Milne is a visual artist.
Read the artist statements here

Residencies for October 2020 to June 2021 

Jane Guthleben is a visual artist whose practice involves a fascination with C17th Dutch still life paintings and how to reimagine them in an Australian context
Jody Graham is a multidiscipline artist, whose artwork commemorates loss and memory. Her purpose is to conserve valuable stories and contribute creatively to the Australian bushfire history.
Leah Bullen  is a visual artist whose practice explores various locations that recreate and curate the natural world, such as gardens.
Julie Thorndyke is a writer
Read the artists statements......

Residencies for October 2019 to May 2020 

LeAnne Vincent a photo based visual artist  read more.....
Leisel Mott  is a landscape painter
Tristan Coelho composer and Emily Granger harpist
Troth - Amelia Besseney  and Cooper Bowman together they fashion ethereal soundscapes from field recordings, vocals, electronics, zither, tape loops and sampled percussion and piano
Mandy Beaumont is a novelist 
Lynne Ainsworth will be working on her memoir 'Someone Must Pay'
Read the artists statements......

                              

 


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After English Ivy, Common Holly is the most ubiquitous weed in Mt Wilson. 

There are many old established Holly Trees and hedges in Mt Wilson. Whilst owners may be reluctant to remove these, care should be taken to stop the spread of Holly trees.  Holly gets established very quickly and it is easiest to remove when the plants are still small.  When they are seedlings they can sometimes be dug up as long as all roots are removed. Holly cuttings should all be placed in the green bin, mulched or burnt as they reshoot very easily.

The extract below is from Libby Raines weed booklet.

A native of Europe to China and North Africa. Holly is a large fast growing evergreen shrub (a small tree on Mount Wilson). It has very prickly shining green leaves and many red berries in the Autumn, which are carried by the birds. Each berry contains up to four seeds, which germinate readily in our ideal conditions, especially in the shade, and they quickly make a large self-layering shrub which usually shades out everything else around it.

Holly can be seen almost everywhere you walk on good soil. Holly and Ivy are the two most serious weeds on Mount Wilson. It is heartening to see many land owners removing holly trees from their properties.

The variegated forms of Holly are suitable to grow.

Control

  • Pull or dig out small plants or spray December to March.
  • Large plants cut off and poison.

Resources

 


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Flowering from November on The Mounts is Iris foetidissima also known as “Stinking Iris” or “Roast Beef Plant” after its rather unpleasant fragrance when cut or bruised.

It is a clump-forming evergreen herb to 100 cm, with tough rhizomes immediately below the soil surface.

The flowers are 5–7 cm in diameter and are dull purplish-grey tinged with yellow. More common in Australia is the yellow flowered variant that is often naturalised.  You will find both varieties flowering in Mt Wilson currently. 

At maturity each seed capsule splits into three, each with two rows of round orange seeds of 5 mm diameter, these can persist for several months.

Despite the Royal Horticultural Society giving Iris foetidissima their prestigious Award of Garden Merit. The plant is clearly becoming a problem in Mt Wilson, most notably in and around Church Lane.  Each plant grows rapidly and seeds readily and is dispersed by birds. Mature stands will easily smother a garden bed and become extremely difficult to remove.

 

There are three options to manage this plant:

  1. If you wish to retain any plants, systematically remove any seed capsules before the seeds emerge.
  2. To remove the plants, the most effective way is to mattock out the rhizomes (juvenile plants can usually be removed by hand.
  3. Iris foetidissima will respond to Glyphosate (RoundupTM) but the leaves will need to be soaked and secondary spraying may be required.

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Jasmine provides a very scented and pretty creeper but this needs to be controlled as Jasmine is a serious weed in the Rainforest.

Type of weed: Climber, scrambler or groundcover

Flowering Months: September, October, November

Native of China. A fast growing evergreen climber with small shiny green leaves and white flowers which are pink in bud and sweetly scented. Jasmine spreads by self-layering and occasional setting of seed. It can seriously threaten the rainforest edges of Mt Wilson. This plant has become a big problem in some gardens.

Alert: The flowers can cause allergies in some people.

Don’t confuse with…  Jasmine can be confused with native Wonga Wonga Vine (Pandorea pandorana) before the plant develops the distinctive lobed leaves and before it flowers.

Impact on bushland

Jasmine climbs rapidly into the tree canopy and covers vegetation at all levels, blocking light and restricting the growth and regeneration of native species. Its weight may bring down branches. It is a serious weed of rainforests.

Prevention

  • Keep well pruned

Control

Because of the fine twining stems and vigorous nature of this plant it is hard to eradicate.

  • Dig out or spray December to March.
  • Scrape and paint stems.
  • If the vine has grown up into the canopy of a tree or shrub, cut each of the vine stems about 500 mm above the ground, after scraping and painting above and below the planned cut, to allow the parts in the tree canopy to die. It is important to keep the cut low to allow adequate length of the stems to be reached for re-treatment.

Alternative native plantings

  • Twining Purple Pea (Hardenbergia violacea)
  • Wonga Wonga Vine (Pandorea pandorana)
  • Water Vine (Cissus antarctica)
  • Old Man’s Beard (Clematis aristata) - note: not Clematis cultivars as these can also be environmental weeds.