Learn new pottery skills.  This 8 week course with 2 hour classes is suitable for everyone, whether you’re just starting or want to extend your skills.

Beginners can learn the fundamentals of throwing on the pottery wheel, whilst those with experience will have the opportunity to practise and refine their skills with encouragement and guidance. 

Our instructors will share their approach to throwing forms for tableware or sculpture, with the focus on altering thrown forms and adding hand built features to your pots.

Please bring a towel (we supply one but you may need more) and wear clothes you don’t mind being soiled with clay.

Fran Callen

Drawing Ground Water

August 1 - September 28, 2025

Artist Talk: Sunday August 24th at 5pm

Exhibition Launch: Sunday August 24th at 6pm

FRAN CALLEN - DRAWING GROUNDWATER

My drawing based work explores connections between drawing, motherhood, and geological/hydrogeological processes. The record of Earth's history is preserved in its rocks, the narrative of mark making similarly preserved within drawing.  Mothering provides an ambient background, my children’s input integral to my work. Often working collaboratively across our tabletop and domestic spaces, found pigments and recycled materials hold stories of our immediate surroundings as we consider our relationship with our environment and the responsibility to better care for it.

'Drawing Groundwater' specifically responds to current hydrogeological research by Dr Margaret Shanafeild as she works on an Australian Research Council funded project to generate new knowledge fundamental for water resource management. Margaret's research aims to improve understanding of groundwater recharge through a sensor network deployed in underground spaces located between the soil and the aquifer across the country.  We can manage water resources better through understanding how our aquifers are replenished by rain events, and how this is affected by Climate Change.

Beginning as visual documentation of selected field trips with our families that included laying surfaces beneath sensors where drips fell beneath the ground, and in local creek beds for months at a time, work was then layered with evidence of an intergenerational sharing of knowledge considering our relationship with domestic water use and its impact on the natural world. A palimpsest of marks evolved including local materials and pigments, amongst discussions about groundwater across canvas laid tabletops in our homes, at workshops, on family travels and with students.

This collaborative process included generous input of knowledge and wisdom by Boandik Elder Auntie Michelle, and workshop participants, as part of our CountryArts SA Nature Studio in Naracoorte Caves National Park.

Layered in the work are explorations of the incidental mark making potential of rain,  water movement in creeks, and household water such as sprinklers, sinks, downpipes and gutters, and local pigments. Relevant groundwater diagrammes and charts were considered in the format of the artwork.

In creating this work I concurrently explore the metaphoric and poetic potential of hyrdogeological terms and processes, bringing in colour and materials that hold personal relevance.

This project is ongoing, this iteration supported by CreateSA.

Fran Callen

To quantify rainfall recharge thresholds, the National Groundwater Recharge Observation Network (NGROS) has taken an innovative approach, directly measuring potential groundwater recharge using a network of hydrological loggers deployed in underground spaces such as tunnels, mines and caves, located between the soil and the water table. Currently there are 20 study sites across SE Australia. The first year of data shows that 10-20 mm of rainfall in 48 hours is typically needed for recharge to occur in fractured rock aquifers, regardless of differences in soil, vegetation, geology, and depth to observation sites. Groundwater recharge occurred in the wetter seasons, when less rainfall was needed to cause underground dropping. Differences caused by site‐specific factors such as soil conditions, unsaturated zone thickness and vegetation are the focus of ongoing work as we collect more data. Our findings demonstrate that there is high variability in groundwater recharge, driven by the timing and volume of rainfall, which is an important consideration for water management.

Dr Margaret Shanafeild

Marisha Matthews

Family Silver - Out of India 

July 26 - September 28. 2025

Artist Talk: Sunday August 24th at 5pm

Exhibition Launch: Sunday August 24th at 6pm

SALA Festival 2025

With a cultural heritage in British India, these still life compositions include inherited objects that reflect the legacy of colonialism. These objects link us to dubious practices, beliefs, as well as artifacts with painful pasts. What do I do with the claw of a tiger shot by my great great grandfather? Or the silver spoon that once served Maharajas on a train?

Deborah Prior

Walking the Wheat and the Weeds

July 26 - September 28, 2025

Meet the Artist: Sunday August 24th at 5pm

Exhibition Launch: Sunday August 24th at 6pm

How do we carry the weight of pasts?

Always imperfectly, limping by the end.

This exhibition is a pilgrimage, an absurdist performance, a climate protest, and a church and colonial reckoning.

It’s an evolving exhibition with slowly accumulating sculptures marking a walk of 1000km.

The artist will work in situ in the gallery recording in thread what happened when they tried to carry too many heavy bricks up a hill.

Rebecca McEwan

Convergence

June 7 - July 27, 2025

Exhibition Launch Saturday, June 7 at 2 - 4 pm

In an ongoing project, Rebecca McEwan continues a journey of quiet discovery, blending the ethereal with the tangible. Her work revolves around the many waterways surrounding her that tell the tales of time—including the Ngangkipari/Onkaparinga River and the Dhungala/Murray River, bodies of water, ancient and sacred, that have etched their stories into the land.

Through listening, walking, and paddling along their banks and currents, Rebecca seeks to understand them not just as geographical features, but as living entities. With each stride and each stroke of the paddle, rivers offer their secrets; they sing in the rustle of the vegetation on the banks, they speak in the ripple of water, they murmur in the twilight. This intimate dialogue between the rivers and the artist is sensitively documented, forming a visual catalogue that captures the essence of their interaction.

In knowing these rivers on a deeper level, Rebecca has come to appreciate the simple truth—one can only truly care for what one fully understands. This ongoing body of work is an ode to the rivers, a testament to their beauty and significance, and a call to others to look deeper, listen closer, and tread gently. For in understanding, we find the roots of our care, and in care, we find the essence of our connection.

 Bio

Rebecca McEwan is a cross-disciplinary artist who lives and works on Kaurna land on the Fleurieu Peninsula. 

McEwan’s practice encompasses installation, sculpture, drawing and sound. She draws on natural materials, oral histories, and archival material to create work that honours connection to place.

McEwan’s intricate and delicate installations incorporate narrative, glass thread, wax, and botanical material. Grounded in observation, her work emerges from site-specific investigations that respond to local histories, the immediate environment, and natural phenomena.

Research is pivotal to McEwan’s practice. She frequently engages in community consultation to observe local knowledge or lore, exploring the way in which ancient knowledge can shape speculative histories, and give rise to pseudo-scientific enquiry.

Meditative, layered in its processes, McEwan’s work offers a reflection on the connection between humans and nature and invites a state of reverence.

The artist exhibits regularly in both South Australia and interstate. Recent projects include the solo exhibition We are not Strangers Here at Hillsmith Gallery, the Sauerbier House residency and associated exhibition, Natural Discourse, and Water Bodies at Floating Goose.

McEwan has twice been a finalist in the Heysen Prize for Landscape, and in 2020 she won Emerging Artist and the Dr Wendy Wickes Memoriam People’s Choice category of the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize.

Rebecca McEwan (@rebeccamcewan.artist) • Instagram photos and videos

Rebecca McEwan

Island Welcome – A Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition

June 6 - July 20, 2025

Exhibition Launch: 7 June from 2-4pm in galleries One and Two

Island Welcome explores contemporary jewellery as a gesture of welcome; using the motif of a neckpiece to reference garlands, or leis, used as a symbol of welcome in many islander cultures. Curated by Belinda Newick, Country Arts SA’s touring exhibition Island Welcome intends to bring attention to asylum seeker issues. Island Welcome will be on display at Hahndorf Academy between .

The artists presenting in Island Welcome are: Liv Boyle, Michelle Cangiano, Jess Dare, Anna Davern, Nicky Hepburn, Kath Inglis, Manon van Kouswijk, Sim Luttin, Vicki Mason, Belinda Newick, Lauren Simeoni, Melinda Young.

Using a breadth of intriguing and conceptually rich materials – used thongs, seaweed, fabric sausage links, shells, clay, paper, porcelain and streak wire – the artists bring immense skill, insight and compassion to make us consider who gets to say welcome, and why? The works from 12 artists nationwide, including South Australians Jess Dare, Kath Inglis and Lauren Simeoni, extend the dialogue beyond art and craft audiences via expressions of Australian values through craft practice. With reference to welcome garlands gifted in many traditional islander cultures, each of the 12 artists has made a neckpiece, lei, or garland interpreting the theme of welcome whilst considering current Australian immigration policies.  

 “Curatorial and craft practice converge in Island Welcome to engage a universalist approach to human rights and the capacity to extend gestures of welcome and to address global displacement,” Curator Belinda Newick said.

The artists presenting in Island Welcome are: Liv Boyle, Michelle Cangiano, Jess Dare, Anna Davern, Nicky Hepburn, Kath Inglis, Manon van Kouswijk, Sim Luttin, Vicki Mason, Belinda Newick, Lauren Simeoni, Melinda Young. Country Arts SA Visual Arts Manager Lauren Mustillo said,

“This exhibition features some of Australia’s most respected and talented jewellers whose immense technical talent and personal values of compassion and inclusion have collided to bring us artworks which have undertones of activism and collectively ask us to contemplate political history, Australia’s cultural identity and our shared humanity.”

Media enquiries: Diana Maschio

diana.maschio@countryarts.org.au

0411 620 699

Nora Heysen: The Pacific Islands

1st May – 1st June, 2025

Opening Event: 9th May, 6-7pm

A collection of works by renowned Australian artist Nora Heysen is now on display, showcasing her evocative drawings, created during the 1950s and 60s in the Pacific Islands. Captivated by the beauty of island life, Heysen’s portraits reflect her deep admiration for the people she encountered.

Curated by Allan Campbell, this special exhibition features rarely seen pieces from the Nora Heysen Collection.

Learn new pottery skills.  This 8 week course with 2 hour classes is suitable for everyone, whether you’re just starting or want to extend your skills.

Beginners can learn the fundamentals of throwing on the pottery wheel, whilst those with experience will have the opportunity to practise and refine their skills with encouragement and guidance. 

Our instructors will share their approach to throwing forms for tableware or sculpture, with the focus on altering thrown forms and adding hand built features to your pots. 

THE DOG EXHIBITION

March 29, 2025 - April 26, 2025

Hahndorf Academy’s second dog exhibition is back by popular demand, perfect for dog lovers and art lovers and includes South Australian artists whose artworks range from paintings to ceramics and animation. We expect up to 20,000 visitors to view the artworks in the galleries. As part of the Dog Exhibition we’ll be hosting a dog fashion parade that any well behaved dogs can enter, with doggy-themed prizes for the best dressed pups.

Following an extensive UK/EU tour, with sell-out performances at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, Australian cellist and songwriter, William Jack, brings his unique multi-style cello show home to the Adelaide Fringe at Hahndorf Academy. The program includes iconic songs dismantled and reimagined for solo cello. Intertwined with original compositions from William's acclaimed album series, 'This Old Cello Box'. There's something for everyone, from virtuosic bluegrass, to non-Western sound worlds. William incorporates his jazz guitar background into an unconventional style of cello playing, delivering cellopickin' grooves and catchy hooks, alongside intimate melodies.

"Outstanding, a truly remarkable performance" BBC Radio 3

"Mind-blowing! ... leaving the whole audience in awe" Sofar Sounds

★★★★★ DEBUT Classical UK

Performances take place on the 22nd of February and the 2nd of March.

Follow the link below to book.

Bundy Bannerman - A Journey of Life

February 6 - March 23, 2025

Gallery 2

Exhibition launch - February 22, 2-4pm

John “Bundy” Bannerman moved to the outback at the age of 7. He started working in his family’s outback trucking business at an early age and has hauled everything from livestock, mining equipment to hay and wool. After his last back injury in 2019 and the frustration of being in the “big smoke” during recovery, he decided to turn his hand to art – something he never expected to find joy and strength in. Bundy is now a full-time artist, primarily working with acrylics, and spends his time painting his love of trucks, cars, the outback and anything else that excites his imagination. Recently he has been exploring metal and wood as painting surfaces. Without art he knows he wouldn’t be here.

BIO

“I was an outback Road train truck driver for my family business. I’ve moved to Adelaide and took up painting as a hobby at Duffy Street Art supplies with encouragement from Megan and Kate.

I have painted for two years and had my own business as Pink Bear Art.

I like to paint the outback in subject of depression of myself.”

Cecilia Gunnarsson - As I See It

February 6 - March 23, 2025

Gallery 1

Exhibition launch - February 22, 2-4pm

"Being immersed in the landscape, in the natural world, is essential to me. I feel the need to seek sanctuary in wild places - to reconnect to a sense of being the same as all living things. To remind myself that I am also a part of nature, no more, no less. In this body of work, I have painted the outback, mountains and the ocean."

BIO

Cecilia is an artist originally from Sweden. She grew up in a small country town where nature and the forest were always close. After half a lifetime in South Australia, its landscape is now also part of her with its smells and sounds, the colour and light, the seasons. Cecilia paints mainly in oils, expressing the light and form with patterns of colours and brushstrokes.

Jacinta Smart & Sandy O’Callaghan TRANSCENDENT NARRATIVES

February 6 - March 23, 2025

Gallery 3

Exhibition launch - February 22, 2 - 4pm

Transcendent Narratives is an exhibition that span realism, abstraction, and expressive styles, each capturing an essence rather than a literal depiction.

Jacinta and Sandy invite you into their sanctuary, offering a glimpse of the pair’s creative exploration, growth, and the power of shared experience. The exhibition is a celebration of their friendship, their shared and individual artistic journeys, and the transformative power of art, connecting both artists and audiences to a deeper sense of place and purpose.

Jacinta and Sandy are based in the Adelaide Hills and have shared a creative journey over the past decade that includes not only a collaborative studio space but also annual road trips to remote Australian landscapes. This exhibition reflects their evolving themes, shaped by these shared experiences and deepened by countless conversations, laughter, and mutual support within the studio. Their studio isn’t merely a workspace; it’s an inspiring environment that has cultivated an artistic kinship, where ideas and styles have intermingled, while allowing still affording each artist a distinct creative voice. In this dynamic setting, the ebb and flow of silence, discussion, focus, and feedback have allowed their individual artistic languages to develop alongside each other. Their annual road trips provide another layer to their work, inspiring them to immerse fully in the landscapes they explore. These shared journeys infuse their art with a sense of place and personal connection, seen in themes of landscape, narrative, and memory.

Jacinta Smart

Jacinta has been a practicing Artist and Educator for over 30 years in various parts of Australia both in secondary Visual Art and First Nations Focus. She is passionate about the human condition and the importance of place. Predominantly Painting and Drawing, she works also with Mixed Media.

Jacinta is captivated by the beauty found in life's subtleties and the quiet poetry of everyday moments. Her work invites viewers to explore the intricate textures and vibrant colours in details, the laughter that escapes in a snort, and the gentle persistence of rain. She finds inspiration in the seasons' rhythms, in the way light shifts with time, and in the graceful marks that life and age leave behind.

Most recent works reflect narratives from new places. Through the Simpson desert to more local historical landmarks, the research and stories of people plus her own experience of the landscape are what sparks her soul. Art is an incredible way to express different means of viewing our world.

Sandy O’Callaghan

After a fulfilling lifetime career in Art Education, Sandys focus has shifted to studio practice, where she experiments and explores new methods and ideas, aiming to produce a cohesive body of work each year working in oil, acrylic, and mixed media.

Sandy enjoys navigating a range of styles and techniques, often leaning towards a semi-representational approach that allows for creative fluidity and interpretation.

With an interest in portraiture still-life, and landscape, which serves as a constant theme in her work. Sandy is captivated by the landscape’s intangible qualities—its energy, presence, and the layered histories it holds, which stirs a profound sense of wonder and curiosity within her.

This current body of work began with an exploration of still-life, using objects imbued with personal significance. Over time, she moved away from traditional arrangements and gravitated towards creating narratives that capture moments of “then and now,” with a subtle sense of place woven into each piece.

The Menopause Project

Join artist Claire Wildish of The Menopause Project for a series of workshops at Hahndorf Academy

Join artist Claire Wildish for a series of workshops at Hahndorf Academy where themes of menopause, motherhood, and “manic making” are explored through creative expression and community connection.

“All I Need is a Hug” Cape Making Workshop - 01.02

Sharing experiences brings immense comfort. While pills, patches, and Pilates for brain fog, unruly emotions, and changing body types are helpful, what every woman truly needs during this time of uncontrollable frustration is an old-school “stitch and bitch.”

This is a three-hour workshop where women are encouraged to bring an item of clothing, such as their favorite pair of jeans that no longer fit, to cut up and hand-stitch into our community cape. This cape will travel with me between workshop locations, symbolising our shared journey and support.

The “Say It Like It Is” T-Shirt Printmaking Campaign - 15. 02

After spending seven years trying to tell the doctor I had perimenopause, after so many tests, when she finally agreed with me she expected me to burst into tears. I just wanted to say " I told you so!" So I made a T-shirt instead.

In this workshop event , participants will make a hand printed T-shirt and are then invited to wear it to the final In this workshop event , participants will make a hand-printed T-shirt and are then invited to wear it to the final soirée to be part of the conversation and tell their story. to be part of the conversation and tell their story. (Bring your own T-shirt)

“Milliner My Menopause” Outrageous Hat Making Workshop - 22.02

An all-day workshop where participants use felt to craft an outrageous "brain fog" hat full of the forgotten things and frustrated feelings to be paraded proudly at the final soirée.  

Come & try: Wheel-thrown pottery with a glass of Bird in Hand Sparkling Wine

January 18 and 25th at 1pm

$90pp

Try your hand at wheel throwing in our lovely pottery studio with our expert potter Guy Ringwood, who will introduce you to the basic techniques using terracotta clay. Enjoy a relaxed, friendly 2 hr class where you're encouraged to try something new in a small group where you will receive lots of help, guidance, and advice. Plus, as an added bonus, enjoy a glass of Sparkling wine, courtesy of Bird in Hand, to sip while you create.

Materials and firing provided, your pot will be fired after the workshop and then available for collection. Tea and coffee provided also provided. Wear suitable clothing or bring an apron. Strictly limited to 7 places per class, so be quick!

*Ceramic pieces require processing, this will take up to 2 months after the conclusion of your class, depending on the volume of pieces to be processed.

Come and get your hands dirty and have fun!

HEYSEN PRIZE FOR LANDSCAPE 2024 FINALIST EXHIBITION

NOVEMBER 23, 2024 - JANUARY 26, 2025

FINALISTS

Gretta Allen, Kim Allen, Annette Allman, David Asher Brook, Nicole Ayliffe, Carole Bann, Bundy Bannerman, Eva Beltran, David Braun, Fleur Brett, Fran Callen, Gavan Card, Gus Clutterbuck, Christine Collins, Stuart Earnshaw, Lesa Farrant, Mark Feiler, Joe Felber, Louise Flaherty, Hamish Fleming, Claire Foord, John Foubister, Melinda Gaughwin, Harriet Geater-Johnson, Tim Gregory, James Hale, Tiffany Hampton, Sophie Hann, Lee Harrop, Bridget Hillebrand, Fiona Hiscock, Gail Hocking, Gail Kellett, Simone Kennedy, Mark Kimber, Raquel Larkins, Simone Linder-Patton, Orlando Luminere, Harley Manifold, Wesley Maselli, Deb McKay, Jessica Menzies, Bette Mifsud, Asher Milgate, Renae Nelson, Winnie Pelz, Debbie Pryor, Lee Salomone, Maria Salomonsen, Douglas Schofield, Regine Schwarzer, Leith Semmens, Benedict Sibley, Adele Sliuzas, Dave Sparkes, Luisa Stocco, Dan Tomkins, Datsun Tran, Libby Wakefield, James Walker, Heather Watson, Roland Weight, Amanda Westley, Laura Williams, Georgina Willoughby, Laura Wills, Paula Zetlein.

The Heysen Prize for Landscape 2024 invited artists to express their deep connection with – or concern for – protecting the Australian environment and to pay homage to Hans Heysen as an artist and environmentalist. Heysen raised awareness about the environment through his painting and passion for the landscape. He is noted as an early environmental activist, purchasing land to preserve the natural environment in and around Hahndorf and lobbying to protect trees in the area.

The Heysen Prize for Landscape is a contemporary art prize established in 1997 to commemorate the life and work of the internationally renowned artist (1877-1968). The prize has a focus on the environment and climate concerns. In an era of rapid climate change, battling fire and flood, drought and destruction, Australia has experienced one of the most significant losses of plant and animal species in the world. This is a biennial event celebrating emerging, mid-career and established artists and their connection to landscape and place with 2D and 3D works.