Arts Project Australia has developed five distinct and strongly related collections, including our: Online Shop Art Collection, Stockroom Art Collection, Sidney Myer Fund Permanent Collection (SMF), Arts Project Australia Permanent Collection and the Arts Project Australia Archival Collection.
ARTS PROJECT AUSTRALIA GALLERY
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ARTWORK AVAILABLE ONLINE
We present small collections of artwork online by a range of artists who work in our Northcote studio. The artists featured have worked at Arts Project for at least two years, and have developed a substantial folio of works that reflect their individual and unique personal style. Many of these artists have shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Australia, and a number have also shown overseas. These artworks are available for sale and can be viewed in our online shop.
ARTWORK IN OUR STOCKROOM
We have an evolving selection of artwork at Arts Project that is owned by our artists and is housed by us in our Northcote stockrooms. Artworks by current and some past artists are available for exhibition and sale, and folios of available artwork function in the same way as stockroom collections in commercial galleries. We sell, loan and lease these artworks, which are showcased in Melbourne as well as Nationally and Internationally. Contact one of our friendly staff for more information about accessing or viewing work in our stockroom.
Adrian Salvatore, Adrian in Longjump at The Special Olympics National Games, 2014, 2015, pencil on paper, 38 x 57 cm, Private Collection, Melbourne
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SIGNIFICANCE of our collection
The works in our collections present a diversity of media, styles and strengths.
The collections are located in our purpose-built stockroom in Northcote, Melbourne and can be viewed by the public, as well as by curators and researchers. Works from the collections are exhibited in curated exhibitions in the gallery, throughout Australia and all over the world. Arts Project’s collections are of historic, artistic, aesthetic, scientific, research, social, and spiritual significance, with many groups of works by individual artists also being of particular significance in one or more of these categories.
Chris O’Brien, Heritage Hill Dandenong, 2016, 18 x 15 x 16cm, Private Collection, Hobart
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SIDNEY MYER FUND PERMANENT COLLECTION
This rare collection of artwork by Australians with an intellectual disability comprises 504 drawings, photographs and paintings from the mid 1970’s that were featured in two landmark exhibitions, Minus/Plus (1975) and Tommy’s World I (1980), at the Australian National University Gallery in Canberra. This is a unique resource for research into the development of artwork by people with an intellectual disability. The Sidney Myer Fund acknowledged the special importance of this collection by supporting its documentation, preservation, and conservation.
Shirley Warke, Not titled, crayon on paper, 80 x 60.5cm, SMF-094
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PERMANENT COLLECTION
Featuring works of outstanding artistic merit, this collection traces significant developments in studio artists’ work and informs researchers and curators of gallery exhibitions.This collection preserves Arts Project’s visual history and contains selected international work. All works in our Permanent Collection have been gifted by the artist or their family or by generous donors.
Miles Howard-Wilks, The close up, 2014, inkjet print on Hahnmuhle Photo Rag, 29 x 43cm, Arts Project Australia, Permanent Collection
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ARCHIVAL COLLECTION
The Archive is rich and comprehensive, and strongly supports and facilitates interpretation of the art collection, as well as being important in its own right.
It is particularly strong in material that relates to the development and establishment of Arts Project Australia. This material comprises papers, photographs, audiovisual material, exhibition promotional material, news clippings and administrative files. These papers relate to the period 1974 to 1985 and track the contributions made by the various people involved in the organisation’s development and establishment. Their thoughts, ambitions, and frustrations are comprehensively recorded, and provide valuable insight into changing attitudes. There is a substantial amount of administrative material in the Archive, which includes information on artists, the studio and the collection, as well as grant applications, meeting papers, and financial records.
