Our AGM 2026
Our Annual General Meeting was held at the Kilburn Hotel, 348 Burwood Road, Hawthorn.
Our new Committee
President: David Bailey
Vice-President: Kirsten Tarry-Smith
Secretary: David MacLeod
Treasurer: Graham Hubbard
Ordinary Committee members:
Jim Moody (Studio Manager)
Tony Ericson (Communications Manager)
Ken Wight
Bill Wood
We welcome new ordinary Committee member Sophie Freshwater, who was not present in the photo above.
Our thanks to outgoing Committee members:
Amanda Lazar and Amanda Lugg
Our President, David Bailey, described another very successful year for HAS: a year of growth and dynamic activities, including popular classes and workshops, and the integration of new instructors. Another successful Spring Salon was also a exceptional highlight.
Plans are also underway to implement a substantial programme expansion in 2027.
Committee’s Report to the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 11 November 2026
It gives me great pleasure to present the Annual Report to the Members of the Society from the Management Committee.
The office bearers in the past year were
President: David Bailey
Vice-President: Kirsten Tarry-Smith
Secretary: David MacLeod (and Minutes secretary)
Treasurer: Graham Hubbard
The ordinary Committee members were Bill Wood, Tony Ericson, Jim Moody, Ken Wight, Amanda Lugg and Amanda Lazar.
Jim and Tony were paid contractors to HAS, supplying their services on a part-time basis: Tony, as the Communications Manager and Jim, as the Studio Facilities and Administration Manager. They have made a significant contribution to the successful running of the Society this year with a number of new activities, including Studio working bee and the 2026 Spring Salon Exhibition. Anne Esposito has agreed to take over the Bookkeeper Administration role. Anne was previously Treasurer of HAS for some years.
Meetings of the Management Committee
Meetings of the Management Committee were held on 11 December 2025, 11 February 2026, 13 May 2026, 12 August 2026 and 21 October 2026. Meetings were normally held face to face at the HAS Studio or the Performance Space, and occasionally at a private room in Santoni restaurant and Graham Hubbard’s home. Due to the large number of matters requiring attention between Committee meetings, the office bearer members of the Committee met additionally to deal with such matters, and reported to the Committee appropriately. A great deal of work is done by Committee members outside the Committee meetings and members are in frequent contact to make sure that HAS runs smoothly and efficiently. I am most grateful to them for this attention and dedication.
Members
The Society continued to grow its membership.
As at October 2026 there are 291 financial members (including 8 life members). 291 members are therefore entitled to vote at the AGM.
Volunteers
HAS is fortunate to have a large number of volunteers, I understand about 40 in number, who help in a variety of ways such as class coordinators, assistance with the curation and presentation of exhibitions and in working bees at the Studio. A very successful working bee was held on 28 February 2026. Without that great assistance it would be more difficult to run HAS so well. Our thanks to all our volunteers.
HAS Premises
The HAS Studio, in the basement of the Hawthorn Arts Centre, is the primary location for our activities. Our Agreement with Boroondara also allows use of the adjacent Performance Space on Saturdays and Monday mornings, and at other times by arrangement.
HAS also conducts monthly events outside these premises, and is currently pursuing opportunities to obtain additional external spaces for exhibition purposes.
2026 – Another great Year!
Looking back over 2026 it has been a most eventful and exciting year for HAS as this report shows.
Studio Program
A comprehensive Studio Program of tutored and untutored classes continued and strengthened in 2025. Details of the Studio Program were set out in our card program available for pick up at the Basement Studio, and was available online.
Our untutored lifedrawing and portrait painting sessions retained their popularity each week throughout the year, running on Monday mornings and evenings, Wednesday evenings, Thursday mornings and evenings, Saturday mornings and afternoons and Sunday mornings and every second Sunday evening.
The full range of our weekly sessions is outlined below:
Peter Howie conducted life drawing sessions on Monday mornings, followed by Tony Ericson’s long-pose life drawing and painting sessions in the evening. Alan Mak held untutored life drawings on Tuesday mornings.
Jayne Higgins held her Visual Arts group on Wednesday mornings. Steve Szczebiot hosted long-pose portrait sessions on Wednesday evenings.
On Thursdays, Leks Riddik conducted a portrait single pose clothed model segment, followed by Ken Wight’s Abstract Art group. Eliza Cottonwood conducted life drawing session on Thursday evenings and portrait painting every other Sunday evening.
WH Chong ran a series of informal ‘Drawing People’ sketch session most Sunday mornings, which invited artists to draw each other through sketchbooks in the hope of making it habit forming.
Saturdays also offered semi-tutored life drawing in the Performance Space, with Bill Wood running a morning session and Terry Michael a fortnightly afternoon session.
More tutored classes continued this year including:
Susie Raz: ‘Exploring your Inner Artist’ on Saturday afternoons.
Joe Whyte’s ‘Painting the Figure in Oils’ was a 9-week course held in two sessions due to popular demand, on Tuesday afternoon and evenings.
Mark Poulier’s conducted a new Beginners Life Drawing held on Wednesdays from 7 October to 2 December 2026
Jim Moody also taught two courses each Sunday morning: ‘Paint with Oils’ and ‘Paint from Life’ as well as a workshop on stretching cavasses and keeping frames tight., see below.
Jenny Scholes taught her ‘Painting All Media’ class in acrylics and oils for beginners and advanced artists on Fridays.
An Open Studio, run by Ken Wight, was also held in the HAS Studio on Monday afternoons between 1.30 pm and 4 pm, to enable our members to work on their own projects.
Newsletter
Promoting the work of our members and the activities we offer inside and outside the Studio is largely the domain of the newsletter and social media accounts.
The email newsletter has grown the number of subscribers over the year. The newsletter is sent monthly, containing information about classes, exhibitions, workshops and occasionally articles on some of our interesting members and their art practice and ideas. And occasionally aticles of interest regarding artists and theier practices and ideas. Some of the articles from the year were:
An image of Tai Snaith’s Heritage, Bargoonga Nganjin, of 2018 was featured in the May 2026 newsletter. This included a description by Tai as to how she used a very old catalogue from ‘Printers and Papermakers and Board Users’ Quartlery ffrom the Spring of 1935 to inspire her work. A copy of the work thus created appered in the newsletter. Tai also gave a talk to HAS members about her career, see details below.
The iconic moderist Oscar Niemeyer designed headquarters of the French Communist Party constructed between 1967 and 1980 was an item in the August newsletter. This complex is a French historical monument since 2007.
An interesting piece in the September newsletter featured the historic houst Plas Newydd in Llangollen, Wales with stunning photographs.. This house began as a five roomed stone cottage. Over time it was transformed by two women over some 50 years into an eccentric Gothic fantasy. This included the addition of stained-glass windoers, elaborately carved oak, Gothic detailing and othe decorative elements. After the women died further changes were made by General John Yorke with distinctive black and white exterior features and an eclectic colletion of objects and architectural curiosities.
Our thanks to Tony Ericson for the production of this useful and entertaining newsletter.
Workshop Program
A comprehensive workshop program was held over the year. These workshops have again proven very popular and often sold out early, so please act quickly to reserve a place in future workshops.
Clayton Tremlett conducted a linocut workshop on Sunday 5 July. This was well attended with participants creating portraits from their own reference. Clayton gave expert coaching on cropping and simplifying images with great results.
Jim Moody conducted a demo and workshop on Sunday 12 July 2026 on how to stretch a canvass and make a frame for it. This was packed and provided attendees with useful tips on how to keep a stretched canvas tight and the best method for folding perfectly neat cavass corners. Jim included an informative demonstration on how to ake box frames for displaying artwork. Jim also dealt with appropriate tools, materials, joinery finishing techniques and suppliers.
Graeme Drendel conducted a workshop on ‘Drawing the clothed figure’. This was held in the Performance Space adjacent to the HAS Studio. Works were done in heavy charcoal to detailed texture. Graeme examined the impact of using light to render fabric over the form as an important part of the subject. His insight into portraits of ordinary people is unique featured in his extensive studies and sketchbooks.
Dinusha Joseph conducted three Saturday Abstraction Workshops titled ‘Abstraction Workshop – The Power of Observation’ through geometric and gestural abstraction. Sessions commenced with a discussion based on resource materials such as photographs or other artists works. Emphasis was on the spirit of experimentation.
Mike Kowalski held a successful four session workshop on ‘Painting Still Life in Watercolour’. Various still life objects were studied including fruit, flowers and books to vases. The effect of light on such works was emphasised. Texture, brushwork and colour mixing were all on the table. Mike also ran a very popular workshop on painting the clothed figure with watercolours.
Lewis Miller conducted a still life workshop in April 2026.
The HAS Committee tries to keep prices low and offer variety in the presenters we engage. These events are a great opportunity to promote the Society to our own members and a wider audience.
Honorary Life Membership Yvonne Audette AM
HAS proudly awarded Yvonne a Life Membership in recognition of her years of teaching and involvement with HAS. Yvonne has made an outstanding contribution to the Society and the art world in general with her great ability to teach and communicate art in the community. Her paintings were much loved and stood out in the great Australian collections of abstract paintings. Her classes were in high demand and hard to get into with a limit of 45 students in each term. Many thanks Yvonne for such a wonderful artistic life.
Artist Talks
The Committee decided to continue a series of Studio talks aimed at four each year.
Tai Snaith gave a captivating presentation on 30 April 2026 about her creative career from her early watercolour portraits, a playful exhibition around a fictional ‘Sunday Painter’ to. major public commissions that have resuled in her works being scaled up dramatically. For example, her 29 metre installation at the State Library of Victoria and a richly layered woirkj for the Royal Botanic Gardens.This was a wonderful talk about a wide artistic career and there is much more Tai could talk about. Her latest is an exciting installation commission for the Natioanl Gallery of Victoria.
Michael Vale gave a great talk on July 2026 about the varied jobs leading up to his career as a painter today. His work included technical knowledge gained fro making artists paints in the factory to making scenery for television.All this contributed to his favourite things in life being brought to life on big fantasy canvasses. His experience borrowed from high and low art and tropes borrowed and blended.
We encourage attendance at talks by members and their friends an guests as a great way of learning more about art and artists and to gain knowledge and inspiration.
Our thanks go to volunteer Rebecca Armstrong our talks curator for organising the event and spearheading the program. We look forward to further interesting talks from artists in 20267
En Plein Air group
Another successful program of en plein air events was held on the last Sundays in each month throughout the year. These were held at varied and interesting locations including the Central Gardens, Hawthorn, St Vincent Gardens, Grattan Gardens and Prahran Square. These events continue to be open to HAS members and non-members alike, often attracting a dozen artists and occasionally resulting in the recruitment of new members. They were run due to the hard work of volunteers Nic Kirkman and Terry Griffin, with some assistance by David MacLeod.
NGV Sketching Group
Monthly Saturday morning drawing sessions were continued at the NGV, which offered various places for study. These popular interior sessions were also open to non-members and were coordinated by David MacLeod with the assistance of other volunteers.
Congratulations
Mike Kowalski won the ‘Best Traditional Work’ at the Camberwell Art Show for 2026 earning an award of $1,500. Mike is a regular teacher in the HAS Workshop program and attracts great interest and attendance in his sessions.
The Spring Salon Exhibition September 2026
The Spring Salon Exhibition was held between 25 September and 27 September in the Chandelier Room at the Hawthorn Arts Centre. We were delighted to have the Exhibition launched in the evening of 25 September by the Mayor of the City of Boroondara, Wes Gault who spoke of the work of HAS and its association with the Boroondara community. Mr John Pesutto, the Member of Hawthorn in the State Palriament of Victoria announced the prize winners in the Spring Salon exhibition. Our thanks go to the organising committee, led by Secretary David Macleod and Vice President Kirsten Tarry-Smith, and the many volunteers who helped curate and present the Exhibition in a fine and professional manner. . Over $10,000 in sales occurred during the Exhibition.
The Exhibition was part funded by a Community Strengthening Grant provided through the generosity of Boroondara Council and Rotary.
Other Art exhibitions
HAS encourages members and member groups to exhibit the work they produced in the Studio in 2026 on the Studio walls, which feature many different groups from time to time throughout the year. The Thursday Abstract Group exhibited its works between May and June 2026.
The Lady’s Realm Exhibition by Rebecca Armstrong, Debra Billson, Rose Chong, Kirsten Dunkley and Susannah Low was held at Loft 275, Ivanhoe Library & Cultural Hub , 275 Upper Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe between 11 June and 12 July 2026. The opening night was on Thursday 11 June. The works invited one to step behind the curtain into a world shaped by undercurrents, underpinnings and unmentionablles. It explored the unseen spaes of women through textiles, ceramics, painting and mixed media.
Sophie Freshwater was a finalist Portia Geach Memorial award, the Kennedy art prize and the Percival Art Prize.
Thursdays Creative Space Group held an exhibition between 30 June to 12 July 2026 at the SOL Gallery in Fitzroy.
Joe Whyte featured in an exhibition at the Melbourne Affordable Art Fair which opened on 27 August 2026 and ran until 30 August 2026. Joe shared a new series of Melbourne streetscape paintings, some new still lifes as well as fighre paintings painted at HAS.
A rolling exhibition of HAS members works has been held at Aickin Chambers, 200 Queen Street, Melbourne. The second set of works was featured with a Meet the Artists night on 30 July 2026 This exhibition has been on display for several months and will be replace soon with a Summer exhbition This exhibition has proved very popular with the barristers who work from floors 19 and 20 of Aickin Chambers.
Grants
HAS has also been successful in obtaining grant funding in 2025 through the generosity of Boroondara’s Small Grant program, which has assisted HAS in the purchase of table, easel and lighting equipment to help Studio artists with mobility and vision difficulties. HAS was also fortunate to receive a grant to help purchase a fold-up replacement stage for the HAS Studio, which should be available early in 2026.
The Society has been awarded Triennial Operational Grant of $73,251 for the period FY 2027 to FY 2029. In the first year $24,417 of the grant will be available. The grant will enable substantially greater access to the Hawthorn Arts Centre Performance Space. This will expand the number and range of sessions available to members and also some public facing activities such as artists talks.
Boroondara Annual strengthening community grant for an interactive art show $13,200.
Australian Government Families and Communities Program volunteer grant $1,447 for office equipment facilitated by the office of Monique Ryan.
Kirsten Tarry-Smith our hardworking Vice President and David Macleod our equally hard working Society Secretary have had the carriage of most of the work going into applications for grants and I thank her profusely for that work which is quite detailed and demanding.
Financial
The Treasurer’s Report for the 2025/26 year has been circulated and will be open for discussion and adoption during the Annual General Meeting. You will see that HAS is in a healthy financial position at present. Graham Hubbard has taken on his new role as Treasurer with gusto. Graham conducted a Strategic Planning review with the Committee to revisit and set direction for HAS. Thanks to Graham for this work.
Accounts and membership recording.
The annual financial results are reviewed by John Marshall & Co. who have certified our accounts previously. The Society decided to move its accounts with the Commonwealth Bank to the Bendigo Bank after due consideration by the Committee.
The membership recording and has integrated it with the accounting system.
Anne introduced Stripe software when she was Treasurer and Tony integrated it with our Web site so that we now accept payments by credit card and Eftpos.
Submission of Report
On behalf of the Committee I submit this report to the members.
On behalf of all of our members I wish to acknowledge and thank the management committee team, the coordinators, the teachers and all who have given their time and effort to manage and operate the Society especially in this very busy year with great success. I thank them all for their co-operative spirit and enthusiasm that generated such a memorable year of achievement for HAS.
David Bailey
President