Art in Your Community: Brett Piva Mural Project

About the Project

This Art in Your Community exhibition documents the process and collaboration between local artist Brett Piva and students from Warners Bay High School to develop the Mural Project. Led by Brett Piva, the Mural Project intersects two worlds; the natural landscape of the Australian bush and the manufactured surfaces of urbanised space. 

Diverse organic markings sourced from the local environment are being replicated on the manmade surface of the gallery exterior wall reflecting the natural surroundings of the Booragul foreshore that surrounds MAC yapang.

This mural represents elements and forms derived from a workshop led by Brett with Warner’s Bay High School Students. 

In this all-day workshop, Brett assisted participants to source materials from the landscape to make natural brushes, then used to create artwork of their own, connecting the students to the landscape and allowing them to explore similar techniques and results as depicted in Brett’s mural work.

This mural will wrap around the building leading visitors to an alternative entry and new illuminated signage, welcoming them from another angle, allowing MAC yapang to capture the interest of visitors via greater visibility and accessibility, further integrating our gallery into the nearby sculpture park and public grounds.

This project has been supported by the Culture, Heritage and Arts Regional Tourism (CHART) program. An Australian Government program facilitated by The Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA) that aims to support community cultural, heritage and arts organisations in regional Australia as they recover from the impacts of COVID-19. 

About the artist - Brett Piva

Brett Piva is a Newcastle-based painter, sculptor, installation artist and muralist. 

The organic and synthetic are constantly at play as they reflect the other’s attributes in in Piva’s work. Reflection itself is an enduring theme in Piva’s practice.

Furthermore, the mark-making is inspired by periods of solitude and field research in remote parts of Australia, where the artist himself reflects on his connection to place and memory.

Formally trained in commercial arts before diverging into contemporary landscape and abstraction, Piva’s work has been exhibited in Japan, New York, Chicago, London and Australia. His work is held in esteemed private collections such as the University of Newcastle and he has achieved professional and personal artist residencies both on home soil and abroad.

Piva is a staunch advocate for the arts in Newcastle and Australia. As the founder and director of both the MAKE IT- MADE IT Conference and Newcastle’s Onwards Studio and Gallery, Piva has championed knowledge sharing and mentoring.

When

Location

Museum of Art and Culture (MAC), 1A First Street, Booragul 2284, Booragul 2284  View in Google Maps