Bush Studio: masterclass is a visual arts camp for students in Year 12, especially those studying Visual Arts, including related VET,  content-endorsed, board-endorsed and life skills courses. Students are given the opportunity to refine their skills in specific expressive forms as they work alongside carefully selected artists to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment at Ku-ring-gai National Park, Bobbin Head. 

On the first day of the program, students are invited to work alongside artist Emily Besser to discover the intersection of painting, drawing and collage.  Experiment with numerous painting and drawing mediums in order to overcome preconceptions of their scope. Create dramatic juxtapositions through varied scale, density of brushstrokes and pigment, colour and texture as you harness the possibilities of paper as a surface. 

On day 2, artist Nicole Barakat will lead students through a workshop supporting the development of new strategies for their creative practice. Using the metaphor of a garden, students are invited to engage in fun, open-ended, intuitive and experimental processes, in a supportive and safe setting.

Bush Studio: visual arts camp provides an opportunity for public school students in Year 7 and 8 to be involved in an engaging, challenging and stimulating visual arts program led by an experienced visual arts teacher. 

The camp aims to provide students with an opportunity to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment at Ku-ring-gai National Park, Bobbin Head. Students will learn strategies to explore their immediate experience of the landscape to create preliminary works as departure points for resolved studio-based artworks.

Bushwalking in the Ku-ring-gai National Park will provide exciting opportunities for students to directly observe and visually document the subtle nuances of the natural environment using drawing and mixed media. Students will investigate ways to create sculptural works using natural found objects and use these sculptures to facilitate the making of drawings and monoprints. The program will culminate in an exhibition for families, friends and teachers.

Bush Studio: artist in residence is a visual arts camp for students in Years 9 and 10, especially those considering further studies in visual arts. Students are given the opportunity to work alongside a carefully selected artist to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment at Ku-ring-gai National Park, Bobbin Head. Previous artists in residence include illustrator Patrick Shirvington (2023), abstract, process-based artist Emily Besser (2024) and textile artist Nicole Barakat (2025)

2026 artist-in-residence Gabby Malpas is a multimedia visual artist whose practice spans over four decades. Drawing on her experiences as a Chinese adoptee raised by white parents in New Zealand, Malpas reinterprets the Western tradition of Chinoiserie through vibrant, layered compositions featuring still life imagery of flora and fauna grown in New South Wales. Now living on Gadigal land, her creations invite viewers to uncover the delicate yet complex stories embedded within them.

Bush Studio: primary visual arts camp provides an opportunity for NSW public school students in Years 5 and 6 to be involved in an engaging, challenging and stimulating visual arts program led by experienced visual arts teachers. 

The camp aims to provide students with an opportunity to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment, the Hawkesbury River and surrounding forests. Students will discover strategies to explore their immediate experience of the landscape to create preliminary works that are process-focused as departure points for resolved studio-based artworks. Students will investigate ways to create sculptural works using natural found objects and use these sculptures to facilitate the making of drawings and monoprints. The program will culminate in an exhibition for families, friends and teachers on the final day of the camp.

Bush Studio: primary visual arts camp provides an opportunity for NSW public school students in Years 5 and 6 to be involved in an engaging, challenging and stimulating visual arts program led by experienced visual arts teachers. 

The camp aims to provide students with an opportunity to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment, the Hawkesbury River and surrounding forests. Students will discover strategies to explore their immediate experience of the landscape to create preliminary works that are process-focused as departure points for resolved studio-based artworks. Students will investigate ways to create sculptural works using natural found objects and use these sculptures to facilitate the making of drawings and monoprints. The program will culminate in an exhibition for families, friends and teachers on the final day of the camp.