Bush Studio – Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre
Students in Years 7 to 11 enrolled at NSW public schools are invited to participate in a suite of immersive visual arts programs at the Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre. Opportunities to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment will inform students’ artmaking practice across a variety of mediums.
Enquiries
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Bobbin Head Road Picnic Area
North Turramurra NSW 2074
Australia
Gallery
Years 7 and 8 visual arts camp
Dates: Thursday 6 – Friday 7 November 2025 (Term 4 Week 4)
Venue: Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre (North Turramurra)
Cost:
- $250 for metro students
- $187.50 for rural and remote students NSW regional, rural and remote public schools list (DOCX 122.41 KB)
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.
Years 9 and 10 artist in residence
Date: Thursday 4 – Friday 5 December 2025 (Term 4 Week 8)
Venue: Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre (North Turramurra)
Cost:
- $250 for metro students
- $187.50 for rural and remote students NSW regional, rural and remote public schools list (DOCX 122.41 KB)
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) and abstract, process-based artist Emily Besser (2024).
2025 artist-in-residence Nicole Barakat is a Kfarsghabi, Lebanese artist living on the lands and waters of the Gadigal People. Nicole’s creative practice is rooted in remembering and re-gathering her ancestral knowing. She works with deep listening and intuitive processes with intentions to transform the conditions of everyday life. Her artwork engages unconventional approaches to art-making, creating intricate works that embody the love and patience characteristic of traditional textile practices. Her works include hand-stitched and hand-cut cloth and paper drawings, sculptural forms made with her own hair, cloth and plant materials as well as live work where she uses her voice as a material.
Year 11 masterclass
Date: Thursday 1 – Friday 2 May 2025 (Term 2 Week 1)
Venue: Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre (North Turramurra)
Cost:
- $300 for metro students
- $225 for rural and remote students NSW regional, rural and remote public schools list (DOCX 122.41 KB)
Bush Studio: master class is a visual arts camp for students in Year 11, 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.
Dedicated students are invited to work alongside artists Emily Besser and Hayley West to discover the intersection of painting, drawing and ceramics through dialogue between materials and artists' processes. 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. Refine hand building techniques with clay and explore surface treatments as you redefine their limitations. Be challenged to consider alternative sources of meaning in artworks through activities inspired by the narrative of the landscape as you resolve a process based collection of works.
Photo gallery – Visual arts camp, Gibberagong
Photo gallery – Artist in residence, Gibberagong
2023 artist in residence, Patrick Shirvington, is an accomplished children’s book illustrator and artist. Shirvington’s work investigates his relationship to the natural world through drawing, believing the practice of drawing is fundamental to the cognitive process and to opening doors to the unseen. Working with a variety of mediums, his artmaking looks at the natural world surrounding us, firstly bringing attention to the picture surface, followed by a deeper revelation.
All Arts Units programs are inclusive. If support is required to participate in the Bush Studio – Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre program, please email lily.ferres@det.nsw.edu.au so we can assist.
