MRAG Maitland Regional Art Gallery

  The Hunter River is the lifeblood of the Hunter Valley. River Stories is a series of radio interviews, videos and photos about the Hunter River. 1233 ABC Newcastle’s Phil Ashley-Brown first travelled down the river ten years ago and in 2011 he is tracking down the river again to see what has changed. The series is being broadcast on 1233 every week and it features the people who live along the river and the unique challenges they face. Hunter Councils Environment Division (HCED) and MRAG have combined resources and expertise to develop the River Stories Partners Program in support… » Read More

Born in Maitland in 1895, Les Darcy (1895 – 1917) is considered one of the best Australian boxers of all time, an Australian hero with national significance. This exhibition showcased several pieces from MRAG’s growing collection of Les Darcy ephemera, promotional material and collectibles. Significant features of the exhibition included, exhibited for the first time, the Blooms Travelling Boxing Company tent wall, featuring Les Darcy in fighting pose. DVDs of live footage of Darcy were also presented, alongside collectibles and a new acquisition for MRAG, a hand drawn poster of Les Darcy, featuring all his boxing results. Estimated to be no more… » Read More

Maitland Jewish Cemetery : WINNER National Trust Heritage Awards: 2011 Category I: Interpretation and Presentation 1: Corporate/Government. Maitland’s Jewish Cemetery, set in a forgotten corner of Louth Park in West Maitland, dates from the late 1840s and contains some fifty graves. Significant as the only Jewish cemetery north of Sydney until the early twentieth century, over the years, floods, erosion, and periods of neglect have affected the cemetery and the inscriptions on the gravestones. Maitland Jewish Cemetery marks the key role that Maitland played in NSW’s early colonial history and, within Maitland, the important role of the small Jewish community… » Read More

Picture that in Maitland: 1965 was an exhibition of selected photographs from the Maitland Mercury archives, exhibited at MRAG in November 2010. Mercury photographer Cath Bowen was invited by MRAG to be guest curator, and working from the original negatives chose fifty works from thousands upon thousands of images. Together as an exhibition the audience was invited to peruse a social of Maitland in the mid 1960s. During the exhibition, graphite pencils were kept in the exhibition space, and MRAG staff encouraged those with stories or comments about the photographs to write them on the wall next to the image.… » Read More

During 2008 and 2009, three photographers – Carla Feltham, Michelle Maartensz and Martin Trew – were invited to photographically record the construction of the new MRAG building. Each came at a different time and with their different approach, and although they knew about each other’s projects and purposes, they worked alone and very quietly on Construction. MRAG staff, who continued to work in the original building throughout the closure, almost never saw them in or near the site. As a result, each artist has captured a contrastingly different view and responses to the structure taking shape as the new MRAG.… » Read More

Fiona Davies installation Intangible Collection draws together historical and personal items, archived records and ephemeral memories of the diverse activities that once took place in the orginal buildings of the new MRAG. This beautiful exhibition commemorates the personal and social importance of the old Maitland Technical College building over its last hundred years. As part of its grand opening suite of exhibitions, MRAG commissioned renowned artist Fiona Davies to create the site specific installation. When West Maitland Technical College opened in 1909, it contained a regional museum until 1955. The image of the MRAG staircase (1915) was originally taken to illustrate the usage of marble, but you… » Read More

At the International Women’s Day breakfast in Maitland in 2007, the idea was borne to capture the lives of women in Maitland at the current time. A steering committee consisting of women from diverse backgrounds was established to advance the project. A concept was developed to prepare a time capsule and the idea evolved into presenting the lives of women in an innovative art installation, to be built into the redevelopment of Maitland’s art gallery, and exhibited at MRAG for next 25 years. Thanks to generosity of Coal and Allied, Maitland City Council and Office for Women NSW Premier’s Department,… » Read More

Shot in Maitland was a project borne from Maitland’s recognition by the New South Wales State Government as the City of the Arts 2005-2007. Michel Brouet, Face painting, 2006, gelatin silver photograph, 42 x 63 cm Two years before the exhibition featured in the art gallery, MRAG commissioned the efforts of Sydney-based photographer Michel Brouet to create a photographic essay of Maitland.   Nationally recognised crime novelist Barry Maitland, a resident of Maitland, was also asked to create a short story of his own liking. Each of their efforts were published together in a publication called Shot in Maitland. The contrast between words and images ,… » Read More