Australian Wood Review – June 2017

62 Australian Wood Review

EXHIBITIONS

Together Again

Alumni was an exhibition of work by 14 makers who graduated within

the first 20 years of Sturt School For Wood. Review by Linda Nathan.

I

n what is both a testament

to the times and to its pre-

eminent management, teachers

and curriculum, Sturt School For

Wood remains as virtually the only

school of its kind in Australia. It is

a registered training organisation

that offers intensive full and part

time tuition in fine woodworking.

It resides within Sturt, a craft and

design centre founded some 76

years ago, making it the oldest in

Australia. There are wood, pottery,

jewellery and weaving studios, and

on top of that a gallery that attracts

over 30,000 visitors a year.

In 2006, Sturt held an exhibition of

work by past graduates to celebrate its

21st. This year marks the second such

exhibition, appropriately titled Alumni.

The 14 makers featured graduated

within Sturt’s first 20 years. Some

studied with the school’s founder

Alan Wale, but most were under the

tutelage of Tom Harrington. Talking

to some of them and reading from

their artists’ statements it’s clear

many drew on their experience at

Sturt when designing their piece.

‘I wanted to somehow reconnect back

to my early making person and the

ideas I used to run with back then’,

said John Gallagher who nowadays

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