Workshops & Events
Calendar of Events
Click on the Workshop or Event in the Calendar above to book your place!
Keep scrolling for more details on current, upcoming, and past workshops
Do you want to Facilitate a Workshop at
the BHAE?
Current & Upcoming Workshops
Sewing Course week four
Make a bag in real time and learn how to follow a pattern, insert a zip, create button holes, line and oversew. Machine sew for strength and decoration. This course will help you learn to use your sewing machine . In this course for beginners you will learn transferable skills and make a fabulous bag to put your stuff in! With Susanne and Kerry, upstairs in the Art Exchange lounge room over four Saturday afternoons 1pm- 4pm.
May 30th, June 6th, June 13th and June 27
Mixed Media workshop
with Visiting Artist Melissa Waters ( second workshop)
Play is a very important part of the process of art creation.
Examining the connections between senses; thoughts, movement and feelings relating to your world, your inner and outer environments and your passion/s in life. What lights you up and how do certain emotions determine how your art speaks about you to others? Often art is our language and communication with the viewer. Letting go and letting the art speak for itself allows our visual dialogue to emerge.
This workshop is an exploration of a variety of media that incorporates textures, colours, shapes & lines to create several artworks and / or cards during the session.
Members $20 nonmembers $30 27 June 1-3.30 pm Kitchen Gallery
Artist Talk
Reflecting on the Community Crochet Project
(and the opportunities of community collaborative artmaking)
The Community Crochet Project is a socially engaged art project that took three years to realise, from conception to delivery. From January to June 2026, the project expanded across multiple sites within the Frankston municipality. Relying on donated yarn, volunteer labour, and third spaces, the project fostered participation, connection, and community. While 150 blankets were created, the project's most significant outcome was demonstrating how communities respond to opportunities for purpose, belonging, and comradeship.
On Thursday 16 July, Jade Lees-Pavey will discuss the development of the Community Crochet Project, reflecting on the opportunities and challenges of socially engaged practice, community-led making, and collaborative artmaking.16th July
Jade Lees-Pavey is a multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, photography, and mixed media. She lives and works on the Mornington Peninsula (the unceded lands of the Boonwurrung), south-east of Melbourne.
Ceramics
Workshop Title: Local impressions on clay
Experiment with textures to make impressions on clay in a 2 hour workshop with artist Sylvia Aguirre.
Using organic materials and local objects, you will be guided through various methods and techniques such as sgraffito & inlay to capture local impressions on your own clay tile.
Biography: Sylvia Aguirre
Sylvia Aguirre is a Chilean-born Australian artist based in Wadawurrung Country (Golden Plains). A multidisciplinary creator with a profound connection to the ancient craft of ceramics. Having spent her early years in Chile, Sylvia’s work is deeply influenced by her heritage, memory, and storytelling. Drawing on organic elements and upcycled materials, Sylvia consciously evokes context and atmosphere that reflect both the personal and collective stories of humanity, narratives of culture, place, and our interconnectedness with the natural world we inhabit. Her practice expands to sculpture, installation, film, photography, collage, and drawn imagery. Sylvia’s work has been showcased in both solo and group exhibitions in Queensland, NSW and Victoria. It has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the 2022 COPACC CrossXpollination ‘Impermanence’ Art Prize and the Birchip Art Show 3D Art Prize in 2023. More recently exhibiting in Ballarat Craft & Design Week 2026.
Surface Workings: Browne’s Shaft with Judith Burns
Broken Hill Winter School bookings are open!
Join Embroiderers’ Guild NSW members and tutors in Broken Hill for our first regional Winter School. The official dates are Tuesday 28th July to Monday 3rd August 2026, inclusive.
We have an extensive programme of embroidery workshops, talks, tours and social events planned. Try new stitches, techniques and approaches, meet the locals, catch up with old friends and make new ones. Bookings are open, via Humanitix: https://events.humanitix.com/embroiderers-guild-nsw-broken-hill-winter-school. Once you have booked, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to the requirements list for all workshops.
If you have any booking-related queries, please contact Janet at the Guild, at info@embroiderersguildnsw.org.au.
What’s with the pocket? with Pam Hicks
Embroiderers Guild Winter School
Workshop duration: 1 1⁄2 Days Cost: $120
Date: 1st August 2026 ..............Time: 10:00am - 3:30pm ( 1 day) Date: 2nd August 2026...............Time: 9:00am - 1:00pm ( 1/2 day) Venue: Broken Hill Art Exchange
Suitable for all skill level: beginners to advancedLearn new, lively and interesting techniques in counted thread work on easy to count fabric. Pam will teach a variety of stitches – spider’s web, square knots and Rhodes stitches for featured elements, with some different stitches for the background. Work in a variety of threads, which will be provided, to create contrasting and expressive textures. Stitchers from beginners to experts will enjoy learning to stretch the boundaries of this traditional technique.
https://events.humanitix.co m/embroiderers-guild-nsw- broken-hill-winter-school
Haiku workshop
Celebrate nature and improve your observational skills in this interactive workshop with published haiku and haibun poet - Lisa Germany.
Starting indoors, we’ll learn about the key elements of traditional Japanese haiku (it’s likely very different to what you learned at school) and the art of capturing extraordinary ordinary moments in just a few lines. Lisa will also read some of her own haiku and describe how each of them originated from paying attention and observing her surroundings.
Then, armed with this background, we’ll head outside for an hour-long haiku walk (known as a ginko) and make observations and field notes as raw ingredients for creating our own haiku. Once back, Lisa will guide us through writing and editing our own original haiku.
If you’ve written haiku before or are interested in getting started, this in-person workshop is the perfect opportunity to explore your creativity, connect with nature, and learn more about this popular form of poetry.
What’s with the pocket? with Pam Hicks
Embroiderers Guild Winter School
Workshop duration: 1 1⁄2 Days Cost: $120
Date: 1st August 2026 ..............Time: 10:00am - 3:30pm ( 1 day) Date: 2nd August 2026...............Time: 9:00am - 1:00pm ( 1/2 day) Venue: Broken Hill Art Exchange
Suitable for all skill level: beginners to advancedLearn new, lively and interesting techniques in counted thread work on easy to count fabric. Pam will teach a variety of stitches – spider’s web, square knots and Rhodes stitches for featured elements, with some different stitches for the background. Work in a variety of threads, which will be provided, to create contrasting and expressive textures. Stitchers from beginners to experts will enjoy learning to stretch the boundaries of this traditional technique.
https://events.humanitix.co m/embroiderers-guild-nsw- broken-hill-winter-school
Winter Solstice Ball
Back by popular demand
WINTER SOLSTICE FANCY DRESS BALI
FOR EVERYONE
20th June 2026
Black Shadows and DJ Manu
Fundraiser for Broken Hill Art Exchange Residencies
6:30pm @the Tipsy Camel Buck St Broken Hill
TICKETS ON SALE NOW $80pp includes cocktail style meal
Sewing Course week three
Make a bag in real time and learn how to follow a pattern, insert a zip, create button holes, line and oversew. Machine sew for strength and decoration. This course will help you learn to use your sewing machine . In this course for beginners you will learn transferable skills and make a fabulous bag to put your stuff in! With Susanne and Kerry, upstairs in the Art Exchange lounge room over four Saturday afternoons 1pm- 4pm.
May 30th, June 6th, June 13th and June 27
Sewing Course week two
Make a bag in real time and learn how to follow a pattern, insert a zip, create button holes, line and oversew. Machine sew for strength and decoration. This course will help you learn to use your sewing machine . In this course for beginners you will learn transferable skills and make a fabulous bag to put your stuff in! With Susanne and Kerry, upstairs in the Art Exchange lounge room over four Saturday afternoons 1pm- 4pm.
May 30th, June 6th, June 13th and June 27
Sewing Course week one
Make a bag in real time and learn how to follow a pattern, insert a zip, create button holes, line and oversew. Machine sew for strength and decoration. This course will help you learn to use your sewing machine . In this course for beginners you will learn transferable skills and make a fabulous bag to put your stuff in! With Susanne and Kerry, upstairs in the Art Exchange lounge room over four Saturday afternoons 1pm- 4pm.
May 30th, June 6th, June 13th and June 27
Trashy Fashion
Celebrate sustainable style with the Art Exchange.
Join us for our annual showcase of upcycled, handmade and thrifted fashion — where creativity meets conscious living.
Step out in your favourite thrifted look, walk the catwalk with prizes for the best-dressed, all hosted by one of Broken Hill’s most glamorous icons, Amanda Screetly.
Your ticket helps raise money so we can bring art experiences to Broken Hill and includes:
Clothes swap — bring quality pieces to trade and refresh your wardrobe (you can drop them early so we can set up, 313 Argent Street between 10am & 12pm Wednesday and Thursday or 6 & 7pm Thursday)
Dinner — included, with meat, vegan and gluten-free options
Drinks — available from our affordable bar
Style inspiration — discover how to look incredible while reducing your impact on the planet (and your wallet)
Prizes - prizes for the best dress and the winner of the trashionista challenge
Dance floor vibes — disco tunes spanning the decades
Art exhibition - enjoy and purchase artworks from former BHAE residents and local artists
$25.00 Members / $30.00 Non-Members includes dinner
Friday 15th May at 6.30pm
Menindee Sunset Lampshade workshop
Create a Menindee Lake Landscape Sunset Lampshade with local artists Beth Bailly.
$ 50 ($35 members) includes lamp shade & materials
Saturday 9th May 1pm - 3pm
Art After School Term 2
term 2
The class will run on a Thursday afternoon 4-6pm for 6 weeks. Young people 7-14. Hosted by Susanne (ex- art teacher) and supported by visiting and local artists.
Cost $10 enrolment (youth membership of BHAE to cover insurance) plus $5 donation per session to support pay for the materials and snacks. Limit of ten people.
Contact me with questions 0433911956
Ceramic Platter Workshop
With Lyndy Marshall. Create an inspired functional object using form work. Bring a bowl, platter or shape to use in a mold. Firing and glazing included.
$90 includes firing/glaze ($75 members)
Saturday 18th April. 1pm- 4pm
Bring a form or bowl as a mold
Introduction to Acrylic PAinting
Tuesday 7 April 2026
6:30 pm 8:30 pm
With visiting artist Ariel De Ramos .This workshop provides a technical foundation in the fundamental principles of acrylic painting. Participants will examine the medium's properties, including drying rates, opacity levels, and various surface preparation methods. The curriculum covers essential color theory, pigment mixing, and applying diverse brushwork techniques to establish form and spatial depth. By the end of the session, attendees will have completed a small painting demonstrating a practical understanding of acrylic application, composition, and color relationships.
Mud & Metal
Kathy Graham is Broken Hill Potter, focusing on all the natural elements of the craft. Kelly Leonard is a silversmith / weaver whose work closely connects to the earth as well. Together, we propose to exhibit a body of works that not only represents our work, but also our connect to our environment.
Wax resist painting
Explore wax resist painting with visiting artist Ashley Graetz from @SaxxonCreative.
March 21st 1-4pm
Kitchen Gallery
Art After School
SOLD OUT _ please contact BHAE via email to be put on wait list
The class will run on a Thursday afternoon 4-6pm for 6 weeks. Young people 7-14. Hosted by Susanne (ex- art teacher) and supported by visiting and local artists.
Cost $10 enrolment (youth membership of BHAE to cover insurance) plus $5 donation per session to support pay for the materials and snacks. Limit of ten people.
Contact us with questions
BHAE PLanning day
Join BHAE committee planning day and have an impact on what we do in 2026.
Do you have an idea for a workshop or program come along on Sunday 8th Feb 10-4pm
Christmas Party for Members & Volunteers
Join us for our year end party in the Courtyard on the 13th of December at 6pm, with entertainment from Aimee Volkofsky.
Food provided, drinks on sale, free for members and volunteers (donations always gratefully received!).
***Registration essential by the 5th December***
We look forward to seeing you there and celebrating a year of art, community and connection at the Art Exchange.
313 Argent Street, enter via Crystal Lane.
Christmas artists makers market
Join our Christmas makers market to sell your creations on Saturday 13th December 9am-1pm.
The Art Exchange Mini Market is hosted quarterly in the Kitchen Gallery and Courtyard at the Grand and showcases unique handcrafted items by local artists.
Works must be your own design and creations and stallholders must be a member of BHAE (link on the homepage).
For our Christmas market, the Deli will also put on some treats to attract customers so we can have a fun festive celebration.
For all stall holders Stall registration essential - register by adding this item to your cart - all stallholders Must be a member of BHAE.
Include description of ALL items to be available and add a photo of each type of item. Registration will be vetted through a jury process for approval. Send images to joannerisso@gmail.com
For general enquiries, email info@brokenhillartexchange.org.au
Join our Christmas makers market to sell your creations on Saturday 13th December 9am-1pm.
The Art Exchange Mini Market is hosted in the Kitchen Gallery and Courtyard at the Grand and showcases unique handcrafted items by local artists.
For our Christmas market, the Deli will also put on some treats to attract customers so we can have a fun festive celebration.
For all stall holders Stall registration essential - register by adding this item to your cart - all stallholders Must be a member of BHAE.
Include description of ALL items to be available and add a photo of each type of item. Registration will be vetted through a jury process for approval. Send images to joannerisso@gmail.com
For general enquiries, email info@brokenhillartexchange.org.au
Hall of Her – Opening Night
Artist Krystle Evans in the Broken Hill Landscape, Image Credits: Aleksandra Kaźmierczak
You are warmly invited to the premiere of Hall of Her — an intimate portrait series and living archive created by resident artist Aleksandra Kaźmierczak during her time in Broken Hill.
When Aleksandra arrived, the first thing she watched was a documentary about patriarchy.
The second thing she saw were women.
Women shaping this place through art, movement, care, laughter, clay, light and creative fire.
In the gallery, in studios, on dancefloors, over coffee —
she found a constellation of women whose presence quietly holds this city together.
Hall of Her is her tribute to them.
Portraits shot on analog film.
Five shared questions.
Stories, voices, eyes, strength.
A space where the women who often stand in the background
become impossible to miss.
Join us for an evening of art, conversation and soft celebration.
Let’s honour the women who make this place what it is.
Created by:
Aleksandra Kaźmierczak — writer and multidisciplinary artist exploring the emotional geographies of women.
Author of „Andy and Other Crawlers”.
Instagram: @aleksandrakazmierczak__
🦋 BUTTERFLY EFFECT — community art workshop by Aleksandra Kaźmierczak
Join Artist in Residence Aleksandra Kaźmierczak for this half-day workshop.
Concept:
We all transform — but sometimes the most powerful changes begin from what we try to throw away.
During this workshop, we’ll explore metamorphosis through creation: participants will collect discarded objects and materials found around Broken Hill and turn them into butterflies — symbols of renewal, freedom, and the invisible connection between destruction and beauty.
Process:
Each butterfly will be unique, created from fragments of what the town leaves behind — plastic, wire, cans, paper, forgotten things. Together, they’ll form a collaborative installation representing the collective pulse of transformation.
Philosophy:
The workshop is about rebirth, sustainability, and storytelling.
It’s not just art-making — it’s a ritual of turning chaos into meaning.
Every piece carries a question: what if the things we discard are actually parts of us that still want to fly?
“We’re not fixing what’s broken — we’re teaching it how to fly.”
Aleksandra Kaźmierczak is a writer, artist and entrepreneur from Poland. Trained in literature and deeply influenced by the absurd and the intuitive, her work revolves around Obłoki — soft, organic forms that chart her personal journey and emotional landscapes.
She creates and writes about women returning to themselves — their truth, body, and power. Recently, she opened her own museum, which now holds over a hundred of her paintings, and published her first book „Andy i inne Robale" (Andy and Other Bugs), a poetic collection about intimacy, freedom, and self-reclamation.
She lives between poetic fantasy and grounded persistence.
Duration: approx. 5 hours (flexible)
Participants: no artistic experience required
Price: $20 BHAE Members, $30 BHAE Non-Members
Bring any bits of waste you have lying about and would like to use, and some food to share for lunch.
Join Artist in Residence Aleksandra for this 1/2 day workshop - $20 BHAE members, $30 for non-members.
Concept:
We all transform — but sometimes the most powerful changes begin from what we try to throw away.
During this workshop, we’ll explore metamorphosis through creation: participants will collect discarded objects and materials found around Broken Hill and turn them into butterflies — symbols of renewal, freedom, and the invisible connection between destruction and beauty.
Process:
Each butterfly will be unique, created from fragments of what the town leaves behind — plastic, wire, cans, paper, forgotten things. Together, they’ll form a collaborative installation representing the collective pulse of transformation.
Philosophy:
The workshop is about rebirth, sustainability, and storytelling.
It’s not just art-making — it’s a ritual of turning chaos into meaning.
Every piece carries a question: what if the things we discard are actually parts of us that still want to fly?
“We’re not fixing what’s broken — we’re teaching it how to fly.”
Duration: approx. 5 hours 11 - 4pm
Participants: no artistic experience required
Bring: any waste you have to reimagine and some food to share for lunch.
Aleksandra Kaźmierczak is a writer, artist and entrepreneur from Poland. Trained in literature and deeply influenced by the absurd and the intuitive, her work revolves around Obłoki — soft, organic forms that chart her personal journey and emotional landscapes.
She creates and writes about women returning to themselves — their truth, body, and power. Recently, she opened her own museum, which now holds over a hundred of her paintings, and published her first book „Andy i inne Robale" (Andy and Other Bugs), a poetic collection about intimacy, freedom, and self-reclamation.
She lives between poetic fantasy and grounded persistence.
Volunteers Morning Tea
Whether you are already an engaged volunteer or just interested in getting involved, this regular catch up is for you! Meet other enthusiastic volunteers in a social situation, find out how you can be involved, find out wants going on at BHAE and offer your ideas. Tea and cake supplied. Upstairs in the lounge 10am - 11am on the first Wednesday of the month.
All welcome
Drop In
Dark moon Festival Ball
Enjoy the night with live music by THE BLACK SHADOWS & TRUE VIBENATION and an ART AUCTION . Ticket includes food.
This is a fundraiser for the Broken Hill Art Exchange
No set tables bookings.
Enjoy the night with live music by THE BLACK SHADOWS & TRUE VIBENATION and ART AUCTION
Venue: Tipsy Camel at The Old Brewery 81 Buck Street Broken Hill NSW
Tickets: $95PP Cost of ticket includes food. Drinks available for purchase
Doors open at 7pm
Volunteers Morning Tea
Whether you are already an engaged volunteer or just interested in getting involved, this regular catch up is for you! Meet other enthusiastic volunteers in a social situation, find out how you can be involved, find out wants going on at BHAE and offer your ideas. Tea and cake supplied. Upstairs in the lounge 10am - 11am on the first Wednesday of the month.
All welcome
Drop In
Artist Talk with Artist in Residence Cong Yu
Artist Talk with Artist in Residence Cong Yu
In this talk, Cong explores the intimate interplay between the human body and the Australian landscape from a deeply personal, feminine perspective. Her paintings often begin with the contours of human forms, gradually dissolving into expansive vistas where body and land mirror and depend on one another. During her time in Broken Hill, Cong has drawn inspiration from outback ruins and vehicle camping setups—seeing them as residues or incomplete forms of “home.” These fragments become visual metaphors for belonging, dislocation, and the search for place. She will share insights into her creative process and the narratives behind her work. This is a conversation about identity, place, and the transformative space where inner and outer landscapes meet.
Egg Tempera
Egg Tempera with Artist Michelle Teear
Join experienced artist and educator Michelle Teear to explore a new medium.
Egg tempera is a beautiful translucent viscous paint that holds exciting potential for contemporary painters. It is the original board painting medium and predates oil paint. Tempera’s unique qualities sit between watercolour, acrylic and oil paint. Learn how to make this safe and healthy archival paint. You’ll be guided on how to apply tempera in layered translucent to opaque painting and explore it’s potential for texture and fine detailed marks. Suitable for beginner to experienced painters.
Shape a First Sketch
Shape a First Sketch with Artist Cynthia Schwertsik
Join Artist in Residence Cynthia Schwertsik for a session where she shares some basics off her practice.
We will spend 2 hours exploring the way into movement through walking and breath by applying some simple exercise drawn from a life of yoga, dance and performance.
As we extend into drawing and storytelling, allowing an idea to emerge from the intuition of the body as we shape a first sketch.
please bring an object that you treasure, your sketchbook and comfortable clothes and if you can a exercise mat.
I am looking forward to see you
Felting Workshop
Felting Workshop with Eleanora Pasti
A workshop on the different felting techniques, explaining the technique where water and soap are used, how to use felting needles. There are also different applications for these techniques. For example, felting needles allow for precision work combining wool with other types of fabric, while water and soap can be used to create flat or three-dimensional objects.
Imagined Futures Workshop
Artist In Residence Workshop | Bronte Naylor
Join Brontë Naylor, an Australian Artist from Mulubinba, Newcastle, FNQ & south-east QLD.
Join us for a night of eating, knotting and speculative designing.
It all starts blending into one, the days and nights.
Picking up shells & twigs, putting them in my pocket,
Another recipe to taste and knead.
Dozens of swimming spots to show friends.
More ways to tell you about the subtle difference in light between here and over there.
Micro Safari
Micro Safari Workshop with Connagh Eimear Redmond
Micro Safari - Learning to to see and appreciate the tiny things
We will start with a 20-30 min walk to look for "micro environments" around town, including recording with photos and taking samples. We will then take our samples back to the workshop area for a closer look using magnification and microscopy. We can then use a variety of media to creatively interpret the micro textures, shapes, and relationships all around us, just out of sight.
Volunteers Morning Tea
Whether you are already an engaged volunteer or just interested in getting involved, this regular catch up is for you! Meet other enthusiastic volunteers in a social situation, find out how you can be involved, find out wants going on at BHAE and offer your ideas. Tea and cake supplied. Upstairs in the lounge 10am - 11am on the first Wednesday of the month.
All welcome