Tweed Regional Gallery &
Margaret Olley Art Centre
Home of the Margaret Olley Art Centre (MOAC)
The Tweed Regional Gallery started life as the Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, and was housed in a beautifully converted 1923 Federation style building on the banks on the Tweed River, in Murwillumbah, NSW.
Famous for hosting the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, and beginning to outgrow the original building by the late 1990s, the Gallery was generously donated a block of land carved out from the dairy farm of Margot & Doug Anthony, longstanding patrons of the arts in the Tweed and Northern Rivers.
With considerable public fund raising, via the Tweed River Art Gallery Foundation, the Friends of the Tweed River Gallery, private gifts, and government contributions from Tweed Shire Council, the NSW State and Australian Federal Govts, Stage 1 was officially opened in early 2004.
The Tweed Regional Gallery is now located in South Murwillumbah, with magnificent views of the Lamington and Border ranges to the north and with Mount Warning looming in the west.
Already popular for Public Programs and Workshops showcasing the talents of local artists, artisans and craftworkers, and famous for attracting Travelling Exhibitions from captial cities, the fortunes of the gallery were enhanced even further in 2011, when the late Margaret Olley, a reknowned and much beloved Australian still life artist, bequeathed $1 million toward establishing the Margaret Olley Art Centre (MOAC).
With additional funding from public and private sources, the 3rd stage extension to the existing gallery established the MOAC in a purpose built facility, and officially opened in March 2014.
Official opening MOAC
The MOAC is the result of an epic project: from an exhustive cataloguing of every object and their positions; then their transport from Paddington in Sydney, to local storage in a custom build depository, and subsequent reassembly into a re-creation of rooms showing Olley's former studio home of more than 30 years.
Also incorporated into the MOAC are an Art Education Workshop space and an Art Research Library donated in previous years from long standing patrons, and a separate Artist in Residence Studio.
Multimedia areas include a "still life" workspace, where visitors can show off their artist talents on an iPad and then email it as a memento of their visit. Extra storage and exhibiton space make up the balance of facilities.
Opening Hours and Contact Details
- 2 Mistral Road, Murwillumbah South
- Telephone: (02) 6670 2790
- Open 10.00am to 5.00pm Wednesday to Sunday
- Closed Monday and Tuesday
- Closed Good Friday and Christmas Day
- Admission Free (donations welcome)
- Wheelchair access, disabled toilets, shop, library, education programs, artists in residence, touring exhibitions
- Tweed Regional Gallery Official Site
- Daily Guided Tours; 11.30am Wed-Sun : Free
- Small groups under 10 people please tel. (02) 6670 2790 to book
- Special tours for school groups, tour and interest groups, clubs and community groups, on request. Bookings essential tel. (02) 6670 2790 for enquiries and bookings.
- Margaret Olley Art Centre (MOAC)
- Current Exhibitions
- Public Programs and Workshops
- Regular Events
- Life drawing with Shirley Kennedy
- Murwillumbah Bridge Club
- The Galley Cafe | Wed-Sun 9.am-5pm
- TRG Newsroom
- Regular Events
Please note: Photography is NOT permitted of displayed and hung works in the Permanent Gallery, Public Programs, Travelling Exhibitions and MOAC. Photography of public areas and of the MOAC display rooms is allowed, as long as no art works are included.
History
The Tweed Regional Gallery (formally known as the Tweed River Art Gallery), opened during the Bicentennial Year of 1988 in the lovingly restored and converted Proudfoot family's Federation-style home, and was known as the Tweed River Regional Art Gallery.
In the same year, the world's richest portrait prize, the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, was established, and the TRRAG was national home to the prize from 1988 until 2003.
The original gallery building, located on the bank of the Tweed River in Tumbulgum Road, is now home to Tweed Shire Council's Coolamon Cultural Centre (Community and Cultural Services Division). The last exhibition shown there was in November 2003.
After much fundraising and a generous donation of land by Margot and Doug Anthony AC, CH (former Deputy Prime Minister and MHR for Richmond 1957-1984), the Gallery moved to its current scenic rural location in 2004. The facility was designed by award-winning Brisbane architect Bud Brannigan and Stage I was officially opened by NSW Governor Professor Marie Bashir AO on 1 February 2004, with Stage II of the TRG opened by Margaret Olley in 2006.
On March 16 2014, some two and a half years after her death, the Margaret Olley Art Centre (MOAC) was officially opened by Her Excellency The Honourable Quentin Bryce AC CVO, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The Tweed Regional Gallery & MOAC, is a community facility of Tweed Shire Council.
>> See also Tweed Regional Museum - Murwillumbah.
Biography > Margaret Olley - australia.gov.au/about-australia/australianstory Retrieved 15/12/2014
The Margaret Olley Art Centre - art guide Australia. Retrieved 15/12/2014
The Margaret Olley Art Centre - ABC North Coast NSW Retrieved 15/12/2014
'Most famous rooms in Australian art' opened - Echonet Daily Retrieved 15/12/2014
Margaret Olley art centre – a crowded house with a big heart - The Guardian Retrieved 15/12/2014
Gallery
