With a Squatter’s Residency at The Foundations Portland on the agenda for Jessica Ann Leffley, a Central West based Wiradjuri artist, the opportunity arose to lead two workshops at St Josephs Catholic Primary School in Portland this August 2026. With generosity and no doubt much flapping behind the scenes, she turned up prepped with materials and Bird Girl Creations cut-out-bird-template-pieces to start the students soaring from the get-go.
That Sarah Randall found time to lap up plein air site offerings during weekends at The Squatter’s Residency in 2025 and 2026 is testament to her focused work ethic.
The year 11 and 12 art students of Kelso High School don’t skip a beat in their engagement and questioning of Harrie Fasher’s process, logistics, themes and more during their excursion to The Foundations, Portland in June 2026.
Jane Alexander has spent May 2026 immersed in experimentation at The Squatter’s Cottage, The Foundations, Portland. Working across painting, drawing, and sculpture during her Squatter’s Residency, Jane has embraced having the time and space to trial some cold wax in her paintings for the first time.
Artists love to see how and where other artists work. Arts OutWest runs a bi-monthly networking event for visual artists called Out of the Studio. Usually held in Blayney or Millthorpe, this month artists were invited to explore two working studio spaces in Orange. Members of Orange Art Society also joined the visit.
Closes 25 May 2026.
Arts and cultural organisations (not currently funded by the Multi-year Arts and Cultural Funding Program) may apply
Below is a photographic essay by Lizzie Buckmaster Dove of Harrie Fasher’s studio activity in the lead up to Harrie Fasher’s solo exhibition Before Dawn at Orange Regional Gallery 2025/26.
Brad Hammond Director of Orange Regional Gallery said at the opening of Before Dawn a solo exhibition by Harrie Fasher at Orange Regional Gallery, that her work is “ambitious, extraordinary and personal”. She “takes risks and brings people along” in a “process where everything is about to completely and radically change”. Her work “is about transformation”.
With heartfelt responsibility to country, Annemaree Dalziel and Lizzie Buckmaster Dove walked gently on The Foundations site in November 2025 as part of their shared residency at The Squatter’s Cottage.
3D cardboard sculptures were kid-handled into shape with nuts and bolts, paper fasteners, cloth tape and scissors by students at Portland Central School in workshops led by Em Ingram Shute this February 2026.