When Oscar Wilde made this remark he probably didn’t have the Laguna Public School P&C Association Art Show in mind, but perhaps he should have!

The Wollombi Valley is renowned for its rich culture and many resident artisans, and this is typified by the Annual Laguna Art Show. Now, in its 28th year, and set in the beautiful and historic Lower Hunter Valley village of Laguna, neighbouring Wollombi, this Art Exhibition has established itself as a highly anticipated annual art sale and cultural event.

The Art Exhibition is enjoyed by visitors and residents from the Wollombi Valley and art patrons from as far away as Newcastle, the Central Coast and Sydney.
The exhibition regularly sells over $20,000 worth of art – averaging 400 pieces on display.

This year the feature artist is Dorothy Compton. Having spent most of her life in the country has given Dorothy an appreciation for the natural environment. Now living in Cessnock, in an old wooden church serving as a home and studio, Dorothy has been exhibiting and winning prizes for many years, with works having been hung with the Australian Watercolour Institute. Dorothy style includes realism to abstract in a variety of mediums: watercolour; pen and wash; oils; acrylic and charcoal.

The grand opening night of the Art Show will be held on August 23 with a gala dinner followed by the official opening, with Dorothy in attendance.

The exhibition will then be staged in Laguna Community Hall from August 23-25.

Murray and I always to attend this fantastic annual event – this being, perhaps, the premier community event in the Wollombi Valley and also because the art is of an extraordinary high quality and variety.

Having filled most of the walls of our home with paintings from previous Laguna Art Shows, this year we are looking for potential work which would be suitable for the walls of the two ‘Somewhere Unique’ retreats. Most of the artists are local and much of the subjects of the painting are locally inspired, so such works would be ideal for our retreats.

We currently have decorated the walls in the retreats with framed photographs of local landmarks and nature scenes, and so to enhance these with local artworks would provide our guests with an even better sense of the local culture.

David & Murray