ABOUT
Open 365 days a year, 9:00am - 5:00pm
Art Farm Birchs Bay
Art Farm Birchs Bay is a not-for-profit association that fosters engagement between community, art and the landscape at Five Bob Farm in southern Tasmania (Lutruwita) through a sculpture prize, residencies, exhibitions, and events.
Beside the obvious pleasures of providing a relaxing and unique walk around a natural gallery and garden, Art Farm supports workshops in a variety of art and craft disciplines, residencies, and exhibitions in ‘The Old Distillery ‘ a converted space that serves as gallery and studio. Art Farm hosts several community events throughout the year, in addition to an ongoing program of exhibitions, residencies, and performances. Stay up to date via our mailing list and social media.
In 2006, proprietor Chris Read started the Sculpture Trail with local artist, Wendy Edwards. The first trail introduced the idea of sculpted seating installations, dotted around the trail, to encourage visitors to wander the paths, while providing them plenty of rest stops. The Trail was originally dubbed ‘Benchmarking Birchs Bay’ and remained this for 9 years until Chris Read and the team saw the need to develop the vision, and thus Art Farm Birchs Bay came into being. As a not-for-profit organisation, we aim to secure this future vision, generate new ideas and create an environment where volunteers, artists, visitors and friends can all participate in the project.
Art Farm Birchs Bay is home to a unique ecology, and is an excellent place to spot native flowers, pollinators, robins and wrens, birds of prey, reptiles, and marsupials.
Art Farm Birchs Bay is based in Lutruwita (Tasmania), approx 35 minutes south of Nipaluna (Hobart) and 10 minutes south of Putalina (Oyster Cove). We acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Palawa people, and pay deep respect to elders past and present, to the many Aboriginal people that did not make elder status, and to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community that continue to care for Country.
Core Values and Vision
The purpose of Art Farm Birchs Bay is to provide a venue and organisational structure to:
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Encourage dynamic engagement between community, artists, art and the landscape
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Foster opportunities for artists to further professional development in the context of the landscape
Becoming a sponsor
The Sponsor Program enables us to provide a community-funded cash prize for Annual Sculpture Prize Exhibition.
Like to know more? Learn about our sponsors.
Find Us
Art Farm Birchs Bay is located at Five Bob Farm. Five Bob supports a range of businesses in the channel region of southern Tasmania. For ten months of the year, the farm supplies Dutch iris to mainland cut flower markets, and the native food enterprise Diemen Pepper exports Tasmania’s only native spice to markets in Europe and North America.
Contact
Art Farm Birchs Bay
E: info@artfarmbirchsbay.org.au
Postal: P.O. Box 194, Woodbridge Tas 7162
Address: 3866 Channel Highway, Birchs Bay
Five Bob Farm
Ph: 0407 781 600
Our Team
Art Farm Birchs Bay Committee
Chris Read
Chris spends his working days at Five Bob Farm. As well as the vineyard, his native food business and the other horticultural activities, his days are also enlivened by the presence of Art Farm Birchs Bay. Chris began relying on the farm at Five Bob for income in the early 2000s and since then has tried to expand this rural enterprise to not only be a profitable and innovative employer, but also to embrace social enterprises – Art Farm is one of those. For Chris, the great benefit of projects like Art Farm Birchs Bay is the inclusion of so many think-ers and do-ers in the enterprise – generating ideas, contributing energy, embracing the wider community – so much more than any one person could ever manage.
Sue Small
Sue has been a practising Landscape Architect since 1986. After 8 years in the public sector she began her own practice, Susan Small Landscape Architects in 1994. Her work has included a full range of projects from public infrastructure, subdivision developments, residential gardens and track design. Many projects have included arts components. Examples of award-winning work includes Yards 1 & 4 at the Cascades Female Factory (2015), Lansdowne Cres. Primary School (2023). She designed Aunty Ida West's memorial garden at Wybalenna in collaboration with local elders in 2002. Sue is a part owner of Five Bob Farm, and has been involved in maste rplanning and implementation of most of the built elements, vegetable garden, paths and tracks through the farm over the last 30 years.
Amy Jackett
Amy is a curator, artist and writer based in Nipaluna/Hobart. She is the founding Curator of the Hadley’s Art Prize and the Director of Art and Cultural Experiences at Hadley’s Orient Hotel and The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel. Amy has a PhD from the University of Tasmania (2013), as well as a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the University of Tasmania (2009). She has curated several exhibitions, and a reconciliation garden, bespoke murder mystery games, and an award-winning audio story trail. Her writing has been published in prominent art journals, including Art Monthly Australasia, Artlink, and The International Journal of Arts in Society.
Loren Kronemyer
Loren is the Artistic Director of The Unconformity. Loren is an artist living and working in regional Lutruwita/Tasmania whose work spans interactive and live performance, experimental media art, curatorial work, and large-scale world-building projects aimed at exploring ecological futures and survival skills.
She received the first Masters of Biological Arts Degree from SymbioticA Lab at the University of Western Australia and has a PhD from the University of Tasmania. Most recently, Loren has worked as a curator on projects including Faux Mo at MONA FOMA Festival, Forest Congress Field Trip at MONA, and as the previous Director of Art Farm Birchs Bay.
Julie Stoneman
As a visual artist & landscape architect Julie’s practice includes public art & a studio practice exploring pen & ink to build layered textures by throwing metallic inks onto thick paper.
Utilizing research & geological imagery Julie amplifies unseen landscape forces within a contemporary framework.
Julie works from her Flux Studio Space, Nipaluna (Hobart), Lutruwita (Tasmania).
June Sculthorpe
June is a palawa woman who has spent over 50 years working to achieve a better future for Aboriginal people, from working for the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra to assisting the revival of Tasmanian Aboriginal language, palawa kani, and working in health policy with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. June has supported Art Farm for several years by assisting to ensure the Farm and its initiatives respectfully acknowledge whose country they are on.
Caroline McGregor
Caroline is a Tasmanian-based artist working across sculpture, painting, drawing and installation. She holds an MFA from the National Art School and is a passionate arts educator. A past exhibitor, prize judge, and Art for New Markets resident, she is proud to support the Art Farm community.
Claire Penrigh
Claire Pendrigh is a visual artist, working from her studio on Turrakana/the Tasman Peninsula. She attended the Australian National University School of Art and has travelled for artist residencies and exhibitions around the world including in Iceland, Japan, Samoa, the UK, the USA and Australia.
Abi Byrne
Abi has been a member of the AFBB committee since 2015 and was Program Coordinator from 2015-2020. The connection to the ethos, environment and people holds a special place for Abi hence her continued relationship as a committee member after leaving the coordinator position. Abi has a background in community arts and health and has been working a counsellor and psychotherapist (inc art therapy) for over 15 years across various mental health settings. Her passion for wellness through connection to community, arts and nature aligns closely with Art Farm's values and aims.