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Draw the House with Catherine O’Donnell and Todd Fuller

29 October 2023 - February 2024

Create a range of drawings inspired by one of the world’s most iconic buildings.

Once a month join like-minded creative souls to explore the Opera House and its surroundings through the eyes of an artist. Working with a different artist each month, explore various drawing techniques, and perspectives inspired by one of the world's most iconic buildings.

Slow down, observe...

You will also learn from an expert Tour Guide about the influence of visual arts in the Opera House's history, including the beautiful tapestries that grace our venues and foyer spaces.

Drawing is practical as an architectural and engineering blueprint, but it is also a tool for creative expression and making meaning, visually documenting what we see or imagine on paper, for others to view, interpret and enjoy.

From the very beginning, drawings have played a significant role in the Opera House’s history – a global architectural competition saw entries from all over the world, where a relatively unknown Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, became the winner of a new National Opera House for Sydney. Utzon’s original and somewhat controversial design was an imaginative sculptural response that the judges were convinced would be ‘capable of becoming one of the great buildings of the world’.

Presented by Sydney Opera House

Drawing is a way of coming upon the connection between things; just like metaphor in poetry reconnects what has become separated.

John Berger - Art Critic, Novelist, Painter & Poet

Meet the artists

Catherine O’Donnell 29 October & 26 November 2023

Catherine O’Donnell’s art practice focuses on the urban landscape, representing the commonly overlooked dwellings of Sydney suburbia in an abstracted form. She holds a MFA (Drawing) from NAS and a BFA (Distinction and Deans Medal) from UWS. She exhibits widely and is represented in both public and private collections. Exhibition highlights including Dobell Australian Drawing Biennale, the Dobell Prize for Drawing; the Kedumba Drawing Award; the Trinity Buoys Wharfs drawing Prize, the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing and JADA. With works represented in many collections including the AGNSW, Parliament House Art Collection, Artbank, National Art School, Korean Art Foundation, MAMA and the Kedumba Collection of Australian Drawings. 

Artist residencies and grants have taken O’Donnell across Australia and Internationally. Highlights include the British Scool at Rome, Cité des Arts, Paris, Scuola International di Grafica, Venice, Bundanon, Grafton Regional Gallery, Bilpin international ground for creative initiatives and Parramatta Artist Studios.

She has received numerous awards and commendations, with exhibition highlights including Dobell Australian Drawing Biennale, the Dobell Prize for Drawing; the Kedumba Drawing Award; the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing and JADA.  Her works are represented in private and public collections both nationally and internationally, including AGNSW, Parliament House Art Collection, Artbank, Penrith Regional Gallery, MAMA, National Art School, Korean Art Foundation, Grafton Regional Gallery, Grace Cossington Smith Colllection, Blacktown City Art Collection, and the Kedumba Collection of Australian Drawings.  She is currently represented by Dominik Mersch Gallery, SYD

Todd Fuller 28 January & 25 February 2024

Todd Fuller’s practice integrates sculpture, moving image, performance and painting but at the core to all he does is drawing. For ten years, Fuller has been crafting hand-drawn animations that grapple with love and loss, as well as ideas of place, identity and community. Often narrative in form, these award winning works are derived from Fuller’s experiences with different communities, sites and histories. He has been awarded a number of residencies that have informed and developed his practice, including time spent at Bundanon Trust, Hill End, Grafton Regional Art Gallery, as well as international stints at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, the British School of Rome, and recently the NG Creative Residency in Provence.

Other information

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