0°C | Saturday October 11, 2025 
By Hannah Wilcox
The Royal Art Society of New South Wales’ Lavender Bay Gallery is hosting its annual drawing exhibition presently.
Running until March 5, the Chasing the Line Drawing Exhibition is a collection of works from local artists documenting the world around them through illustration.
The works will be judged by the society’s Vice Patron Judy Pennefather and Director of the Art School Greg Hansell and the winner will take home an $800 prize.
The North Sydney Sun sat down with Secretary and Gallery Manager Christine Feher to get to know more about the Gallery’s “long and rich history” and what to expect for the upcoming exhibition.
Starting off with the Chasing the Line Drawing Exhibition, the Lavender Bay Gallery holds nine exhibitions throughout the year, each running for five to six weeks up until December.
“The drawing exhibition is really important, because drawing is really important – so we open with that one”, Feher said.
“It’s the oldest art society in NSW”, Feher told the Sun. “The members bought these buildings, these terraces in 1956 when it was sort of a really, very downtrodden area and we’ve been here since then.”
The gallery has a rich history with big names such as Arthur Streeton and Margaret Preston once being members there.
Currently local artists such as Karen Atkins and George Largent from Crows Nest, Erika Beck, Ann Cape and Sue Sharpe from Mosman as well as Ghyslaine Bluett and Susanna Chen Chow from Northbridge have all donated works for the upcoming drawing exhibition.
The Art Society of New South Wales was founded in 1880 by George and Arthur Collingrudge to promote Australian artists and their paintings. Described in the visitor handbook as an ‘almost total revolution’, the coming-together of the society ‘brought to reality the vision of a small group of men who wanted Australian paintings to truly reflect Australia’.
In 1879, the Garden Palace was constructed in the now-Botanical Gardens to stage the colony’s first exhibition of paintings – the Sydney International Exhibition. Then-Premier Henry Parkes granted the Society access to exhibition rooms and opened the 220-painting showcase.
Annual exhibitions continued to be held by the Society until 1882, when the building went up in flames with paintings and founding records lost forever. Yet, the Royal Art Society continued to meet and flourished in the years to follow.
At the end of the Second World War, Erik Langkar became president of the society, and it was during this time the buildings, now known as Lavender Bay Gallery, were purchased and the Art School reopened after its closure during the war period.
The two Victorian terraces in North Sydney’s Walker Street were bought for £4945.10 from monies raised by the first exhibition.
This exhibition, now called the Annual Art Ballot, runs every year during July and August and is the Society’s major fundraiser.
“The society really relies on that major fundraiser”, Feher said, “Last year we raised $46,000 – which sounds a lot, but it’s not a lot when you’ve got a building like this and with encroaching costs of building insurance, insurance in general, electricity, air conditioning, everything else.”
“Once a year we ask our artists to donate paintings and then we sell tickets for $400 each. And then we have a big draw on the day where everyone chooses a painting to take home. Say your ticket is drawn out, then you point out what you want, and we give it to you.”
Feher said the Royal Art Society does not receive any government funding as ‘it is its own entity’, which derives its income from membership, the art school, gallery, donations and the Ballot Fundraiser.
“We get a small rebate from North Sydney Council which is a small reduction in our rates.”
“I’m a paid employee, the bookkeeper is, and the teachers are – and then we run with volunteers on opening nights and all sorts of other things.”
Alongside the drawing exhibition, the Lavender Bay Gallery hosts two other exhibitions each year. In March, the annual Autumn exhibition commemorates the Thora Ungar memorial award, and judges award the artist with the best painting $1000.
The big one, Feher said, is the Royal Art Society’s personal Medal of Distinction which is awarded to an artist in the spring exhibition.
“So we have three [exhibitions] which have prizes”, she added.
As well as the major exhibitions, the gallery also hosts the marine artists exhibition in October and a printmaking, sculpture and still life showcase in April. Some of the displays are themed, Feher told the Sun, with one called fantasy encapsulating the ideas behind dreams.
“Then we have our art school exhibition every year in November where the students – beginners through to advanced – are encouraged to put paintings in, which is always fun.”
Each year, the Alan Hansen Memorial Award and the Jenny Lemmone Hill Scholarship are awarded to outstanding student submissions.
“And then we have one in December which is the last one”, she said.
For any budding local artists in the area the gallery also offers the Art School, founded in 1885, which is now located above the Walker Street gallery.
Classes are available in drawing, oils, watercolour, acrylic, pastel, still life, portraiture, life drawing, botanical drawing, plein-air landscape as well as sketch clubs and workshops.
150 students are currently enrolled at the art school, with classes running adjacent to the school terms.
“Our students are upstairs for day, evening and weekend classes”, Feher said. “We’ve just had some workshops, most of those have about 12-14 [students] in them.”
“We’ve also got sketch clubs where you can come for $25, pay for the model, and you can just draw and sketch – and last year we just kept it to 14 [people] because of Covid.”
“We did close the doors during covid, but we wanted to keep everyone safe, with only 10-12 in the classes but now we’ve opened it up. We’re still strict with no one coming if they’re sick and coughing, because we don’t want to close the doors again.”
Even after being thrown many challenges throughout the 142 years of the Royal Art Society, they continue to stand strong – showcasing the best works of local artists and encouraging creativity within their students.
As the great Australian artist Norman Lindsay once said, “the Royal Art Society has been an institution remarkable for the liveliness and durability of its members, probably because they were infused with a passion for art and a determination to practice it in the Australian context.”