Four local artists put the final touches to Narooma School of Arts Hall (Kinema) exciting new exterior paintwork on Friday – three fabulous silhouettes highlighting the Hall’s continuing role as a highly valued arts venue in our community.
All four artists donated their time and skills to the silhouette project.
School of Arts committee member and artists’ panel spokesperson Jenni Bourke said the silhouette of an Army bugler honours the fact the Narooma community built the hall as a memorial to its soldiers who fought in the First World War.
‘The large one under the new awning is of drama masks highlighting the Hall’s significance as a live performance venue, a role we will enhance with the next stage of the Hall project which will be completed by Christmas,’ she said. ‘We’ll have more details about that work in a couple of weeks.
‘The sashes from the drama masks morph into a roll of film which will loop around two additional Now Showing signs which will be installed in coming weeks.
‘The third silhouette on the SoART Gallery side of the Hall is a really fun one of musicians highlighting the Hall’s continuing role as a venue for live music.’
The silhouettes are the final part of the exterior design by the panel of artists of Jenni Bourke, Mick Pepper, Janet Jones, Joy Macfarlane, Margaret Moran and Ingeborg Baker.
The panel’s design was inspired by the original 1925 colour design for the Hall with a pink front façade with sunrays representing the AIF emblem.
‘While we’ve honoured that original concept, we also wanted the design to reflect the richness and vitality of both the hall’s past and its future as an iconic and much loved Narooma arts venue. The addition of the silhouettes really tops it off.’
The community-owned Hall (Kinema) was Narooma’s second School of Arts – a multi-purpose venue hosting everything from dances, balls, public meetings and flower shows, to films, plays and concerts. Since 1971 the School of Arts management committee has leased the hall to an independent operator as a cinema and live theatre.
The recent repair and repainting stage of the Hall project was largely funded by the NSW Government’s Community Development Fund War Memorial Grants program.
Above: Janet Jones, Mick Pepper, Joy Macfarlane and Jenni Bourke are delighted with the look of the new silhouettes on the Kinema.
Above: Mick Pepper and Janet Jones at work on the new silhouettes at the Kinema. Janet was largely responsible for the bugler which was modelled from an old photo of her father.
Above: Joy Macfarlane and Jenni Bourke at work on the Kinema musicians, part of the final new design on the Kinema.
