Happening over this Labour Day long weekend, the Newstead Open Studios art trail is a locally inspired and crafted event, held  annually since 2015 and based in and around Newstead, in the heart of  Victoria’s Goldfields region.  

Spokesperson and artist Sarah Koschak (pictured below) said every year artists opened their studios  to visitors.  

“There will be lots of beautiful and diverse art for sale at each of the studios, you might even make a purchase or two,” Sarah says.

“We can’t wait to welcome you to our studios. As well as many of our regulars, you’ll find some new artists and studios in the mix.”  

This year the lineup of 18 artists plus two group shows includes printmakers, jewellers, painters, potters, sculptors and more.  

For an overview of each individual artist’s work and for more about the art trail head to www.newsteadopenstudios.org.

As part of the event, the second Small Sculpture Exhibition and Prize will be held in the Newstead Arts Hub along with a group show at the RedShed Arts Workshop.  

The Central Goldfields town of Newstead is 10 minutes from Castlemaine and 20 minutes from Daylesford.  Participating studios will be open Friday to Monday on the 2025 Labour Day long weekend,  March 7 to 10, 10am to 4pm.  

Setting off into the bushland with her fine art pens, quality paper, camera and fortifying thermos, Strangways artist Belinda Prest is one happy woman.

The accomplished Strangways artist and teacher admits she’s in her element when she has a mission of the artistic variety to complete outdoors.

Recently, Belinda enjoyed exactly this type of mission as she  lovingly depicted six of the region’s significant landmarks – volcanic peaks and ranges. Her drawings have gone on to feature in the newly launched book, Six Peaks Speak: Unsettling Legacies in Southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country by  Professor Barry Golding and Clive Willman.

“I had just a wonderful time,” says Belinda recounting her multiple “missions” to sketch the six peaks in question – Mount Kooroocheang, Tarrengower, Alexander, Beckworth, Greenock and Franklin, all featured in the book.

But the eye-catching outcrops that add vivid interest to the wider local landscape that Belinda, and her sculptor husband Trefor Prest, call home are just one of the many points of beauty this local creative celebrates with her innate eye for exquisite detail.

A former primary school teacher, current yoga and dance teacher, and trained artist, Belinda’s detailed pen drawings pay homage to the stately and wizened old trees, powerful vistas and markers of human presence both humble and profound, that characterize the region.

“I always draw with fine art pens,” she says.

“Sometimes I use a grey lead and just plot a little bit of perspective, but I then tend to go straight into the pen. And I like to use a good quality paper called Arches watercolour paper.”

A noteworthy additional feature of Belinda’s work is her frequent incorporation of small snippets of journaled text, typically appearing at the bottom of the drawing.

For the viewer these snatches of text provide extra insight into the artist’s personal experience at the time of creating the work – the memory of a place, a time and perhaps a precious small fleeting observation of  something else unseen in the sketch itself.

Next month Belinda’s work will go on show as part of the annual Newstead Open Studios Art Trail event taking place over the March 7-10 long weekend. The large studio that she and Trefor share at their Strangways bushland home will be open – along with 13 other local studios that all feature, showcasing the wealth of creative talent residing in the area.

Belinda admits she relishes these open studio events as a chance to meet others who share a knowledge and love of the area.

“I’ll have about 25 new drawings which I’ve completed over the past year since we opened last year, besides earlier works, and also some of the six peaks drawings,” she says.

Trefor will also have some of his new (and earlier) trademark organic-mechanical works, rendered in beautiful brass, copper and steel, included as part of the couple’s open studio.

The full list of studios participating in the Newstead Open Studios event can now be found on line. Suffice to say art lovers are in for a busy March long weekend.

Words: Eve Lamb