Blue Mountains Cultural Centre

A beautiful experience. I should thank the ladies at the front desk and David, for a great conversation. Well done, a place that all should visit and support.

A good place to enjoy coffee, a splendid view of the Megalong Valley and exhibits. The library has a great selection of books with helpful staff and convenient printing service.

Above coles go up the stairs past coles. A great experience to learn more about the place and great art.

It’s easy to see why artists find the Blue Mountains such an inspiring place to work, but it’s not all about landscapes. We swung by the amazing Blue Mountains Cultural Centre today to check out five-time Archibald finalist Nick Stathopoulos’ portraiture exhibition. Stunning! And what an incredible venue to see it in. The Cultural Centre’s presentation on the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is also worth seeing, and it has a great cafe.

The semblance of things: portraits by Nick Stathopoulos; exhibition opened on Friday night 3 Feb 23. This selection of portraits covers a 30 year span of the artist’s work, and is beautifully curated by Rilka Oakley. In addition to the portraits, there are videos of Nick’s painting process, historically significant photographs and sketchbooks showing the artist’s preparatory ideas. It was especially interesting to see some of the subjects of the portraits moving about the exhibition. It added another level of realism to Stathopoulos’ photorealistic style. The evening was ably supported by violin and vocal virtuoso Maizy Coombes, performing in the foyer at the gallery entrance. Maizy uses looping to layer violin and vocal harmonies; in order to create often syncopated polyrhythms and complex tonal structures. A magnificent evening, and the exhibition is a must see.
Artist Talk with Nick Stathopoulos Sat 4 Feb 11am-12pm:
For a man who purports to shy away from crowds, Nick’s address to an admiring audience was anything but subdued; in fact it was a compelling, highly engaging and regularly amusing oratory. Maybe he was buoyed by an obviously adoring audience; and let’s face it, who doesn’t love to be adored. Stathopoulos guided us on his Archibald journey, from his first portrait of “Mr Squiggle”, through a matrix of subjects (models), seemingly ordered more by serendipity and happenstance, than considered logic. From standing in a queue with David Stratton, to having the man with the red beard gazing in his studio window. Every portrait has its own, most-often complex history. Mr Squiggle was completed in 3 days to meet a deadline, despite a freshly implanted stint. By contrast Deng took 5 months. It appears there’s no formula to creativity. I don’t know if Nick’s talk was recorded; for others to share and appreciate, but I will check.

Great exhibition of the Archibald.
Helpful staff and volunteers.
Great gallery shop for gifts.

Part of the gallery is closed to prepare for new exhibition. There is only 1 exhibit which is the cosmos art in astronomy, which is a pretty intriguing exhibition.

Really nicely done space, inviting library, cute little cafe and gallery shop and two great gallery spaces. It was also very inspiring to see their commitment towards acknowledging, respecting and empowering the traditional owners of the land

Worth a look in regularly as viewings change often. Very good venue for a regional centre. Cafe on-site too.

Nice calm, interesting displays of our children's/students educational art experience, great display of our mountain environments & sounds, & great coffeehouse eatery.

Great gallery, library, gift shop and cafe all with an epic view over the town and National Park. The gallery puts on a range of high quality exhibitions as well as workshops and events.

I went here yesterday and I found it less than impressive all that was here was a couple of art displays which you had to pay to see and the few art sculptures pretty ordinary

HISTORY

In 1919 the site established the Katoomba School District bringing secondary education to the upper mountain area. There were 61 children enrolled that year.

During the depression in the 1930's enrolments declined as children left school to help support their struggling family.

Then between 1930's-1950's a new site was sought as the enrollments increased. In 1962 the new Katoomba High School was opened.

The Cultural centre was opened on the 17th November 2012.

They don't seem to have a car park. Business sign is hard to notice when driving pass.

Nice gallery with community feel. I like black and white photos related to the pandemic.

However, lady at desk in gallery room on Thursday doesn't reflect sense of community. No greeting or making eye contact with visitors.
Ladies at reception desk are friendly though.

Great panorama view at back of building makes our visit worthwhile.

Disappointed with food in cafe. Split pea soup is salty. Homemade bread roll is nice though. Hot chocolate is fine.

Menu seems to please vegetarians.

Come and find out for yourself.

Well connected by Road and Rail.

Modern architecture.

Library.

Conference Rooms.

Cafe.

Viewing platform.

Walking distance from Katoomba Railway station.

Great staff.

Though direction signage can be improved starting from Railway Station to this place.

Temperature is 21 degrees Celcius,

Few small white clouds in sky.

Gentle breeze is flowing.

Sunny day, so binoculars can show upto a very long distance.

It is Monday, 29th March, 2021.

Excellent time to Explore.

A beautiful art gallery, cafe, exhibition and events space, viewing platform, and public library all in one. I’ve visited several times to see different exhibitions in the gallery, and each one has been of very high quality - very well curated and with artworks sourced from a wide range of institutions and galleries, and entry prices are reasonable. Definitely worth visiting when in Katoomba for a day trip or weekend away.

The Wollemi Artisan Markets held at the Centre have also been wonderful, really showcase a wide range of goods - hopefully these can return post-COVID!

So much promise. Saw the just opened Occupied exhibition and it's a very interesting collection of drawings related to the Bushfires and Covid19. Unfortunately the World Heritage exhibition wasn't open, but the building, it's design and viewing platform are all fascinating. Well worth a visit.

Wonderful view, great community feel, welcoming staff. Personally me favourite section is the gallery, always interesting subject matter and brilliant works. Also great because its free entry for 16 and under, but if your over 16 it is a very reasonable prise for entry.

Got there at 3.57pm (ok, yes it was close to their apparent closing time) was told they closed three minutes ago and I couldn’t get banana bread. No smile on greeting and was ignored for about a minute before I was told this. Used to be a nice place, today I was treated as an inconvenience. At least go by the correct time.