NERAM: Armidale 2350

The New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale is home to a number of extraordinary collections and a fascinating history of how it all came together.
The collection began with the enigmatic Howard Hinton who lived in a Cremorne(Sydney) boarding house and amassed an incredible private art collection. He only ever had a dozen paintings in this small room; as he would buy them he sent them to C B Newling, the Principal of the Armidale Teachers College. Why he chose Armidale is still somewhat a mystery. To read more about this fascinating man click here.
 

Howard Hinton by George Lambert - http://m.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/968/

Over the years over a 1200 pieces were sent north from Sydney. The Tom Roberts, Han Heysens, William Dobells, Lloyd Rees, Margaret Prestons etc hung on the corridors and offices of the College for many years as generations of trainee teachers learnt their craft, ( and apparently sometimes played practical jokes with the valuable paintings).

Chandler Coventry by Judy Cassab - http://www.judycassab.com/a-old/160-Chandler_Coventry-1987.jpg

The other core collection of NERAM belonged to Chandler Coventry. He was born into a famous New England pastoral family but eschewed the grazing industry and moved to Sydney were he eventually ran the Coventry Gallery in Paddington. It is mainly due to Coventry that NERAM was built.
In the late 1970's he offered his personal collection of Modern Art to the City of Armidale on the understanding that a purpose built Gallery would be constructed to display his and Howard Hinton's great benefactions. NERAM opened in 1983 and is one of Australia's great public Art Galleries.

Outdoor sculpture at the entrance to NERAM (wish I knew who it is by)

NERAM is one of the largest Art Galleries in Regional Australia. There are always art works on display from the Hinton and Coventry collections but the spaces also allow for many other exhibitions to occur.
Over the next few days I will show you what is on at present as well as the buzz of an Opening Night at the Gallery.

This is my contribution to the Ruby Tuesday meme.

This is my contribution to the Our World Tuesday meme.