Visual artists from all corners of Mount Alexander Shire on Dja Dja Wurrung country will throw open their studio doors for Arts Open 2022. You’re invited to enjoy this unique COVIDsafe opportunity to meet the artists our region is renowned for, visit the spaces in which work is created, get insights into the creative process and purchase work directly from the artists. Held biennially, 2022 will be the sixth Arts Open.

Personal studios plus a series of group exhibitions showcasing over 90 professional painters, printmakers, jewellers, sculptors, multimedia artists and craftspeople across the townships of Castlemaine, Newstead, Maldon, Chewton and beyond will be open over both weekends. This year, the Castlemaine Market Building will be the Arts Open festival information hub and will present an exhibition of outstanding work from the region. Highlights include celebrating the 100th birthday of Castlemaine national living treasure, watercolourist Peggy Shaw, the AO22 launch party at Shedshaker Brewing on Friday 11 March from 6pm and the gloriously unhinged talent quest that is Castlemaine Idyll at Lot 19 on Saturday 19 March.

You’ll get to meet internationally acclaimed artists like David Frazer and Robert Maclaurin, sculptors Zoe Amor and Lynne Edey, photographers Darren Davies and Denise Martin, painters Michael Wolfe and David Moore, printmakers Catherine Pilgrim and Diana Orinda Burns and ceramicists Sarah Koschak and Andrea Ebsworth to name just a few.

There’s workshops, demonstrations, talks and more to be announced. Check out our website for programme details.