You don’t need to go searching. Creativity has a way of finding you when you visit the Bellingen Shire. It bumps into you as you wander down the street, rubs shoulders with you at the local art gallery, and seeps into your soul as you catch some live music.
Reading the Arts Guide in Fiume Bellingen
Ethical jewellery maker Jeremy Hannaford at The Silver Mill, Bellingen
It seems everyone is an artist here, even if they don’t identify as one. Creative side hobbies – or full-blown careers – have a way of flourishing when people make the move to Bellingen.
Arts and culture thrive in this creative regional community – a melting pot of set designers, illustrators, filmmakers, ceramicists, and woodworkers. This is the landscape of OG Australian impressionist Elioth Gruner, home of David Helfgott OAM, and the setting of quirky Aussie flicks like Danny Deck Chair (what Rhys Ifyns did after Notting Hill).
It’s where leatherworkers from Awl Leather can be found working on commissions for the Australian Ballet; where artists of the calibre of David Bromley have injected hyper-realistic artistic licence; and where beloved actor Sam Neill drops in for the annual Writer’s Festival. They even have an annual week-long Camp Creative, which draws in over 1000 people for workshops and events.
During just one week exploring the Bellingen Shire, we took in exhibitions, met artists in studios, attended a film festival, chatted with local fashion designers, and caught a film in an indie video shop-turned cinema. Art had a way of finding us, even when we weren’t looking for it specifically.
Meet some of the artists and makers of Bellingen, Dorrigo, Urunga and Raleigh with this creative guide.
Bim Morton: From North Coast forest to functional art
Woodworker and artist Bim Morton has come a long way from the four-year-old who fashioned a boat from an old grape box that promptly sank. Growing up on an old peach orchard on the banks of the Nepean River, he travelled north and bought land out of Dorrigo in the late ‘80s. “I was fortunate enough to meet an old guy, Jack Hodgson, who was still logging his property using his bullock team,” says Bim. “The land of beautiful north coast timbers Cedar, Rosewood, Coachwood was suddenly my home.”
Now in his Tree-O Furniture Gallery in Raleigh, you can see Bim’s transition from selling his first piece to a local gallery as a 26-year-old has matured beyond his years, his space filled with beautifully crafted custom furniture and whimsical art pieces.
Bim says he is endlessly inspired by “the wonderful wild nature of the place” but also “the beautiful timbers I live and work with, the north coast pace, and the other creative people.”
Gloria Malone & John Tuckwell: Porcelain with presence
Ceramic artist Gloria Malone’s humble bio says she works in porcelain and makes tableware and light shades but Bim says Gloria and her partner, John Tuckwell, are “Bellingen royalty for their ceramics”.
The couple moved from Sydney 40 years ago in search of a more self-sufficient lifestyle. A beautiful handmade mudbrick house and vegetable gardens materialised, as did flourishing artistic careers for both of them. John, who recently had a retrospective of his career exhibited at Yarrila Arts and Museum in Coffs Harbour, has seen his practice evolving in powerful new ways since experiencing a stroke in 2020.
Gloria and John work from their home studio, where they’ve been for over 20 years and where Gloria sells her pieces directly. “Having people visit my studio is a great joy,” she says. “And having a serious ceramic artist at the other end of the studio to bounce things off, discuss new projects is priceless.”
While Gloria says her tableware pieces bring her great joy, knowing friends and family will be gathered around a table laden with food with her ceramics, her sculptural work has a more important message about climate change – what is happening in the oceans specifically.
A current exhibition in the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre and a permanent space in Tree-O Gallery in Raleigh are just two local spots where you can see more of her work.
Ariel White: Painting the space between stories
Nearby in Urunga, not far from the street mural by David Bromley, artist Ariel White has her base deeply rooted.
As a TV producer, Ariel thrives on storytelling. She has travelled to all corners of the country – and most recently, over the ditch to New Zealand with Miriam Margolyes for an ABC series – but when she’s not on the road you’ll find her in her studio at home in Raleigh, painting. “The pull of this region is very powerful,” says Ariel.
It was during a dark period following work on a particularly tough TV series 15 years ago, that her mother suggested she pull some paintbrushes out. “I realised the healing qualities of simply putting paint on canvas,” Ariel says. The TV series went on to win an Emmy Award and that burst of painting became a solo show in Bellingen, and later, an ABC series exploring the mental health benefits of creativity.
After a recent exhibition at The Art Space Urunga, Bellingen’s Federal Hotel is now showing Ariel’s artworks for the month of June. “The pub is so supportive of the art community,” she says. “They regularly feature local artists – and in turn the patrons are able to enjoy beautiful art.”
“Although we have a plethora of great cafes and restaurants and a vibrant community, it’s the environment I find most inspiring,” she says. “From the wild expansiveness of North Beach to the lush views to the mountains it is not only soothing for the soul it’s also conducive to inspiring creativity.”
In the Bellingen Shire, art truly is a way of life. It’s shaped by the land, nurtured by community, and lived every day by the people who call this creative region home. Whether you’re exploring independent galleries in Bellingen, stopping by studios in Urunga, or admiring ceramics in Dorrigo, this place offers a cultural immersion unlike anywhere else.
In Partnership With
