Ironwood Early Music Summer Workshop

Ironwood, in conjunction with the Peninsula Summer Music Festival, presents

Early Music Summer Workshop
3-9 January 2010
SHOREHAM, MORNINGTON PENINSULA VICTORIA

Ironwood Chamber Ensemble, in conjunction with the Peninsula Summer Music Festival, present a Early Music Summer Workshop amongst the beaches and the vines of the Mornington Peninsula.

In the tradition of the best European summer festivals and accompanying summer schools, the Early Music Workshop will offer emerging and professional musicians the unique opportunity to develop their skills by working with international-standard performers in an inspiring natural environment.

The week-long workshop will include daily individual masterclasses, chamber music, orchestral sessions and a Cocktail Concert series at sunset, for students of Baroque violin, viola and cello, viola da gamba and harpsichord.

A brand new series of lunchtime lectures on JS Bach, performance practice, improvisation, 'Flow-In-Performance', and music on the Peninsula in earlier years will be open to the public as well as workshop participants.

Participants will learn and perform alongside six international-standard early music practitioners:

Rachael Beesley, Julia Fredersdorff (violin)

Nicole Forsyth (viola)

Daniel Yeadon (cello/gamba)

Neal Peres da Costa, Donald Nicolson (harpsichord)

Workshop participants will also experience the Peninsula Summer Music Festival, attending performances by Daniel Yeadon, Neal Peres da Costa and (for a change of pace!) multi-award winning jazz vocalist Michelle Nicolle.

Situated at picturesque Shoreham on Westernport Bay, the workshop offers both residential and day participant options, plus a 2-day or full week option.

A beautiful venue right on the beach, fabulous tutors, great music-making and great food, between the beaches & vineyards of the Mornington Peninsula. What more could you ask of a musical summer holiday?

Further details, pricing or to register your interest, please call Anna Cerneaz on (02) 9389 8117 orcenika.anna@gmail.com or click here to download an application form.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Julia, Rachael, Nicole, Danny, Neal, Donald & Anna

Adelaide Chamber Players & Ironwood Review

Elder Hall, Adelaide Friday 17 April

THIS bright bunch of busy young professional string players about town have been together since 2007, playing music they love whenever they can.

The concert topped off several days' rehearsal guided by Ironwood, one of the country's newest high-profile baroque groups who are equally youthful and brimful of vim and vigour. The result was an energetic, disciplined and colourful presentation in which baroque good manners were liberally laced with infectious enthusiasm.

Guest baroque trumpeter Martin Phillipson had a ball with his piccolo trumpet in Molte's 1st Concerto and fascinatingly toned bigger brother in Torelli's Concerto - both in D, of course. The picks of the bunch were L'Estro Armonico Concerto and Corelli's Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 4.

The Advertiser, Adelaide
Written by Rodney Smith
20 April 2009

Musica Viva Tour Retrospective

Ironwood and the Adelaide Chamber Players

Barely having touched the ground after our exciting and well received tour with Miriam Allan for Musica Viva, we set off for Adelaide to start rehearsing for a wonderful collaberation with The Adelaide Chamber Players. The ensemble was formed by Heather Lloyd who played with us in our first ever festival series back in 2006 in Sydney. Comprising mostly Adelaide based players from the Adelaide Symphony and some of Adelaides best chamber music ensembles, The Adelaide Chamber Players have proved to be an energetic and open minded ensemble and an absolute joy to work with. Ironwood have been invited to direct a program of concerti grossi including the works of Handel, Vivaldi, and Corelli. If you are in Adelaide or surrounds we would love to see you at the concert in Elder Hall on Friday the 17th of April at 7pm.

Bookings through BASS: phone 131 246 or visit
www.bass.net.au (booking charges apply)

Miriam Allan & Ironwood Sydney Review

City Recital Hall, Sydney Monday 6th April

FINELY TUNED AND UTTERLY LOVELY

IT IS hard to imagine an ugly sound ever coming from Miriam Allan. Even if she were yelling at the dog, it would be sweet and persuasive. Singing Purcell and Handel, the noise she makes is consistently lovely. So lovely that it is almost a relief when she takes up the microphone and cracks a couple of jokes about last week's power outages, which were responsible for this concert being rescheduled. She is human, after all.

Miriam Allan and Ironwood, an ensemble of some of Australia's leading baroque specialists, have been touring Australia for Musica Viva with a program celebrating the music of Henry Purcell (born 1659) and George Frideric Handel (died 1759).

It is a finely tuned offering, in every sense of the word. The first half is a beautifully constructed medley of Purcell's theatre, dance and vocal music, full of the theatrical spirit of the masque. Fairest Isle from King Arthur is delivered with warmth and a stately lilt, the chaconne from The Fairy Queen drives the action forward with infectious enthusiasm, and in Music For A While Allan creeps in, reedy and mysterious, before letting the richer tones of her voice resonate.

Throughout the proceedings the classy continuo team of Kirsty McCahon on bass, Neal Peres Da Costa on harpsichord and Daniel Yeadon on viola da gamba provide the musical lifeblood of rhythm and bass.

The second half is all Handel's, starting with a seamless performance of his Trio Sonata in G Major, Op. 5 No. 4, followed by Silete Venti. Despite this being a sacred cantata, the performers maintain a strong sense of drama; Allen's first utterance, "Silete" or "silence", is arresting, while the aria Date serta fades tantalisingly to nothing. It is only in the final Alleluia that Allan unleashes a few overtly virtuosic flourishes: the entire concert has been a display of vocal and instrumental virtuosity, but the standard of perfection is so consistent that it never draws attention to itself. This is setting a high bar indeed.

Sydney Morning Herald
Written by Harriet Cunningham
8 April 2009

Miriam Allan & Ironwood Canberra Review

Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra, 12th March 2009

PURCELL AND HANDEL IN HARMONY

SOPRANO Miriam Allan and the Ironwood ensemble performed works by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) and Geroge Frideric Handel (1685-1759). The first half of the concert was a collection of Purcell's songs - he was a master of the genre. They are beautifully balances: consonance and dissonance, light and shade, and the parts within the ensemble are all in elegant proportion. Allan's voice was lovely, crisp and clear, with a briliant upper register. The second half was all Handel, and began with Ironwood playing the Trio Sonata in G major. It was fantastic - this ensemble is quite something.

Music has to move forward, to draw you along with it. In baroque music this is done with a particular emphasis on harmony (rather than melody). So the performance of this style is all about weight, landing on the harmonies to give emphasis and provide the music with a sense of dynamism. Ironwood are, to say the least, very good at it. Their level of communication was also a joy to watch - particularly between cellist Daniel Yeadon and harpsichordist-extraordinaire Neal Peres Da Costa. This continued with Allan's return for Handel's Silete Venti.

The evening ended with the encore Oh! had I Jubel's lyre from Handel's Joshua - the words appropriately continue, "or Miriam's tuneful voice". It was performed beautifully.

The Canberra Times
Written by Harry White
19 March 2009

Miriam Allan & Ironwood Adelaide Review

Adelaide Town Hall, Thursday 26th March

SOPRANO Miriam Allan, instrumental septet Ironwood, music by Purcell and Handel and the Adelaide Town Hall - all made for each other.

Allan's voice, sweet, pure, childlike in its flexibility, with just the merest touch of vibrato, is the perfect vehicle for baroque music.

Over a full hour of Purcell songs and dances, largely drawn from his operas and masques, Ironwood's Rachael Beesley and Julia Fredersdorff (violins), Nicole Forsyth (viola), Kirsty McMahon (double bass) Daniel Yeadon (cello, gamba), Neal Peres Da Costa (harpsichord, chamber organ) and Kirsten Barry (Baroque oboe, recorders) were as one.

Action and intimacy alternated in a program so carefully planned, so beautifully performed, so authoritatively delivered even the audience obeyed every signal.

Music for a While wrenched both the soul and the gut and Fairest Isle, Dryden's salute to England in better times, sparkled especially brightly in a glittering spread of jewels.

Then it was Handel's turn to be celebrated. Ironwood took every trick played by this eminently tricky composer in his Trio Sonata in G minor op 5 No. 4, five movements related to popular dance forms.

Although his cantata Silete Venti is textually sacred, the fine print and the music are frankly secular. With utmost good taste, Allan occasionally let fly with a spectacular vocal ornament, as if bubbling over with happiness.

The encore must be noted. Allan learnt Oh Had I Jubals' Lyre from Handel's oratorio Joshua when she was just nine.

The Advertiser
Written by Elizabeth Silsbury
31 March 2009

Miriam Allan & Ironwood Melbourne Review

Melbourne Recital Centre, Saturday 28th March

WHAT A sensuous and spiritual treat to be ensconced in the new Melbourne Recital Centre with its fine acoustics, listening to these young but virtuoso exponents of baroque music perform works by Purcell and Handel.

The timber-lined Elisabeth Murdoch Hall has been designed with chamber music in mind, and the experience of listening to soprano Miriam Allan and the seven-piece chamber ensemble Ironwood was intimate and intense. The instrumentalists are all Australian musicians, who have worked here and overseas and have performed together as Ironwood since 2006. Miriam Allan is also Australian, born in Newcastle, and has been developing her remarkable voice, initially as a protégé of Dame Emma Kirkby, in England and Europe. Their Melbourne concerts are part of a national tour, a homecoming for Allan, who has worked with every member of Ironwood on various projects.

The first half of the programme consisted of a unique selection of songs and dances by Purcell (1659-1695), most of them from his semi-operas The Fairy Queen, The Indian Queen and King Arthur. The selection imitated a masque, or ceremonial entertainment, typical of the composer’s time. Purcell’s secular songs were mostly composed for plays but, on the whole, only the songs have survived. Allan’s interpretation spanned a variety of emotions, and the acoustic qualities of the hall allowed her and the players to drop back at times to the barest pianissimo.

Allan’s voice is light, eminently suited to the chamber format, with a clear and ringing higher register but with an emotional depth and warmth that reaches across to the audience. The ensemble of two violins (Rachael Beesley and Julia Fredersdorff), viola (Nicole Forsyth), double bass (Kirsty McCahon), oboe (Kirsten Barry), cello and viola da gamba (Daniel Yeadon), organ and harpsichord (Neal Peres Da Costa), played with obvious enjoyment, fine musicality and in perfect balance.

The musicians are all early music specialists and use gut strings on period and modern instruments. Daniel Yeadon played a viola da gamba for Purcell and a cello for the Handel. Neal Peres da Costa played a small organ and an exquisite eighteenth century French double manual harpsichord.

The second half was devoted to the music of Handel, firstly the instrumental Trio Sonata, which Ironwood played with great dynamics, and lastly the cantata Silete Venti, a sacred piece sung in Latin. Allan returned to the stage for this work and made a dramatic vocal entry in the first recitative: Silence, winds! Her voice was assured, with exquisite passages of coloratura in the arias and a joyous sense of reverence. The ensemble played with equal passion and intricacy.

An encore was demanded and Allan introduced it with charm and self-deprecation. It was ‘her’ song, allocated by her father: Handel’s Miriam’s Tuneful Voice!

Australian Stage Review
Written by Carol Middleton
30 March 2009

Musica Viva tour part 2

We have just left Perth, bound for Adelaide after a really nice concert in the Perth Concert Hall. It was really nice to be over to the west of the country, especially as we have so many friends and colleagues living there. We were warmly greeted by said friends at stage door following the concert and got to have a brief catchup, but perhaps too fleeting. Such is the life of travelling minstrels!!
We really enjoyed the acoustic at the Perth Concert Hall, it is still one of the most enjoyable, even as a small group. We are waiting with bated breath to try out the new MRC though, having heard so many mixed reports.
Nicole was keen to try out the ocean on the other side of Oz, and went for a swim with Danny & Kirsty at Cottesloe beach. For someone from the eastern side of Australia, it is amazing to watch the sun go down over the water. Sculpture by the Sea was on at Cottesloe, something which happens in Sydney as well, and will happen later this year in Copenhagen too. Art works are installed along the beach or waterside paths and the public wanders amongst it. A blend of man made and natural beauty - perfect!
We are sitting on the plane salivating in anticipation for tonight's dinner, as some of us are going to The Grange restaurant, in Adelaide, to try out a degustation menu, conceived by Cheong Liew, chef extraordinaire. he combines french haute cuisine with asian influences. Adelaide is very much a 'foodie' city, being perfectly situated between wine growing regions and the sea.(are we sounding like we are obsessed by food, wine and coffee, as much as music?!)

Latest Nationwide Ironwood Coffee Ratings

Since we have the opportunity whilst on tour to sample caffeinated beverages in each city, we thought we would use the occasion to scientifically and systematically test what was on offer.
We decided it is probably sage to start with the worst coffees...For Julia, the worst by far has been the coffee she had in the Brisbane botanic gardens. It was sort of watery, way too hot and a rather disturbing greyish colour....euuuww!!!
Nicoles worst coffee so far was in Perth at a Café in St Georges terrace (not wishing to name names, but rhymes with home). She later described the experience as 'a rollercoaster adventure for the stomach for the three subsequent hours'. Kirsty also had the malchance of experiencing coffee from the same establishment. However, Kirsty may not be a reliable witness, as she was seen to consume instant coffee (that DIRTY word) back stage in Newcastle out of sheer desperation. Julia decided that Kirsty could no longer be considered a Melbourne native.
The best coffees so far (and it should be mentioned that we have not played in Melbourne or Adelaide yet) have been at King street in Perth opposite a very nice shoe shop. Julia and Nicole were very impressed with their lattes here, and the avid Tea drinkers, Miriam and Kirsten were delighted to find that they also had leaf tea on the menu served in TEACUPS!

Musica Viva Australian Tour

Phew! Nicole here, writing from amongst a whirlwind of washing, bits of music everywhere, and much administration - the usual surroundings of touring.

Ironwood is smack bang in the middle of its first Australian national tour for Musica Viva Australia (our national chamber music promoters). We are touring with Australian soprano Miriam Allan, doing a program of Purcell and Handel, both anniversary boys this year.

We have already played in Canberra, Brisbane, Newcastle (Miriam's home town), and Sydney (the first concert here, one more to go). You can find all the dates and times in a previous blog below or on the Musica Viva website. Tommorrow we fly to Perth,for a concert on Tuesday 24th March, Adelaide with a concert on Thurs 26th March which will be broadcast and streamed live on ABC Classic FM, Melbourne Saturday 28th, then Sydney Monday 30th, and Melbourne again Tuesday 31st.

We've loved playing in all the different halls around Oz so far, and it's always interesting to adjust to each different acoustic (and humidity, with early instruments!). Coffee, breakfast, swimming pools and op shopping also feature as parts of the day on Ironwood's tours....Canberra wins so far for airport early morning coffee (all those caffienated pollies), and Brisbane for its hotel swimming pool, complete with resident ducks.

More soon, from Perth!

Bundanon 5 week 3

The beginning of our third week saw many departures. Rachael had to leave on Monday to celebrate her Mothers birthday in Melbourne, and Lisa went back to Sydney on Tuesday to celebrate her own birthday with her family. And then there were three!

Nicole, Julia and Danny spent Tuesday morning looking at the enormous collection of works by Arthur Boyd, his family and Entourage, including Sidney Nolan, John Perceval, and Charles Blackman, and there is even a piece by Picasso. We were also able to flick through the archives including letters and sketch books, which was a fascinating insight into the mind of Arthur Boyd. He has left such an incredible gift for the Australian people. Bundanon and Riversdale are a testament to the forsight and intelligence of this man, and as a result artists and musicians are able to enrich themselves not only by immersing themselves in the incredible landscape of the area, but also through access to the wonderful collection at the homestead and in the art center.
Julia (yes, ANOTHER Julia), one of the curators for this amazing collection,showed us a painting that is a kind of collaborative joke by Arthur Boyd, and Sidney Nolan, but signed with the name of Brett Whiteley! Just the kind of thing that composers also get up to when they are partying together...
On Wednesday we thought we might get a visit from Peter Garrett, Federal Minister for the Arts, who was planning to visit both Riversdale and Bundanon while he was in the Illawarra. Unfortunately he didnt make it all the way down to Bundanon but we had fun trying out some string trio music just in case; lots of early classical composers, and the formidable Mozart Eb Major Divertimento. We had a visit, instead,from the art students of SCECGS Redlands, who were staying at Riversdale for a Yr 11 art camp. They did lots of sketches of us (we tried not to pull too many faces!)
Later that arvo we went for a fantastic walk back along the driveway of Bundanon, along the river, and went a bit snap happy with our cameras as the light was so beautiful. You can see some of the results above.
Heather, one of Ironwood's younger musicians, turned up on Thursday, especially to discuss Ironwood's mentoring project in April with the young artists of Adelaide Chamber Players (link??). We will be working with them for a week,on music of the baroque era, culminating in a concert in Adelaide's Elder Hall on April 16. We had a very good planning brunch at Hyams Beach Cafe, and sampled all their different ways with eggs...
In amongst the playing and planning this week, we also discovered a bit more of Bouderee National Park, and did the walk past Murrays Beach, and around Governors Head. Spectacular views back along Jervis Bay and St Georges Basin, and we found some excellent, tasty, spicy sausages for the BBQ at Huskisson butcher on our way back to Bundanon!
Kirsty turned up again on Saturday, and we did our final bit of playing,had lunch for the last time on the Musicians Cottage verandah,and walked around Bundanon, this time the Cedars walk, looking at the amazing rock and tree outcrops, and savouring our last bit of silence for a while. We celebrated our last evening at Bundanon with a glass of french champagne and a final evening stroll around the homestead.

So,at the end of the residency; as they say 'tired but happy' we all say thanks to Bundanon Trust and all the staff there, for an incredible place and opportunity to 'be' with our artform - music, mainly, but also words, movement, and visual art - to explore and to 'play' in all senses of the word, in a childlike and in a serious manner, with ideas and music. Bundanon is a unique and special place, for artists, and for all Australians. As I drove out of the gate on Sunday, I said my usual little 'Thanks Arthur' in my head. We'll be back. Thank you!

Our next posts will be about the recording we're currently finishing with Diana Doherty, oboe, and on our Musica Viva National Tour with Miriam Allan, soprano. Til then, happy Bundanon dreaming....

Bundanon 4

Dudes!
Welcome back after a week of non stop awesome action here at the Bundanon dude ranch!
To pick up where we left off, we spent another day with Kevin March, finetuning bits of his new quartet, and demonstrating bits of it in front of a wonderful visiting school group from Illawarra Grammar School, who were spending the week at a creative arts camp over at Riversdale. They were mostly music students, who asked a lot of fabulous questions, and drew visual responses to Kevin's new work. Sadly, we said goodbye to Kevin on Wednesday morning, at a VERY chilly Moss Vale Station on the way to Melbourne (the coffee was awesome - try the Post Office cafe near the station...)

We said hello to another composer from Sydney, Damian Barbeler, who arrived on Wednesday afternoon, with another quartet hot off the press.
On Thursday we tried out Damian's new piece, which is influenced by japanese silk screens, Telemann, and Messiaen. That evening we had a very amusing YouTube night, down in 'Julia & Rachael's house' (Sherman & Gonski kitchen), and we thoroughly recommend the following links:
Dudley Moore's Beethoven Parody
What's Opera Doc? (warner bros - Elmer & Bugs)
The Cat Concerto (Tom & Jerry)
The Fast Show - 'Black' (very appropriate for an artist's camp!)

On Friday, we had to go into Nowra for various medical appointments, so we detoured via a walk along Seven Mile Beach, followed by a swim, and an awesome amount of shopping, the proceeds of which were donated to the Victorian Bushfire Red Cross Appeal. Friday night saw the arrival of the masses, so we had a rather spectacular BBQ on the Musicians Cottage verandah (Nic, Danny & Neal's house), which ended in a fire blanket being thrown over the rather 'age-ed' BBQ....We salvaged all the chops and snags though!

Over the weekend, we had various people here,for lots of different planning things - Cath, Malcolm, Rob& Megan, on an administration front, Neal to cook awesome scrambled eggs with salmon, along with tutorials on Brahms, Kirsty to say 'awesome dude' and play awesome cello, and Sophie, who joined the 'I slept on the verandah' club (other brave members Danny, Adrian & Nic), and painted beautiful watercolours from the same verandah, while planning her film...

On Saturday night Cath and Malcolm cooked a huge and yummy meal of lasagne and for dessert, stewed fruit and semolina. Kirsty decorated the barn (normally our rehearsal space) with lots of candles, and we all sat round eating and gasbagging.
Lisa started a gorgeous painting of the Single Man's Hut, one of her favourite places at Bundanon. We finished the evening with a fun filled read through of the Ravel String Quartet, a very interesting exercise on gut strings!

We thought you might like to see some photos of Danny & Kirsty playing duets, taken through the window in the Barn. 'Framing' the view in a picture, or photo, was important in Arthur Boyd's working process. Have a look a some of his paintings, and see if you can spot this.

On Sunday night most of our guests had to return to Sydney for the beginning of the working week (hard for some!) so we went and had a farewell meal at Berry Pub. It was quite a strange experience to stray so far afield after 1 and a half weeks on a farm!

Bundanon 3

Greetings from Composition land.
We have spent most of today trying out the first draft of a new quartet by the composer Kevin March. It is entitled Water Dreamers and has a lot of lovely new sounds.
We won't tell you all about it because we want to save some surprises for the premier which will probably be in melbourne as Kevin lives in Victoria.
Needless to say we had a lot of fun and talked about various articulation choices, and how to make fancy fruit desserts. Kevin treated us to some of his favourites from his home town Michigan
Julia and Danny did a bushwalk in the afternoon down to Steamers beach in the Booderee National park and came across a strange wooden shelter and a ball that looked an awful lot like wilson.....
Nicole and Lisa were lucky enough to have the whole of Nowra pool to themselves and swam several thousand kilometers.

Bundanon Adventures 2

Hi Everyone, Nicole & Julia here, posting from a MUCH cooler Bundanon. The temperature has dropped about 10 degrees this afternoon, making sleeping a much more pleasant prospect.

Last night didn't get much below 30 degrees, so the residents of the Musicians Cottage (see photo?) decided to sleep al fresco, on the verandah, much as our grandparents would have done in country Australia in the early twentieth century. Danny, Adrian (our visiting choreographer & Pilates instructor), and Nicole braved the mozzies, the enormous flies and the wombats to achieve a much improved night's sleep. We awoke to the sound of the bulls in the lower paddock, Elton & Bruce, bellowing good morning at their girlfriends' in the paddock opposite. They certainly weren't a patch on Elton John and Bruce Springsteen;)

Adrian, who now works for the Sydney Dance Company, has been here chatting about improvisation, in both music and dance, and taking Pilates and stretch classes for us. Very important for musicians bodies (and highly beneficial for all, no matter what profession!). We had a fabulous class last night in the somewhat cooler evening air on the front lawn of Bundanon - a bit like 'Bikram' pilates/yoga, where everything stretched further in the heat!

We farewelled Daniel on Saturday, who explained his PhD research project to us, which involves writing journals and video diaries on our rehearsal and performance process, and have welcomed Kevin today, one of the composers writing for us along the songlines of water. We are very excited about exploring the first draft of this new quartet with him tommorrow.

In between, we thought we might leave you with some fantastic photos Lisa took this afternoon at Bouderee National Park, images of water which seem to be becoming a bit of a theme of our residency

Peninsula Summer Music Festival retrospective

Bundanon Day 1

Try and guess what this is management speak for:

Meaningful interaction with the environment and dialogue with the local/indigenous surroundings in order to facilitate enhanced artistic expression.....

We will give you a hint...see above!!


We didn't spend all day at the beach however, we have practiced, Lisa has been doing some work on her picture book, and Daniel is going to explain his research project to us.

We went to Riversdale today to meet the other artists in residence, who are multimedia artists working as a group called the 'Thinking through the body lab'. They have an interesting blog.

Bundanon Residency 2009

G'day everyone. Ironwood is off on their (almost) annual excursion to Bundanon, artist Arthur Boyd's magic gift to all Australians, and artists of all stripes (and spots;)

We will be in residence there from February 3 - 22, working on lots of different things. We plan on a couple of sessions a day including rehearsing programs for the rest of 09, trying out some exciting new works with composers Kevin March and Damian Barbeler, reading our way through lots of chamber music, and planning lots more concerts, workshops and adventures in between.

You can find out more about Bundanon at www.bundanon.com (follow the link down the side of this blog). Bundanon was one of the homes of the Boyd family,and is where Arthur Boyd painted many of his most famous works - things like Pulpit Rock, and the flametrees, and the rocks by the riverside are all things you can see as you walk around Bundanon.As well as being an artist-in-residence complex, Bundanon is also a working beef cattle farm, with a prizewinning herd of Brangus cattle..that's a cross of Brahman and Black Angus cattle breeds, for all those city dwellers out there;)

For anyone interested in reading more about Arthur Boyd and the amazing Boyd family, Darleen Bungey's new biography about Arthur Boyd is great reading, and Brenda Niall's comprehensive family biography 'The Boyds' is fabulous to get an overview of the Boyd family and how they influenced each other artistically.

We'll try to update our blog regularly during the residency so you can read and see more of what we get up to....Hope you can visit our blog often!
Until next week,
Best summer residency wishes from Nicole & Ironwood(with their Akubra hats and RM Williams boots on!)