Arts & Culture

Hahndorf Academy

The Hahndorf Academy, housed in a magnificent stone building on Hahndorf's main street, is a hub of creativity, heritage and contemporary culture, featuring galleries with changing exhibitions, artist studios and a shop with a fantastic range of quality hand crafted products made by local and regional artists and designers. Don't miss the special collection of Sir Hans Heysen’s whimsical drawings of early village life and the German migration museum that recounts the stories of Hahndorf’s pioneering families who travelled here from Prussia.

The Cedars, Hahndorf

The Cedars is the home, studio and garden of Australia's most renowned landscape artist Sir Hans Heysen, where he lived and worked from 1912 until his death in 1968. See the artist’s evocative stone studio among his beloved gum trees and around 200 original art works in changing displays along with the Artist’s Walk to some of his favoured painting sites. Works from Heysen’s daughter Nora, the first woman to win the Archibald Prize for portraiture can also be seen, including some of Australia’s most outstanding self-portraits.

Music

Head to the Hills for live music in pubs, winery concerts, seasonal events and oompah in Hahndorf, as well as an outstanding classical repertoire at UKARIA Cultural Centre. Located near Mount Barker in a spectacular rural setting, UKARIA is one of Australia’s finest chamber music venues, showcasing top national and international musicians.

Sculpture

• The Hills Sculpture Trail features 26 contemporary stone sculptures made by sculptors who travelled from around the world for the Adelaide Hills Sculpture Symposium events in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

• Crystal Lake Sculpture Park in Macclesfield is a perfect year-round picnic spot and also the location for Sculptors @ Crystal Lake, a biennial 9-day sculpture symposium led by master sculptor Silvio Apponyi.

• The Heysen Sculpture Biennial is held just out of the township of Hahndorf at The Cedars, the former home and studio of Sir Hans Heysen.

Art Trails

• The Community Mosaic Couch Trail project brought together locals in communities affected by the 2015 Sampson Flat bushfires to make mosaic ‘patches’ that joined to form the ‘quilts’ that now adorn a trail of outdoor community couches. The works in Houghton, Kersbrook, Gumeracha, Cudlee Creek and Paracombe are testament to the community spirit, collaboration and resilience of Adelaide Hills communities.

• Commissioned sculptures and artwork are dotted throughout Mount Lofty Botanic Garden in crafers, allowing you to indulge your artistic side while surrounding yourself with natural beauty. Follow the Lakeside Trail to see a series of eight plant-themed artworks.

Art and Creative Workshops

Unleash your creative talents with a variety of workshops and classes and take home your own masterpiece.

• The PaintBox shop and studio in Hahndorf is home to a huge range of art supplies, exhibitions, tutorials and art classes.

• Evocative Arts and Heritage near Stirling offers workshops and creative art experiences taught by national and international artists.

• Artisan jeweller Shannon Cornish offers classes in her Woodside studio.

• Deborah Twining Arts and Rebecca Prince's Arty Types offer art classes and workshops.

• Hahndorf Academy and The Cedars in Hahndorf, Atelier in Crafers and Fabrik in Lobethal host a range of workshops and classes while The Coach House Studio specialises in regular art classes for children.

Galleries and Studios

• Fabrik arts and heritage hub at the Old Woollen Mill in Lobethal, features art classes and changing exhibitions with an emphasis on textiles, along with craft and design markets and a pop-up shop.

• Lucent Art House in Stirling offers three luxury apartments that must be a dream accommodation for any lover of art. The owners (who also run Worth Gallery in Kent Town) have created a place where guests can immerse themselves in modern architecture and beautiful art - you'll feel you are living and sleeping in a gallery.

• Aptos Cruz in Stirling regularly exhibits works by leading Australian painters, sculptors and photographers, as well as selling designer furniture, lighting and homewares from around the world.

• Top of the Torrens Gallery in Birdwood, The Coach House Studio in Gumeracha, Atelier in Crafers, and Bamfurlong Fine Crafts and Hahndorf Academy in Hahndorf exhibit and sell the work of local artists and jewellers.

• Field Trip in Balhannah offers unique, small-batch, artisan wares and is the working studio of Mim Clarkson and Linda Marek (Delilah Devine) producing clothing, jewellery and homewares.

• There are a number of excellent galleries and studios in Hahndorf, including The Aboriginal Art House, Tineriba Tribal Gallery & Fine Arts for tribal and contemporary art from Australia, Africa and Oceania and The PaintBox for works by resident and guest artists.

• Magpie Springs winery and art gallery near Kuitpo Forest hosts visiting exhibitions and art workshops and is also the studio of internationally renowned local artist Avril Thomas, whose portraiture is captured in charcoal, graphite, pastel and oil, all with a tonal realist style.

• Cheese Factory Studio Gallery in Meadows for tribal instruments, art and sculpture exhibitions, folk and new world music concerts, amphitheatre and recording studio.

• Ink Pot Arts Inc at the Mount Barker Town Hall is a creative hub of industry professionals and their supporters enabling workshops, performance projects and festival events, with classes ranging from circus and drama through to art therapy and ukulele.

• Our wineries, restaurants and cafes embrace the arts, and many feature local work for sale or hold exhibitions. Wineries with a strong focus on the arts include Bird in Hand, ArtWine, Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard, Longview Vineyard, Barristers Block Wines, Sinclair's Gully and Sidewood Cellar Door & Restaurant which doubles as a gallery featuring an eclectic collection of some of Australia’s rarest art including works by Olsen, Blackman, Boissevain and Grey-Smith.