New at NERAM: Selected Recent Acquisitions 2019-2013 will be one of five vibrant exhibitions opening on April 12.

Founded with two significant bequests, the Howard Hinton Collection and Chandler Coventry Collection, NERAM's holdings have grown significantly over the last four decades.

This exhibition features selected highlights of recent acquisitions over the last five years which have entered the collection and includes works by artists such as Charles Blackman, Judy Cassab, Grace Crowley, Elioth Gruner, Rew Hanks, Martin King, Lionel Lindsay, Angus Nivison, Marisa Purcell, Ben Tooth, and Roland Wakelin amongst others.

"Receiving new artworks into the collection is always a thrilling process and this exhibition is an opportunity to give our community and visitors a taste of that thrill," said NERAM director Rachael Parsons.

"Artists, galleries, organisations and private collectors have been incredibly generous in donating work to NERAM, continuing a long legacy of cultural giving that established NERAM by people such as Howard Hinton and Chandler Coventry.

"It is through the generosity of donors that the NERAM Collection can grow in cultural value and impact. We are very grateful to everyone who donates artwork to the collection, and we are excited to share these works with our audience in this exhibition and others still to come."

Around the World with 80 Artworks will also be opening this Friday night. This exhibition explores works in the collections that have been created by artists from all around the globe or depict locations across various continents.

"Art is intuitively responsive to its environment, as such 'place' is a prevalent theme found in art," said Parsons. "Artworks can communicate our experience as individuals and communities existing, feeling and moving within the spaces we are occupying, where we live or where we have visited.

"Around the World in 80 Artworks is a wonderful expression of place within a global context and tells a broad range of stories of lived experiences, travel, and art history."

Artisans of the New England is a long-term photographic project by New England local, Jim A. Barker. Initiated in 2022, Barker has documented creatives in the region including painters, sculptors, ceramicists, as well as those who make things with their hands such as clockmakers, furniture restorers, seamstresses and writers. The resulting images are a snapshot in time of the array of emerging and established artists who call the New England home.

An Australian Alphabet: Southern Highlands Printmakers - is the result of 26 members of the Southern Highlands Printmakers being randomly allocated a letter of the alphabet and invited to think about the country during a difficult 2020. The result is the whole gamut of printmaking techniques and creativity that demonstrates that Australia does have its own unique people, animals, landscape, and structures.

Moments + Mementos: Marie Mansfield - explores the everyday through a noir-esque lens, using a limited palette to evoke an emotive response.

Mansfield's paintings capture moments that tell stories, drawing viewers into intimate narratives woven through familiar objects. In her first solo exhibition at NERAM, Mansfield has created a series of exquisite paintings that serve as a portal to another time and place. This exhibition is in partnership with AK Bellinger Gallery.

Everyone is welcome to come along to NERAM this Friday April 12 for the opening night of these fabulous exhibitions but please book if you would like to attend: www.neram.com.au/event/opening-april/

NERAM will also be hosting an Artist Talk with members of the Southern Highland Printmakers on Saturday April 13 from 10.30 to 11am. Booking can be made via www.neram.com.au - ends