Carol Rowling, Graham Hay, Christopher McClelland, Frances Dennis and Sarah Jane Marchant.

AFTER 23 years calling Halverson Hall home, Robertson Park Artists Studio has relocated to the North Perth Community Centre and redubbed themselves “The Farmer Street Studio”.

Vincent council had been leasing them Halverson Hall in Robertson Park but the building’s in need of repairs and upgrades to make it universally accessible, so they’ve moved into a renovated space on Farmer Street.

Studio artist Graham Hay tells us: “when they offered us this place up here, we thought ‘yes, this is in much better condition, and it’s a good fit with the community groups.’” 

Those groups lease nearby buildings.

“Already we’re starting to have discussions with the men’s shed, the community gardens, and the tennis club about a number of projects.”

Artist Chris McClelland said in a media release: “The artists have a close relationship with both Robertson Park and Halvorsen Hall, so there is some sadness about leaving the studio and the park.

“We see the new studio as a continuation of this, rather than a completely new venture.

“The refurbishment has meant that we have a functional, light-filled, spacious and more aesthetically pleasing studio as a place of work.

“We are also looking forward to connecting with the many community groups in the immediate area and seeing how we can work together for our mutual benefit, as well as the community’s.”

The studio has five professional artists and about 100 community artist students, and three of the five have been around since the group’s inception in 1993.

Mr Hay, who joined a year after the group’s founding, recalls that they’ve only moved once in their 30-year history, having first started in an old plumbing building on Wellman Street.

They moved to Robertson Park in 2000, just in the nick of time: on February 13 the plumbing building burnt down.

by DAVID BELL