Applications Open for 2017 Gunyah AIR program


Visual artists, writers, composers, performance artists, curators, new media, designers, arts administrators and other creators are welcome to apply for solo, collaborative, family and group residencies. The 2017 Gunyah AIR program will run from May to November, with seven residencies, each for eleven days.



Applications will be accepted up until 5pm 30 November 2016. 

Please read "About Gunyah" before applying. Note there is a residency fee of $360 (for eleven days or part thereof) and a $50 key deposit. You'll need your own vehicle to access the North Arm Cove area and Gunyah. 

To apply: download the Gunyah AIR application form -DOWNLOAD HERE- just fill it out then email with three images to gunyahresidency@yahoo.com 


If you have questions about the application process or if you have trouble downloading the application form please email gunyahresidency@yahoo.com

Lesa Hepburn: artist-in-residence Sept 2016

Lesa Hepburn, Working in my journal under a work in progress on the Gunyah shore

"Fossicking for fungi, drawing with pigments from eucalypt resin and sitting each evening with a warm glowing fire and reviewing my images of the day. These are some of the deep impressions left with me after my residency at Gunyah. I got back into making simple marks on my papers, bringing a supply of my handmade cotton rag paper and experimenting with found pigments and implements.

Lesa Hepburn, Black ink and tree pigment drawing on cotton rag paper. Gunyah 2016

Over the two weeks, Gunyah, North Arm Cove and Port Stephens gradually unfolded all their offerings as I became more aware of feathers, flowers, fibres and fishing. I investigated “a line in the water” from the jetty, on the shore and from our little Heron dinghy as we sailed from North Arm Cove towards Lemon Tree Passage. We watched dolphins in the evening, small stingrays at the beach and wallabies in the Gunyah Garden.  Some mild fishing success brought us face to face with unusual creatures.

Lesa Hepburn, A line in the water - Heros Bay, 2016



I spent much time each day and evening continuing my string making (video) and taking full advantage of the varied lights, textures and colours of gunyah and surrounds. Seeing my string sculpture in different ways each day has been most fulfilling.

Lesa Hepburn, Conversation in progress, Gunyah 2016

I made new papers, new string works and combined these in and around some of my favourite trees including the casuarinas on the Gunyah shoreline, where I also took time just to sit and absorb the surrounds and record some of these feelings in my journals.

Lesa Hepburn, New works in progress, Gunyah 2016

I have returned home with new visions, new techniques and materials and a refreshed appreciation of the natural environment and our interactions both at Gunyah and at home in Scarborough. I had time to refine my works and to become more precise with some of the ideas and forms that have been on my mind for a long while."


Lesa Hepburn 
Gunyah residency report
September 2016